Price a tow call from the rate book

A quote turns the facts of a call into a price. You will be able to price a call at intake, see every line and the rate book version behind it, and keep the quote with the call so the driver and the invoice use the same figure.

Before you start #

• A rate book with a version in force on the day of the service (see "Set up your tow rate book").
• You need the dispatcher, advisor, manager or owner role.

How a quote is worked out #

1. Service lines come first. A tow charges the hook-up, loaded miles beyond the included ones, unloaded miles, winching, waiting, and the flatbed or dolly fee when one is used. A recovery charges winching, waiting and unloaded miles. A roadside call charges the service-call rate and waiting.
2. One time-of-day surcharge applies to those service lines. It is the greater of the after-hours percentage (when the service time falls inside the window) and the weekend percentage (Saturday and Sunday, local time). The two never add together.
3. The fuel surcharge applies to the same service lines. It does not apply to the time-of-day surcharge.
4. When the lines so far come to less than the minimum, one adjustment line raises them to the minimum.
5. Storage is added when you give storage hours: each started day after the free hours is charged.

Winching and waiting are billed in started 15-minute units, so 16 minutes bills as 30. Every line is rounded to the cent, with half a cent rounding up.

Which service applies comes from the call's reason: a lockout, jump start, flat tire or fuel call is roadside, a winch-out is a recovery, and everything else is a tow. The time of service is the call's scheduled time, or the time the call was taken when nothing is scheduled.

Steps #

1. To price without saving, send POST /tow/quote with any of account_id, service, truck_type, loaded_miles, unloaded_miles, winch_minutes, wait_minutes, equipment, service_at and storage_hours. The answer lists each line and the total.
2. To price a call and keep the quote, send POST /tow/calls/:id/quote. The call's account, reason, loaded distance and scheduled time fill in anything you leave out. The total also shows on the call as its quote.
3. Read the stored quote with GET /tow/calls/:id/quote. Add ?history=1 to see every quote the call has had.
4. Price again when something changes, such as extra winching time. The new quote becomes the current one and the earlier one stays in the history.
5. To charge a different amount, add override_cents and an override_reason. The call keeps both the amount you typed and the amount the rate book gave.

On the web console #

• On New tow call, the Quote section asks for the account, truck type, loaded miles, unloaded miles, winching and waiting minutes and the equipment. The price shows a moment after you fill in the loaded miles. Tick Type a different amount to set your own price with a reason of at least 3 characters. Taking the call stores the quote with it.
• On a call, the Quote section shows the lines, the totals and the rate book version. Open Quote inputs to change the facts, then choose Price again. Earlier quotes stay under Earlier quotes. Once the call is invoiced the quote no longer changes.

If something goes wrong #

• "The rate book has no service-call rate for roadside work": add service_call to the rate book.
• "Nothing to charge: add the winching time or the distance": a recovery needs winching minutes, and a tow needs a hook-up or loaded mileage rate.
• "A cancelled call cannot be quoted": reopen the work as a new call.
• "This call has been invoiced. Its quote can no longer change": the invoice already carries the price.