Hire quotes, vehicle records and invoices for a car hire company
A hire company lives on how many days each vehicle earns against what it costs to keep on the road. SmartERP keeps the vehicle register, the service log and the customer invoices side by side. It does not hold a live availability calendar, so the booking sheet you use today stays in place.
Begin with Fleet, Sales and Accounting. Add Maintenance for scheduled servicing, Purchase and Inventory for tyres, oil and spares, and CRM to follow up corporate and event enquiries before the busy holiday and wedding weeks.
Typical businesses: Car hire companies Β· Chauffeur services Β· Self-drive rental firms Β· Wedding car providers Β· Tour transport operators
Problems this industry runs into
Nobody knows what each car really costs to run
Fuel, servicing and repairs are noted in separate books, so the owner cannot set one vehicle's hire income against what it cost that month.
Services are missed until a car breaks down
Oil changes and inspections are tracked from memory, and a vehicle leaves on a long trip when its service is already overdue.
Quotes for weddings and conferences take too long
Every event host or company asks for different days, drivers and vehicles, and each quotation is retyped from an older message.
Driver and vehicle pairings live on a whiteboard
Which chauffeur has which car on which day is written on a board, and it is lost when the board is wiped or a phone call changes the plan.
A recommended starting set of applications
There is no packaged edition for this industry yet. These applications are our recommendation for a business of this kind, not a fixed bundle.
What each application does for agri-Equipment Rental
Accounting
Each hire is invoiced to the company, event host or visitor, with an extra day added or a credit note for an early return. Transfers and cash are matched to the invoice.
Sales
A hire quotation template holds the day rate, driver and included distance. Once vehicles and dates are agreed, it is confirmed as a sales order.
Inventory
Tyres, batteries and oil are stocked in locations such as the workshop shelf, and reorder rules flag low quantities before a car waits.
Purchase
Tyres or a battery are ordered on a purchase order that the workshop and finance both see. Vendor records keep each supplier's price history.
CRM
An enquiry from a wedding host or a company is logged as a lead with the dates wanted and whether self-drive or chauffeur. A quotation starts from the opportunity.
Fleet
Each car goes in the vehicle register with plate, model, driver and odometer. Contracts and renewals show when insurance or a lease ends.
Maintenance
Preventive maintenance creates the oil change and inspection request at set intervals, before the car goes out again. A driver can report a fault.
How the work runs on SmartERP
From an event enquiry to a paid hire invoice
A wedding host or company asks for cars, receives a quotation from a template, confirms it and is invoiced.
- CRM: Leads and opportunities Record who asked for cars, for which dates, and whether they want self-drive or a chauffeur.
- Sales: Quotation templates Reuse a standard hire quotation with day rate, driver and included distance, changing only the details.
- Sales: Quotations and sales orders Turn the quotation into a confirmed order once the host agrees to the vehicles and dates.
- Accounting: Customer invoices and credit notes Invoice the hire with any extra day added, or credit the customer when the car comes back early.
- Accounting: Bank and cash Match the transfer or the cash handed over to the invoice before the next booking.
From a due service to a car back on the road
A vehicle reaches its service date, the work and parts are arranged, and the cost lands on that vehicle's record.
- Fleet: Contracts and renewals Watch the insurance and lease contracts on each car so none lapses while it is out on hire.
- Maintenance: Preventive maintenance Schedule the oil change and inspection at a fixed interval, before the car is hired out again.
- Purchase: Purchase orders Order tyres or a battery from the supplier so the workshop and finance see one confirmed order.
- Fleet: Service log Record what was done, on which date and at what odometer reading, against the vehicle.
- Fleet: Cost reporting Compare a car's running cost with what it earned, to decide whether to keep it in the hire fleet.
Your first month
- First week. We enter every vehicle in the register with plate, driver and contract dates, and load corporate customers, wedding clients and parts suppliers.
- Second week. Hire quotation templates are written for self-drive and chauffeur hire, and service intervals are set for each car. Your accountant confirms the accounts.
- Third week. The office quotes real enquiries from the template, confirms them and invoices them. The workshop raises a service request and logs what was done.
- After go-live. At the first month's close we set each car's running cost against the hire invoiced for it and adjust templates and intervals.
What to have ready
- Every vehicle with plate, model, driver, odometer reading and insurance expiry
- Your standard hire rates for self-drive, chauffeur and event work
- Regular corporate, hotel and event customers with billing details
- The service history of each car and how often it is due
- Tyre, oil and battery suppliers, with what you buy from each
The applications on screen
Real SmartERP screens with sample data.
Who uses it
- Business owner or general managerSee the whole business and keep every department working on the same records.
- Finance and accountingInvoices, bills, bank and reports from one ledger.
- Sales and customer serviceLeads, quotations, orders and follow-up.
- Operations and productionPlan production, maintain equipment, deliver on time.
Company sizes
- Up to 10 people
- 11 to 50 people
What SmartERP does not cover for this industry
SmartERP has no reservation calendar showing which car is available on a given day, no online booking form with deposit hold, no live vehicle location and no register of traffic fines. Keep your booking sheet for availability.
Questions about SmartERP for agri-Equipment Rental
Can SmartERP show which car is available on a given day?
No. SmartERP has no reservation calendar, no online booking form with deposit hold, no live vehicle location and no register of traffic fines. Keep your booking sheet for availability.
How do we quote a wedding or conference fleet quickly?
Save a standard hire quotation in Sales with the day rate, driver and included distance, then change only dates and vehicles. Once confirmed it becomes an order, then an invoice.
Can we tell whether a car earns more than it costs?
Fleet shows what each car costs to run, from the service log and fuel entries. Set that against the hire invoiced in Accounting to decide whether the car stays.
Can we see a service coming due before a car goes out?
Preventive maintenance creates a request at each set interval, and the request board shows open work before a car goes out.
How do the applications in the starting set work together?
CRM enquiries become quotations in Sales and invoices in Accounting. Fleet holds the vehicles, Maintenance schedules servicing, Purchase orders parts and Inventory shelves them.
See it before you decide
A wedding-season hire from enquiry to paid invoice for a fictional hire company
The walkthrough follows a wedding host's enquiry through a template quotation and a confirmed order to an invoice matched to a bank transfer, on sample data for a fictional company.
There is no self-service sandbox. The demo is a guided walkthrough on sample data, or you can start a trial workspace.
Pricing
This industry has no packaged edition yet. You can start on a per-user plan with the recommended applications, or ask for a quote. Current plans and prices are on the pricing page.
See plans and pricingA website for your business
SmartERP can also set up a starter website for this kind of business, offered as part of a website project: Home, Vehicles, Self-Drive or Driver, Pickup & Return, Rental Requirements, Book a Vehicle, Contact. How the website tools work.
Start with what your business needs first
Tell us your industry and we carry it through the guided set-up, or talk to us first.
Start SmartERP Book a demo