A pile of completed jobs waiting to be invoiced
It is the end of the month. There are sixty completed private hires to invoice. Most were paid in advance by one-off customers, but a third are account customers: schools, a football club, a care home, two companies. The office raises invoices from the quote in the coach software, then goes through the drivers' returned sheets to see if anything changed.
Some sheets are missing. One driver wrote "waited 2 hrs extra" without saying why. Another paid for parking at a venue and has not handed in the receipt. A school trip took a longer route because of a road closure. The office does its best, but some extras are left off because nobody can prove them, and the account customers get invoices for work they did five weeks ago.
The invoice is built from the plan, not from what happened
The quote is a good starting point, but the invoice should reflect the job as it actually ran, under the terms the customer agreed. The information about what actually happened is with the driver, and it travels slowly.
- Invoices are raised in batches from the original quote.
- Drivers' records of extras arrive on paper, late or incomplete.
- Quote terms for waiting and extra mileage are not applied consistently.
- Receipts for parking and tolls are separate from the job.
- Account customers need order numbers and specific formats that slow things down.
Revenue left on the table and slow payment
Extras that are fair to charge under your terms, but not charged, are lost income on every job they affect. Late invoices get paid late, and account customers are more likely to question an invoice weeks after the event, when nobody remembers the extra wait. Staff also spend a lot of time at month end on invoicing that could have been done as jobs finished.
Customers prefer it too: an invoice that arrives soon after the trip, with extras explained, is easier to approve than one that arrives later with a surprise on it.
Invoicing from the job as it ran
We build invoice preparation that starts from the booking and the driver's record.
- The booking holds the agreed price and the terms that affect extras: waiting time included and the rate after, mileage allowance, who pays parking and tolls.
- At the end of each job, the driver records finish time, extra waiting with a reason, route changes and any parking or tolls paid, with photos of receipts, on their phone.
- The system prepares a draft invoice straight away: the agreed price, plus extras calculated under the booking's terms, each with its reason and evidence.
- Extras outside the terms or unusually large are flagged for a person to decide whether to charge.
- Account customers' order numbers, cost codes and invoice formats are held on the customer record and applied automatically.
- Once approved, invoices are created in your accounts system (for example Xero or QuickBooks) and sent to the customer, with the receipts attached where useful.
- Jobs completed but not invoiced are listed, so nothing sits forgotten until month end.
| Invoice item | Before | With job-based invoicing |
|---|---|---|
| Agreed price | From the quote | From the booking |
| Extra waiting | Guessed from a note | Recorded with reason, calculated under terms |
| Parking and tolls | Receipt may be lost | Photographed at the job |
| Account customer format | Edited by hand | Applied from the customer record |
| Timing | Month end batch | Drafted when the job ends |
Invoicing as jobs finish
The school trip finishes on Wednesday. The driver records the extra forty minutes caused by the road closure and notes it. The draft invoice appears on Thursday with the agreed price and no extra charge, because your terms treat diversions as your cost. The care home outing had two hours of extra waiting at the customer's request, which the draft includes under the booking's terms, and the office approves it.
By the end of the month, invoicing is already done. The office spends that time on the exceptions list, not on a pile of sheets.
Is invoicing losing you money?
- Private hire invoices are raised in a month-end batch.
- Extras such as waiting and parking are often left off.
- Drivers' records of extras arrive late or not at all.
- Account customers query invoices because they arrive weeks later.
- Completed jobs sometimes go uninvoiced.