A rate book holds the prices you charge for towing and roadside work. You will be able to enter your rates, change them on a date you choose without losing the old ones, and give a commercial or motor-club account its own prices.
Before you start #
- You need the owner or manager role to write rates. Dispatchers, advisors and the owner can read them.
- Have your price list in front of you. Every amount is entered in cents (a hook-up of $95.00 is 9500) and every percentage in basis points (25% is 2500).
- This guide names the requests the server answers. The Mac and web screens for rates follow the same fields.
What a rate book holds #
Each line is one value for one rate code. A line can name a truck type (such as flatbed) or apply to any truck.
| Rate code | What it prices | Unit |
|---|---|---|
hookup | Hook-up and tow, once per tow | cents |
mile_loaded | Each mile with the vehicle on board, after the included miles | cents per mile |
included_miles | Loaded miles covered by the hook-up | tenths of a mile (50 is 5.0 miles) |
mile_unloaded | Each mile driven without the vehicle | cents per mile |
winch_hour | Winching and recovery | cents per hour, billed in started 15-minute units |
wait_hour | Waiting time at the scene | cents per hour, billed in started 15-minute units |
service_call | A roadside call such as a lockout or jump start | cents |
dolly_fee, flatbed_fee | Equipment used on the tow | cents |
after_hours_pct | Surcharge during the after-hours window | basis points |
weekend_pct | Surcharge on Saturday and Sunday | basis points |
fuel_pct | Fuel surcharge | basis points |
minimum | The least a quote can come to | cents |
storage_day | Storage for each started day | cents |
storage_free_hours | Hours of storage before charges start | hours |
Steps #
- Make the default book: send
POST /tow/rate-bookswith aname. This book prices every call unless the call's account has its own. - Add the first version: send
POST /tow/rate-books/:id/versionswitheffective_from(a date such as 2026-01-01) andlines, a list ofcode,valueand an optionaltruck_type. The answer shows the version number and every line. - Set the after-hours window if yours differs from 7 pm to 7 am: add
after_hours_startandafter_hours_end, hours from 0 to 23 in your local time. The first hour is inside the window and the last hour is outside it. - Change a price later by adding another version with the new lines and a later
effective_from. The earlier version stays as it was, and a quote picks the version in force on the day of the service. - Give an account its own prices: send
POST /tow/rate-bookswith the account'saccount_idand add its versions the same way. A call for that account uses its book. When the account's book has no version in force on the day, the default book prices the call and the quote says so. - Read the books back with
GET /tow/rate-books, which shows the version in force today, andGET /tow/rate-books/:id?on=2026-11-10to see what is in force on any date.
Technical details
- Each business has one default book and at most one book for each account. Switching an account's book off with
PATCH /tow/rate-books/:idandactive: falsereturns that account to the default book. - A version cannot be edited. The new version carries the whole line set, so you copy the lines you keep.
- When two versions share an effective date, the higher version number applies. The date a service falls on is its local date in your business time zone, so a service at 11:30 pm on the last day of an old version uses the old prices.
- Values are checked before saving: no negative amounts, included miles up to 999.0, percentages up to 500%, free hours up to 8760, each code once for each truck type. Nothing is saved when any line fails.
- When a version is already in force, its
anytruck lines are copied into the older rate card table that private-property impound fees read, so those fees follow the same prices. - Every change adds an audit log entry.
On the web console #
- Open Rates in the menu. Each row is a book with the version in force today.
- Owners and managers choose New rate book, name it and pick the default book or one account. The new book opens.
- Choose New version. Set Effective from, the after-hours window and the grid. The boxes start from the newest version, so type only what changes. Amounts are in dollars, surcharges in percent, included miles in miles and free storage in hours. An empty box means no line.
- Choose Save the version. It appears at the top of the list and stays separate from the older ones.
- Tick Show the version in force on a day to see the rates a past call used.
If something goes wrong #
- "No rate book version is in force on that date": add a version whose
effective_fromis on or before the date of the service. - "The rate book has no hook-up or mileage rate for a tow": add
hookupormile_loadedto the version in force. - "Only owners and managers can do this": sign in as the owner or a manager to write rates.
- "That account already has a rate book": add a version to its existing book instead.