How Do Automatic Trip Charges Work?

Trip Charges and Diagnostic fees are common business practices in many service industries.  Thankfully, ESC's Automatic Trip Charge feature allows an amount to be assigned per Location that will appear each time a new dispatch is created.  When it comes time for that dispatch to be invoiced, that Trip Charge and any other items added to the Parts area of the dispatch will be there waiting for you.

Setup

The Automatic Trip Charge feature allows you to assign a set dollar amount to all customer invoices or to assign individual amounts to each service location.  

If you wish to assign a set amount for all invoices, you'll start out by going to Sales → Enter Billing Codes and clicking the Add New button.

Enter a Code and Description for your automatic charges.  Now set the Type to "Other".  

In the Rate (Price) field, enter the amount you want charged on all invoices that are created from dispatches.  You are not required to fill in any other fields and may click OK at this time, but feel free to edit any other fields you feel are necessary.

Now that you have your billing code created, head to Company → System Setup → Dispatch and select that code for the Automatic Trip Charge field.

If you decide you want the charge determined for each location instead of having a set rate, then you'll still need to create a billing code as instructed above, but leave the Rate (Price) field blank on the Enter Billing Codes screen.  Then, on the Location tab of the Customer setup screen, you'll need to fill in the Trip Charge field.

How It Works

Every dispatch that is created for a customer from the Customer Center or Dispatch List will automatically show this billing code and amount in the Parts tab with a Warehouse of "0000".  When that dispatch is invoiced, the charge - as well as any other items added to the Parts tab - will be carried to the Sales Invoice screen automatically.  Dispatches created from Quotes, Invoices, ESC Mobile or any other module will not have this code applied.  Also, Locations with active agreement will be considered exempt from these automatic charges.  In any of these cases, the charge will need to be added to the invoice manually.

Tip: To avoid issues with the Trip Charge, do not make ESC's default Warehouse ("0000") inactive.