Rent to own
Let a customer rent a car or a machine with the option to buy it. A share of what they pay counts toward an agreed price, and the order shows what is left to pay. Buy Now sells the car. The invoice is made, the car leaves the fleet and, with fixed assets, the asset is sold with its gain or loss.
PLANSScale only
Why it matters
Many customers want a car or a machine they cannot buy outright today: a cab driver, a small contractor, a new business. Without a rent-to-own deal on the system, the share of rent that counts toward the price is worked out by hand at the end. The customer argues about the number, and the sale is booked in the accounts weeks later. In SmartMy Rental the purchase option sits on the rental order itself. The order shows, after every paid invoice, how much has counted so far and how much is left. When the customer buys, one button does it all. It ends the hire, invoices the amount left, takes the car off your fleet and sells its fixed asset with depreciation to the day.
The problem it solves
- A customer who has paid rent for 18 months asks how much is left to own the car. The answer takes a day with a calculator.
- The share of rent that counts toward the price was agreed on a handshake, and both sides remember it differently.
- When the car is sold to the renter, it stays on the fleet list and keeps depreciating in the books.
- The purchase option ran out months ago, but the customer still expects it.
How it works
- Make the rental order as usual, often a long hire billed every month. On its Rent to Own tab switch on Rent to Own.
- Give the Purchase Price, the Rent Counted (%) (50 to start with) and Option Until, the last day the customer may buy.
- Bill the hire as usual. As the customer pays each invoice, Counted So Far and Left to Pay on the tab follow by themselves.
- When the customer wants the car, a Rent Manager presses Buy Now on the running order. This is before the option ends, with the car still with the customer.
- The car comes back on the order, and the customer gets an invoice for the amount left to pay. The car leaves the fleet, and the order is marked Bought.
- With fixed assets on, the car's asset is sold on that day. This brings depreciation up to the day, the sale invoice and the gain or loss in your accounts.
Everything it does
The purchase option
- Rent to Own: on or off per rental order
- Purchase Price: the price agreed for the car
- Rent Counted (%): the share of what is paid that counts toward the price; 50 to start with
- Option Until: after this day Buy Now is refused, with the date in the message
- Every change to these fields is kept in the order's history, with who made it
So far
- Counted So Far: Rent Counted (%) of what the customer has paid on the order's posted invoices
- Left to Pay: the Purchase Price less Counted So Far, never below zero
- Both follow every payment; nobody types them
- Bought: ticked when the customer has bought the car
Buy Now
- Rent Managers only, on a running order with Rent to Own on and not yet bought
- Asks to confirm: the car comes off hire and is sold for what is left
- Refused when the option has ended or when no car of the order is with the customer
- Ends the hire of each car still out. Makes the sale invoice to the customer for the amount left (shared between the cars when there are several). Archives each car
- The order's chatter records the amount and the credit given
With fixed assets
- When the car is a running fixed asset, the asset is disposed of as a sale on the day, with its invoice
- Depreciation is posted to the day, and the gain or loss is booked
- Lease buy-outs use the same sale, so both end in the same place in your accounts
Who uses it
Rent ManagerAgrees the price, the share counted and the option date, and presses Buy Now.
Hire desk (Rent User)Sets up the order and answers the customer's question of how much is left.
AccountsChecks the sale invoice and the asset's disposal.
The customerPays the rent each cycle and buys the car before the option ends.
Where you use it
- Web: the rental order's Rent to Own tab and the Buy Now button
- Not shown to the customer yet: Counted So Far and Left to Pay are not on the customer pages or the app. Your staff tell them
- Not built: a rent-to-own agreement clause of its own; add the terms to the order's terms
- Not built: finance interest or EMI schedules; the share counted is a flat per cent
What you control
Settings
- Rent Counted (%): 50 to start with, per order
- Option Until: empty to start with, which means no end date
- Buy Now: Rent Managers only
Notifications
- No message is sent when a car is bought; the customer gets the sale invoice in the usual way
Questions
How much of the rent counts toward the price?
The share you set as Rent Counted (%), 50 to start with. It is taken from what the customer has actually paid on the order's invoices, so unpaid invoices do not count.Can the customer see what is left to pay?
Not on their own pages yet. Counted So Far and Left to Pay are on the order's Rent to Own tab for your staff.What if the customer wants to buy after the option date?
Buy Now is refused after Option Until. A Rent Manager can move the date first if you agree to extend the option.What happens to the car in our accounts?
With fixed assets on, the car's asset is sold on the day of Buy Now. This brings depreciation to that day, the sale invoice and the gain or loss. Without fixed assets, the customer gets a sale invoice.Does rent to own work for machines as well as cars?
Yes. It is an option on any rental order, so a contractor can rent to own an excavator the same way.Related features
LONG HIRES AND PARTNERSCar leases and subscriptions with a yearly km allowanceRun long-term car leases and monthly subscriptions on the same fleet as your daily hires. Each has a term, a monthly fee, a yearly allowance of kilometres or hours with a charge for each one over, renewal and buy-out.FLEET VALUEFixed assets: register, depreciation, tax book and work in progressEach car or machine can be a fixed asset in your books. It is depreciated month by month, by time or by the hours it was out on hire. The register also keeps your other assets, a tax book for income-tax depreciation by block, and capital work in progress.LONG HIRES AND PARTNERSUsed car sales through quotationsWhen a car leaves the fleet, Sell This Car opens a sales quotation with the car and its serial number. Confirming it stops new bookings; delivering it takes the car out of the fleet and reminds you to take its fixed asset off the books.FLEET VALUEProfit per car with a keep, sell or buy-more hintFor any period, see each car's rent invoiced, its costs, its profit and how much of the time it was out on hire. A hint says which cars to buy more of and which to think of selling.HIRE ORDERSLong hires with notice period, lock-in and customer sitesMonthly and open-ended hires carry a notice period and a lock-in date. When a customer calls off short or ends before the lock-in, the rent of the time short is worked out for you. It waits as an Early End charge for a manager to confirm. Each hire can be booked to the customer's own site with its PO.BILLING AND PAYMENTSBilling in advance or in arrears, with Bill NowBill short hires at once with Bill Now, and long hires on a weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly or end-of-hire cycle. Bill in advance or in arrears, grouped as you like. Rent stops at the call-off or return, and time billed ahead and not used comes back as a credit.
See your fleet on it.
Tell us how many cars or machines you hire out, from how many depots, and how bookings reach you today. We will set up your fleet with you on SmartMy Rental.