fleet billing

[sjdieselrepair]

I looking into picking up a school bus fleet. I was wandering what is the going terms for monthly billing if anyone uses . Thanks

[ATLAuto]

I cannot speak for the northeast, but payment terms in our area are typically between 30 to 60 days. They will want to know your standard pricing on all their PM items (tires, brakes, oil, tune-up, etc), which should not be too difficult to break down for a fleet of similar buses.

 

If I were you, I would try to find out what their current terms and pricing are before making them an offer. It puts you in a better position to negotiate. I would also figure out why they are looking for a new shop to service their fleet. A typical complaint in our area is shops not being able to provide detailed reporting to the fleet managers (example, a fleet manager might want a list of all the service done on his fleet in 2013, broken down by service type and then by VIN). Many shops cannot / won't do this.

 

Let us know how it goes!

[ATSAutomotive]

NET30 is pretty typical around here. I also service the Department of Transportation in our area. They WILL NOT accept any late fees and will pay when they get to it. So I basically just bill them they usually pay it pretty quickly and have only once or twice taken 2-3 months to get payment for. This is mostly because there is only one lady who does this job and I have seen her desk.....STACKED with invoices to pay.

 

Agree with Wes but also might want to find out if this is for a school district if THEY have any specific billing requirements. Also don't school systems typically have their own bus mechanics?

 

P.S. Wes, that is the damn fleet manager's job, but with a lot of invoicing systems you can set it up so they can access all of their information.

[sjdieselrepair]

Thanks everybody for the help. I do net 30 with my other fleet customers but wasn't sure if any one had anything different for school bus fleets. The school bus company does have there own mechanics and we are only doing there diesel engine work at this time.

[ATLAuto]

P.S. Wes, that is the damn fleet manager's job, but with a lot of invoicing systems you can set it up so they can access all of their information.

 

I agree. However, a lot of the small companies have a "fleet manager" that is just a regular manager with the additional added responsibility of handling the fleet. Many have no experience in handling a fleet and need someone to walk them through the best practices. It's easy enough to do with software and helps build a relationship.