How do I record a payment on a contract and follow up on arrears?

Every amount a customer pays is recorded against their contract, and from these payments come the remaining balance, the instalment allocation and the arrears reports.

Recording a payment

1. Open the contract, then the Financial tab — Figure 1.
2. If the contract has an instalment schedule, press Pay on the instalment due, or the Record a payment of another amount link for a different amount. Without a schedule the payment form is shown directly.
3. Enter the amount, date and payment method, then save.
4. The financial summary updates at once: total paid and remaining amount, and the payment is applied to the oldest unpaid instalment.
5. Print the receipt for the customer from the print button on that payment row.

Following payments and arrears

• Contract payments — Figure 2 — lists every payment with its date and method, a link to the contract and the customer’s WhatsApp, with search, Excel export and print.
• Remaining contract balances — Figure 3 — lists every contract with a balance, an Overdue installments column with their count and amount, an aging filter, export and print. It is the collection clerk’s daily worklist.
• All installments lists overdue and soon-due instalments across all contracts, and you can pay from it directly.
• For the age of the debt open Aging from the Vehicle Rental dashboard.

Notes

• Enter the real payment date, not today’s; cash reports are built on the voucher date, not the contract date.
• A deposit paid at booking is recorded like any other payment; only its date differs.
• Do not record the security deposit here; it has its own screen, and mixing them inflates your income with money that is not yours.
• Check remaining contract balances before renting another vehicle to a customer who still owes.