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When a car arrives or leaves, its customer’s recurring plan often needs a matching change. A new car needs a slot on a line item. A car that left may need to come off the plan. The Dropoffs and pickups setting tells Car Storage Software what to do with recurring billing at those moments. Anything that needs a decision goes to the Vehicle billing updates panel on the Payments dashboard.

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What you will accomplish

You will choose how dropoffs and pickups update recurring billing, then review and approve the suggested changes from the Vehicle billing updates panel. Expected outcome: Cars are added to and removed from recurring plans as they come and go, and your team approves anything that is not obvious.

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When to use this

  • Your team forgets to add newly stored cars to the customer’s recurring plan.
  • Customers keep paying for a car that was picked up weeks ago.
  • You want a single list of billing follow-ups instead of checking each car record.

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Before you start

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Choose what happens on dropoff and pickup

1

Open billing settings

Go to Settings > Billing and scroll to Dropoffs and pickups.
2

Pick a dropoff option

Under When a car is dropped off, choose one:
  • Do nothing (default): staff update recurring plans by hand.
  • Automatic when obvious: the car is added when there is exactly one place it fits. Everything else goes to the approval list.
  • Ask for approval: every change goes to the approval list on the Payments dashboard.
3

Pick a pickup option

Under When a car is picked up, choose one:
  • Keep billing as-is (default): the car stays on its plan until staff remove it.
  • Ask for approval: removing the car is suggested on the approval list.
  • Remove automatically: the car is taken off its line item or this period’s vehicle list.
Expected result: A Vehicle movement setting saved message appears. Each choice saves as soon as you click it.

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What happens on dropoff

The result depends on the customer’s plans and your vehicle link settings. Add-on line items, such as a trickle charger, do not count as a vehicle slot. A car on only an add-on still needs a vehicle slot. Customers billed only through statement billing are skipped.

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What happens on pickup

  • Line items: the car is removed from every line item it holds. With Ask for approval, Remove from line item goes to the approval list instead.
  • Whole invoice with occupancy Off: the car is removed from this period’s vehicle list. With Ask for approval, Remove from invoice vehicles goes to the approval list instead.
  • Whole invoice with occupancy On: nothing changes. Occupancy already handles departures.

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Rules the automation follows

  • Pricing never changes automatically. A car with no open slot, or a customer with no recurring plan, always goes to the approval list.
  • Once per visit. Car Storage Software acts within a few hours of an arrival or departure. Moving a car from one spot to another is not a new visit.
  • Staff edits win. If someone changes the car’s billing on the plan page, that change is kept. The automation does not undo it for that visit.
  • Stale suggestions clear themselves. If a car comes back before its removal is approved, the suggestion is dismissed. The same happens to an add suggestion when a car leaves.

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Review changes in the Vehicle billing updates panel

The Vehicle billing updates panel sits at the top of the Payments overview by default. A to review badge in the panel header shows how many items are waiting. You can also add the panel to the Overview dashboard or a report page. In edit mode, click Add panel, then choose Vehicle billing updates under Financials. Your account needs the payments permission.

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Read the Needs approval tab

Each row has four columns:
  • Vehicle: the car and its license plate.
  • Required action: what the change is, such as Add to line item or Remove from line item, and whether it came from a dropoff or pickup.
  • Line item: a picker for the line item or plan the car belongs to. Each option shows how many slots are open or whether it is full.
  • Decision: Approve or Dismiss.
1

Pick the line item or plan

When the car could go to more than one place, choose one in the Line item column. You can choose any of the customer’s line items, not only the suggested ones.
2

Approve or dismiss

Click Approve to apply the change. Click Dismiss to leave billing as it is.Expected result: A Billing updated or Dismissed message appears and the row leaves the list.

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Add a slot when a line item is full

When the line item you pick is full, Approve becomes Add slot. Clicking it opens a confirmation that shows the price change. For example, it raises the line item from 2 to 3 and adds the unit price per billing interval starting next billing cycle. Click Add slot & assign to raise the quantity and assign the car in one step.
Add slot changes what the customer paysConfirm the new quantity and price with the customer before you click Add slot & assign.

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Handle customers without a recurring plan

Needs a recurring plan rows show a Create plan link instead of Approve. The link opens Payments > Recurring for that customer. Create the plan there with Manage recurring billing, then dismiss the row.

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Audit past changes on the Recent tab

Open the Recent tab to see each handled change and its result: Approved, Dismissed, or Automatic. The tab also lists changes staff made on the plan page, labeled Changed on plan.

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Troubleshooting

The panel says Dropoff and pickup billing automation is offBoth settings are on their defaults (Do nothing and Keep billing as-is). Click Turn it on to open Dropoffs and pickups in billing settings.
Approve says the line item is fullAnother car took the last slot. Pick a line item with an open slot, or use Add slot.
A car was dropped off but nothing appearedThe car may have no linked customer, may already be on the plan, or staff may have already changed its billing on the plan page. Spot-to-spot moves never create a new suggestion.

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What to do next