The Multiplier Rate allows a rate to automatically transition through several steps:
Half Day (optional)
Day
Week
Month
An example of this would be
$50 for half a day
$100 for a day
$500 for a week (an amount of days that transition into a week can be specified)
$2000 for a month. (an amount of weeks in that transition into a month can be specified)
This type of rate allows the transition to take place based on the charging end date on a rental order item.
If the customer booked it out on Feb 1st 2025 and booked it back in on Feb 2nd 2025, that would in an example be classed as two days and charge $200.
The number of days that transition into a week can be specified (eg 3 days and over becomes a week) and the number of weeks that transition into a month can also be specified (eg 3 weeks becomes a month after the 3rd week).
This allows for ultimate flexibility when configuring the rate.
The above screen shot shows the available fields on the rate definition configuration.
Ensure you select the company this rate applies to, then choose Multiplier Rate under Rate Engine.
Some default charging patterns are provided for example:
If you select one of these, the days per week and weeks per month are specficied.
When we select the 1-3-9 Charging Pattern, the Days Per Week and Weeks per Month are both set to 3 and cannot be changed. We select a Charging Cycle of 28 days. The Rental Days per Week is 7.
We set up product rates for the rate definition. We enter $10 for the Day rate and the Week and Month rates are automatically calculated:
The charges are calculated as follows:
1 day = $10
2 days = $20
3 days = $30. This is the week charge. Once the 3rd day is reached, the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th days are not charged.
1 week and 1 day = $40
1 week and 2 days = $50
1 week and 3 days = $60. This is the charge for 2 weeks.
2 weeks and 1 day = $70
2 weeks and 2 days = $80
2 weeks and 3 days = $90. This is the charge for the month. Days 18 – 28 for a 28 day billing cycle (or 18 - 30 or 31 if you are calendar month billing) are not charged.
For a 28 day billing cycle, the second billing period starts on the 29th day of the month; for calendar month billing, the second billing period starts on the first day of the following month.
28 day billing cycles effectively give you 13 months in the year for charging.
When we select the 1-4-12 Charging Pattern, the Days Per Week is set to 4 and the Weeks per Month is set to 3 and cannot be changed. The Rental Days per Week is 7. We select a Charging Cycle of Calendar Month:
The charges are calculated as follows:
1 day = $10
2 days = $20
3 days = $30.
4 days = $40. This is the week charge. Once the 4th day is reached, the 5th, 6th, and 7th days are not charged.
1 week and 1 day = $50
1 week and 2 days = $60
1 week and 3 days = $70.
1 week and 4 days = $80. This is the charge for 2 weeks.
2 weeks and 1 day = $90
2 weeks and 2 days = $100
2 weeks and 3 days = $110.
2 weeks and 4 days = $120. This is the charge for the month. Days 19 – 28 for a 28 day billing cycle (or 19 - 30 or 31 if you are calendar month billing) are not charged.
For a 28 day billing cycle, the second billing period starts on the 29th day of the month; for calendar month billing, the second billing period starts on the first day of the following month.
As you can see, on a 1-4-12 rate type the:
1 is the daily rate
4 is the weekly rate
12 is the monthly rate
You can set up a multiplier rate definition with 5 or 6 rental days per week, allowing the weekend days to be considered non-chargeable.
When using the 1-3-9 charging pattern, for example, and the rental starts on a Friday, day 2 would be calculated as the Monday of the following week (rather than the Saturday), and it would round up to the weekly charge on the Tuesday.
Some examples using 50/150/450 daily/weekly/monthly rates:
Rental period = 6 days, then the customer would be charged for 1 week (5 days @150) and 1 day (@50) for a total of 200.
Rental period = 26 days, then the customer is charged for 1 month (20 days @450), 1 week (5 days @150), and 1 day (@ 50) for a total of 650.
Rental period = 4 days, then the customer is charged for 1 week because 4 days x the daily rate of 50 is 200 which is greater than the weekly rate.
Rental period = 9 days, customer is charged for 2 weeks, because 1 week (5 days) @150) + 4 days (@200) = 350 which is greater than 2 weeks (300).
Using the Allow Rate Changes option
When the Allow Rate Changes option option is set, you can enter your own Day, Week, and Month rates against products instead of using the automatically calculating percentage splits. This is useful if there is no set percentage pattern on the rates you charge.
Enable Half Day
Half day charging allows you to specify a charge for up to 4 hours. When you set the Enable Half Day option, and you set up rates against a product, you enter a rate for half a day. You enter the Day rate, and the other rates are automatically calculated:
When using this option and the 24 Hour Clock calendar day type, the half day charging applies to both the first day and the last day. As an example, we have a half day charge of £5 and a day charge of £10. With a:
Rental period of 9.30am to 11.30am on 21st March - $5 charge.
Rental period of 9.30am to 2.30pm on 21st March - $10 charge.
Rental period of 9.30am on 21st March to 11.30am on 22nd March - $15 charge.
Rental period of 9.30am on 21st March to 2.30pm on 22nd March - $20 charge.
The 24 Hour Clock option, a rental day is counted for every 24 hours of the rental period, using the time of day at the start and end of the period. A calendar day will be based on a calendar day on a calendar elapsing, so if it goes over the end of Monday into Tuesday, 2 days will be charged.
A leeway can be specified if using 24hr charging to allow a margin at the end of the rental, say for example you might give them an extra hour before the next day charge kcicks in.
When testing the rate, you'll notice that the customer is always charged based on the billing period, unless its returned earlier, in which case the relevant half day / day / week invoices will be created. This is done intentionally to avoid charging your customer in smaller billing period chunks when carrying out an invoice run or creating an invoice from the order. It's best practice to do an invoice run at the end of every week for ongoing rentals with this rate, so that any ongoing charges that have hit the billing period (be it the booked in items, continuous 28 day / monthly invoices) are picked up.