Sign in Talk to us Free trial
Free trial

Design and software studio
Colour

Run the lien clock and list a vehicle for auction

Enter your own lien schedule, start a vehicle's clock, mark each notice and review as done in order, and list the vehicle for auction once your schedule is finished.

For
OwnerAdministratorDispatcher
Hosting
Any hosting
Devices
All devices
Business
Towing

Checked against Pop Dispatch 0.1.0

The lien clock keeps track of the steps you take on an impounded vehicle before it can be sold. You will be able to enter your own schedule, follow each vehicle's steps and due dates, and list a vehicle for auction when every step is done.

Before you start #

  • Your business remains responsible for the lien and notice rules in your area. Pop Dispatch ships no day counts and states nothing about what the law requires. Check the rules with your local authority or a lawyer and enter the day counts you checked.
  • You need the owner or manager role to save the schedule and to list a vehicle. Dispatchers and advisors can start a clock and mark steps done.
  • This guide names the requests the server answers. The Mac and web screens follow the same fields.

Steps #

  1. Enter your schedule: send PATCH /tow/lien-schedule with a name, a source_note saying where your rules come from, and the day counts for the steps you use: notice1_days, notice2_days, review_days and auction_days. Each count is the number of days after the clock starts, and a later step cannot fall before an earlier one. alert_days sets how many days ahead a step shows as due soon.
  2. Start a vehicle's clock: send POST /tow/yard/:id/lien/start. The clock starts on the day the vehicle came in unless you give start_on. Each step on your schedule gets its due date.
  3. Read the clock with GET /tow/yard/:id/lien. Every step shows its due date and a state: done, upcoming, due soon or overdue. A step is overdue from the day after its due date.
  4. When you send a notice or finish the review, send POST /tow/yard/:id/lien/notice_1/done (or notice_2, review, auction_ready). The date is today unless you give done_on, which cannot be in the future or before the clock started. A notice step also adds the notice to the vehicle's notice log, and you can set its kind (letter, call, email or other) with notice_kind.
  5. Steps finish in order. Marking notice_2 before notice_1 is refused.
  6. See what needs attention across the yard with GET /tow/lien/due, which lists steps that are due or overdue. Add within to look further ahead.
  7. When every step is done and the last step's date has come, list the vehicle: send POST /tow/yard/:id/auction with a venue, and optionally scheduled_on, lot_number, reserve_cents and notes.
  8. See all listings with GET /tow/auctions, each with the vehicle and what it owes. When a listing ends without a sale, send POST /tow/auctions/:id/no-sale. To take a vehicle off the auction, send POST /tow/auctions/:id/withdraw. Either one lets you list the vehicle again.
  9. When the vehicle sells, record the sale (see "Dispose of a vehicle and bill what it owes").
Technical details
  • Listing is allowed when every step on the schedule except the last is done, the last step's date has come (or the schedule has no such step), and the vehicle has no hold.
  • A vehicle is listed once at a time. Closing a listing frees the vehicle for another.
  • The vehicle's stored lien stage follows the first step still to do, and shows auction-ready once all are done.
  • The schedule is one record for the business. Changing it leaves clocks already started as they were.
  • Every action adds an audit log entry.

If something goes wrong #

  • "Enter the business's lien schedule first": save the schedule, then start the clock.
  • "Finish first owner notice first": mark the earlier step done.
  • "Finish ... before listing the vehicle": the schedule has steps still open.
  • "The schedule makes the vehicle ready for auction on ...": wait for that date.
  • "A hold is on this vehicle. Clear it before listing it": clear the hold on the yard record.