Getting started with rent-to-own

Rent-to-own is a contract under which the client uses a vehicle and pays on a schedule, and after the last payment the vehicle becomes the client's property.

Important

This section is in public beta. This means its behavior and interface may change; we will announce notable changes in the product news. Client money and contract data are kept as usual.

What a contract consists of

Term	What it means
Product	A template of terms: calculation formula, period and term, rate, late fees. The contract takes its terms from it when it is set up
Contract	A deal with a specific client for a specific vehicle
Contract booking	Created when the contract is activated; holds the vehicle for the client for the whole term
Payment schedule	Rows with due dates and amounts. Every client payment is allocated across them
Buyout price	How much the client pays for the vehicle itself. The buyout parts of all schedule rows add up to exactly this amount
Discipline	How the client pays: “OK”, “Overdue” or “At risk”

A contract runs on top of a regular booking. The vehicle is occupied, a bar shows in the calendar, and money comes in as regular booking payments — the section only allocates it across the schedule rows.

Who can access the section

All three conditions must be met:

• the “Rent-to-own” service is included in the company's plan;
• the section is turned on in the branch settings — see how to turn on the section;
• the user's role is “Main Administrator”, “Branch manager” or “Manager”.

A trial period does not unlock the section

While the service is not in the plan, there is no menu item, and opening the section page directly shows an offer to change the plan. A trial period changes nothing here.

An employee with any other role does not see the section, and following a direct link shows “No access to this module”. They can still accept money for a contract booking — see accepting payments.

How to turn on the section

The section is turned on separately in each branch. It is off by default so it doesn't show up in the menu for those who don't need rent-to-own. It can be turned on and off by the “Main Administrator” or the “Branch manager”.

1. Open the company settings and go to the “Rental” tab.
2. Find the “Rent-to-own” block at the bottom of the tab.
3. Turn on the “Turn on the section in this branch” switch — it is saved immediately, without the “Save” button. If the settings have unsaved changes, the switch is inactive: save them first.
4. Check that the “Rent-to-own” item has appeared in the side menu. Other employees of the branch will see it without reloading the page.

The block is missing if the “Rent-to-own” service is not in the company's plan.

The section can be turned off only when no contracts are in progress

While the branch has drafts or active contracts, the switch won't turn off: the system shows how many such contracts there are. Complete, terminate or cancel them — otherwise there would be contracts whose schedule nobody sees and on which nobody makes decisions. Closed contracts don't prevent turning the section off.

Where the section is in the menu

In the side menu, the “Rent-to-own” item has two sub-items:

• “Contracts” — the list of contracts with a discipline summary;
• “Products” — templates of terms.

Another entry point is the “Set up rent-to-own” button in the vehicle card and in the client card. It opens the contract wizard with the vehicle or client already selected.

Setup order

1. Make sure the “Rent-to-own” service is in the plan and you have a suitable role. If the service is missing, contact RentProg support.
2. Turn on the section in the branch settings.
3. Create a product — the template of terms used to calculate schedules.
4. Set up a contract for a client and a vehicle and activate it.
5. Accept payments as they come due and keep an eye on overdue payments.
6. Close the contract by completion, early payoff or termination.

Contract statuses

Status	What it means
Draft	Terms can be changed. There is no schedule or booking yet
Active	The schedule is recorded, the vehicle is held by the booking, payments are allocated across the rows
Completed	The buyout is paid, the vehicle has been handed over to the client and moved to the archive as sold
Terminated	The contract was closed early, the balance has been calculated
Cancelled	The draft was cancelled, the contract never took effect

What happens without employee involvement

Once a day the system debits payments that have come due from the client balance (if auto-debit is turned on in the contract), marks overdue rows, charges late fees and sends clients reminders about upcoming due dates.

Every five minutes it allocates across the schedule payments that bypassed the section — for example, ones recorded through the cash desk.

Without the service in the plan, automation stops

If the service is removed from the plan, contracts and their data are kept, but late fees, auto-debit and reminders stop. Money already received continues to be allocated across the schedule.