Letting customers pick up equipment the evening before

Night-before pickup lets a customer collect their equipment in the evening before the first rental day without paying for that evening as an extra day.

Newer way: set each item up with a night-before template, which has its own pickup window and can be free or carry a fee. See Night-before pickup templates. The shop-wide hours and per-item tick box below still work, and Renta treats an item that only has the tick box as using a free template with the shop-wide hours.

Where to find it

• Per item: Fleet, open an item, then its Pricing tab. Tick Night-before pickup isn't charged. There is no shop-wide on/off switch, so an item only gets this behavior if you tick it.
• Shop-wide hours: Pricing → Fees & policies, in the Tax, currency & pickup timing card, the Night-before pickup hours section, with Pickup hours open and Pickup hours close. It shows the hours currently in effect (and says when that is the 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM default). Press Save at the bottom of that card.

How it works

• When an item has Night-before pickup isn't charged ticked, and the customer picks up inside your window on the evening before their first rental day, that evening doesn't count as a paid day.
• A pickup outside these hours is charged normally.
• These hours override your opening hours for that pickup. For an item with the free night ticked, a customer can collect inside your night-before hours even after the shop has closed. Every other pickup still has to fall inside your opening hours, and the return does too. If a booking mixes items, the evening hours only apply when every item in it has the free night ticked.
• Minimum rental counts billed days. If an item has a 2-day minimum and the customer picks up Monday 6:00 PM for a Tuesday 6:00 PM return, Monday is free, so only 1 day is billed and the booking is refused. Maximum rental still counts every calendar day the item is out.
• The booking confirmation email's Duration shows both when they differ, for example "3 days (2 billed, first evening free)".
• Pickup hours open and Pickup hours close are set in 30-minute steps. If you have never saved a window, Renta uses 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM.
• The window must open before it closes. If it doesn't, the page refuses to save and tells you so.
• Under the tick box on the item, Renta shows the current hours ("Counts as night-before when picked up between ... and ...") with a Change the night-before pickup hours link to Pricing → Fees & policies. With the box unticked, a note there says where the hours are set.

Example

Your window is 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM and a dirt bike has Night-before pickup isn't charged ticked. A customer whose rental starts Saturday picks it up Friday at 6:00 PM, and Friday isn't billed. If they pick it up Friday at 9:00 PM, Friday is billed like any other day.

Good to know

• The shop-wide hours are one setting for the whole shop. To give different items different windows, or to charge a fee, use a night-before template instead.