Renting Out a Car Lift by the Hour: One Receipt for the Whole Job

Saturday, just after ten. A Golf with half-drained oil sits on lift 1, someone with an estate car is waiting on lift 2 for brake pads, and a third customer at the counter asks whether there’s room today. Meanwhile someone wants to know what their hour has cost so far. If you run a supervised do-it-yourself workshop, you know this: many things happen at once, and all of them depend on time, tools and money.

The classic answer is a mix of stopwatch, a note on the wall, a spreadsheet for tools, and the till at the very end. That works as long as everything is in your head. It gets awkward when the cordless drill doesn’t come back, or the clock was started “sometime around then.”

A lift is a table in the till

The rental workshop in DiKAS takes a plain approach: no second clock and no second price calculation. A lift is a table of the till. Time runs through the existing time billing, meaning a time item with tiered rates, a maximum price and rounding. Payment happens at the normal till.

In the till, an overview shows a tile per lift: free, reserved, in use, paused, in return inspection or blocked. Each tile also shows vehicle and plate, customer, the running clock, the current amount and the next appointment. The overview refreshes quietly every ten seconds.

From appointment to payment

The process is deliberately split into separate steps:

• Appointment: When booking, DiKAS checks whether the vehicle fits the lift. Each lift has a profile with maximum weight and equipment, such as a wheel lifter or a pit. A vehicle that is too heavy is not booked in the first place.
• Arrival: The customer arrives, but the clock is not running yet.
• Start: Only this explicit step starts the time. DiKAS records price, tiers, maximum price and rounding in the job. A later change of tariff no longer alters a completed job.
• During the rental: Pause and resume stop and restart the clock; paused time is not charged. Material, disposal and mechanic help go onto the same receipt as item lines, with the price coming from the item. There is no free price field.
• Return: The clock stops, the lift is inspected, and only after closing is it free again.

The same lift is never given to two customers at once, because DiKAS re-checks blocks, suitability and occupancy right before the start. A double click on “Start” does not begin a second rental.

Tools: lent out only after confirmation

Tool lending runs per job. The code is scanned or typed, and DiKAS first shows what applies to the tool: lend it, take it back, or “not possible” because it is blocked or sits with another job. Only after confirmation is anything booked. On lending, the accessories handed over are recorded; on return, whether everything is back.

If a part is missing, the tool stays lent out and cannot be lent again. The part is handed in later or written off, the latter with a mandatory reason and only by management. Every event is recorded with time and person. Importantly, a tool that has not been returned prevents closing the job. Paying does not replace the return, and DiKAS lists every reason why closing is currently not possible.

A deposit that moves no money

In DiKAS the deposit is not a payment method of its own. The customer tops up credit, an amount of it is bound to the job, and bound credit can be neither spent nor paid out. At the end the binding is released in full or in part or, for example after damage, retained with a reason. The retained amount then appears as an item line on the receipt.

One limit belongs here: the customer must be selected from the search when starting. They cannot be linked afterwards, and without a linked customer there is no deposit.

When everything is taken

If no suitable lift is free, the customer goes onto the waiting list. When a lift becomes free, DiKAS names the waiting customers whose lift, duration and time window fit. An offer holds the spot for a limited time and then releases it automatically. A placement suggestion names up to three suitable lifts with reasons when someone asks on the phone.

If a customer keeps a lift longer than the next appointment allows, the overview points it out, with an estimated extra amount, free lifts for the waiting customer and a draft message to copy.

And here is the honest part: DiKAS sends nothing. Neither offers nor cancellations to waiting customers go out automatically, and the draft message is not sent either. Staff inform people themselves, by phone or email. The overrun notice only detects; it does not rebook anything.

Customers see their own status

With the job pass, the customer gets a protected link with a QR code. There they see status, rental time, the current amount (as an interim figure; the receipt at the till is binding), material and borrowed tools. They can request an extension or mechanic help. Such requests move neither time nor money until staff accept them, and even then staff book through the normal buttons.

Good to know

The rental workshop runs in the browser till, not in the standalone Android till app. It is part of the Reservations & Appointments module. And the tariff should not be changed while a rental is running, because that rental then continues with the changed item. The lift shows a notice about it.

In closing

The gain lies less in single features than in clock, tools, deposit and till hanging off one job. At the end there is one receipt, one payment route and one signature from the fiscal security device, with no double booking. If you want to read up on setup and all fields, you’ll find them in the documentation in the chapter on the rental workshop.