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Base Rate Engine
Rate Engines allows you to define and customize how your customers will be charged for renting items. When creating rate engines, you can define overtime and grace periods and configure weekend billing, proration of rates, and true month-to-month billing.
With this rate engine, Point of Rental calculates item rates using a Base Rate and a multiplier (Rate Factor) you create.
Topics included in this article
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Setting up a rate engine
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Item record detail
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Customer file record
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Contract level
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Special rates
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Item level
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Jobsite level
Setting up a rate engine
We recommend that base rates be set as the daily or minimum rate.
Expert: Program Menu > Configuration > System Configurations > Rate Engine > Add
Elite: Gear icon > Configuration > System Configurations > Rate Engine > Add
General Information
| Name | You can add the store to be associated with the item rate. For example, XYZ Company, Store 1. You will be able to create multiple rate engines with different equipment types. |
| Type |
From the drop-down menu, you can select the type of Item Rate, either Base Rate or Standard Rate. The standard rate uses the rate set in the item record.
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| Inactive | Checking this box will make the rate structure not available. |
Period Rates
| Period Rates |
Allows you to set the period hours and rate factor based on your selected rate (Standard/Base).
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Overtime
| Default overtime calculation |
This parameter selects how the program will calculate rental fees for time periods that are not defined in the item rate table. The program recognizes these rate codes:
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| Grace period % of rental * 10 | When a rental item is returned, the counter program will compute the grace period by multiplying the total time out by this parameter. This parameter must be entered as a percent, e.g. 1.5 would mean 1.5%. If necessary, the resulting grace period will then be adjusted to fall within the minimum and maximum limits described below. The customer will be charged for the time out minus the adjusted grace period. For late or on-time returns, the charged time will not be allowed to exceed the scheduled time. |
| Grace period minimum minutes | The program will not allow the grace period to be less than this value. |
| Grace period maximum minutes | The program will not allow the grace period to exceed this value. |
| Prorate rentals on close of continuation bill | With this box checked, the item rental rate will be prorated when contracts are returned after a multi-month continuation bill. Unchecked, the items will be charged at standard rates as if the customer had only rented them for that time period. |
| Minimum refund amount | This specifies the minimum refund amount per line item you wish the program to consider when rental items are returned early. For example, if you set this parameter to .50 (50 cents), the program will not give the customer a refund unless the refund is greater than 50 cents. |
| Minimum extra charges | This specifies the minimum extra charge per line item that you wish the program to consider when rental items are returned late. For example, if you set this parameter to .50 (50 cents), the program will not charge a late fee if the computed late charges are less than 50 cents. |
| Weekend Rates (Saturday/Sunday) | You can choose whether to bill for Saturday or Sunday. In the New Rate Engine Screen, you can turn off or on billing for either of those days. This will simply deduct 24 hours for each Saturday or Sunday during the rental period from the total hours calculated for a rental item. |
Proration
| Prorate between Min and Day | With this parameter checked, any overtime past the minimum rental period will be prorated for the duration the customer had the item. With it unchecked, the customer will go directly into the Daily rate if he is late. |
| Prorate rentals on close of Continuation | With this parameter checked, when you close a contract that has been continuation billed. |
| Round overtime to next day | With this parameter checked, any time past the grace period given to the customer will result in another day’s rental. With it unchecked, the customer will be charged actual time out. |
| Round hours up to next hour | With this parameter checked, any time past the grace period given to the customer will result in hours being round to the next full hour. For example, three hours and two minutes round up to four hours. |
| Month to Month | With this parameter checked customers will be billed on a month to month billing cycle. For example, the fifth of a month to the fifth of the next month. |
| Bill From 1st To Last Day |
This is an aesthetic setting for users that bill month to month and utilize autocontinuation. Traditionally, contracts reflect the true hours an item is out, for example, 7/1 8:00 am to 8/1 8:00 am. This setting will set the contract date/time to be at 7/1 8:00am to 7/31 5:00pm, but still bill for the full amount of hours. The user must have this enabled and must bill through the last day of the month in their autocontinuation template to invoke this code. |
| Clock Overtime |
These parameters are used to calculate overtime charges for any overtime after 24 hours. They define how many hours you count as a rental day and how many days you count as a rental week. For example, if you set hours in a day to 6 and days in a week to 5, then each hour of overtime past a 24 hour day will be calculated at 1/6 of the 24 hour daily rate, and each 24 hour day of overtime past a week will be calculated at 1/5 of the weekly rate. |
| Meter overtime |
These parameters are used to calculate overtime charges for metered items. They define how many meter hours you count as a rental day and how many days you count as a rental week. For example, if you set meter hours in a day to 8 and days in a week to 5, then 8 meter-hours will be allowed in a 24 hour period, and 5 meter-days (i.e., 40 meter-hours) will be allowed in a week. |
| % charge for meter overtime | This parameter sets the percentage of hour meter overtime charges to the bill. An entry of 100% charges full value for hour meter over time. An entry of 50% would only charge half of the normal overtime rate for hour meter usage. |
| Usage Items |
This parameter is generally used in conjunction with diamond blade wear calculations. It determines how many units free are given for each hour, week, and month charged. The “Hours in a day” parameter determines the fraction of free units per day given for each hour charged. This would normally be set to the same value as the Clock Overtime hours in a day. A value of 6 means for every hour charged gives 1/6 of the daily free units. Valid entries are 0 to 24. The “Days in a week” parameter determines the number of free units given per week charged. Valid entries are 0 to 7. The “Weeks in a month” determine the number of free units given per month. Valid entries are 0 to 4. If the parameters are set to 6 hours a day, 3 days a week, and 3 weeks per month and the “free units” in the item record is set at 6, the customer would receive 1 free unit per hour, 6 free units per day, 18 free units per week, and 54 free units per month charged. Note: Most stores give a certain number of free units based on each transaction instead of time out. If this is how you operate, put 0 for each of these parameters. |
Item record detail
From the item record, you can assign the rate code to determine how the program computes rental charges for that item. Go to File Maintenance > Item File > Options Tab.
You can select from the drop-down list the type of rate you are going to use for each item.
Enter the base rate amount under the base rate field.
Note: Entering in on the header record will prompt to update the serialized units.
You will be asked if you would like to update all stores. If you are going to update all store locations using the same rate structure, select Yes. Under the details tab, your item rate structure will now reflect the new base rate structure.
Customer file record
You can assign the rate engine from the customer level by going to Program Menu > File Maintenance > Customer File and select the appropriate customer. Under the pricing tab, select the rate engine from the drop-down menu. The rate engine selected will be used when creating contracts with this customer. Note: The base rate would have to be assigned at the item level for rates to be calculated correctly.
Contract level
When the item is entered on the contract, the base rate will be used to calculate the rates. If your rate engine is set to base rate, it is recommended that the items entered on the contract should also be entered as base rate items. Note: If your item does not have a base rate assigned through the item record, Point of Rental will use the number that is in the rate 1 field as the base rate.
Special Rates
A Base Rate option has to be added to use with Special Rates whether you only need to change the base rate and all of the other rates will be automatically computed. Note: Special rates will supersede the base rate set on the item or venue level.
Right-click on the item and select Set Special Rate. Here, you can select the rate engine from the drop-down menu. Under calculated rates, you can set the base rate.
Rounding: Checking the box will round the amount either up or down (depending on what is entered in the hundredth column when entering the base rate). You will be able to see the rates rounded up or down on the left column under special rates. Select OK to accept the new rates.
The new rate will be recalculated on the contract. Notice that it will show in bold to let you know a special rate has been applied.
Item level
Jobsite level
From Program Menu > File Maintenance > Job Site > Pricing Tab, you can set the rate engine to a venue. From inside the contract, select the Delivery Tab > Select Venue. You can select the venue to receive the new rate engine.
If the items on your contract do not have a base rate assigned through the item record, Point of Rental will use the number that is in the rate 1 field as the base rate.