Ending a rental when the vehicle comes back
Close an active rental, record when the vehicle was returned, and adjust the final total if it changed.
Updated
Ending a rental frees the vehicle for the next customer and closes the booking's figures. Until you do it, the vehicle stays committed.
The End rental button appears on bookings that are Active. Open the booking and choose it.
Choosing the outcome
The dialog asks how the rental ended. There are two choices, and they are not interchangeable:
- Complete (vehicle returned) — the normal path. The rental happened, the vehicle is back, and the booking keeps its money.
- Cancel (booking scrubbed) — the rental did not really happen. Use this when a booking was started by mistake.
If you pick Cancel, a Reason field appears and is required. Fill it in properly. It is the only explanation anyone reviewing the booking later will have.
Recording the return
Set Returned at to when the vehicle actually came back. Not when you happen to be filling in the form.
If a customer returned a vehicle on Sunday evening and you are closing the booking on Monday morning, put Sunday evening. Your vehicle utilisation figures are only as accurate as this field.
Adjusting the total
Adjusted total (optional) sets the final figure. Leave it alone and the booking's existing total stands.
Use it when the real world differed from the plan. The customer brought the vehicle back early and you agreed a reduction. Or there is an agreed charge for extra fuel or damage.
Whatever you put here becomes the amount owed, so it should match what you actually told the customer.
Add Notes if the ending needs explaining, then confirm. Rentrovia responds with Rental ended, or Booking cancelled if you chose to cancel.
After the rental ends
The booking moves to Completed. The vehicle becomes available for new bookings from the return time onward. The timeline records the Ended point. See booking statuses for what each stage means.
Ending a rental does not collect any money. If the booking still shows Unpaid or Partial, record the payment separately. A completed booking with an outstanding balance is exactly the thing that gets forgotten.
If the customer wants more time
Do not end the rental early and create a new booking. Extend the existing one instead, so the rental stays as one record.
Ending a rental in the field
With the Rentrovia mobile app, you can end a rental and record a payment from your phone at handover, without going back to a laptop.