Unit expenses explained
Contents
Summary
The following article explains how Platinum deals with vehicle expenses.
More Information
- First of all, follow Selling a Vehicle for details on how to create a vehicle sales order, add extras and accessories where necessary, and then print and accept the order.
Vehicle Sales
- Items added to the sales order will show as an Expected Expense against the vehicle. This shows what the sales department expect to pay for the items that the customer has purchased with the vehicle.
- These items added to the sales order can be flagged as either 'W' - Workshop or 'S' - Stock or 'F' - Financial items.
- Workshop items are passed across to the estimate side of the workshop job created for the PDI or preparation of the sale vehicle. This type is intended for items that need to be fitted to the bike, but can be used for any items.
- Stock items are dropped onto Sales Ordering for the parts department to check and order if necessary. This type is intended for items such as clothing or helmets which don't need to be fitted to the bike - some customers find it easier to treat these items as 'W' - Workshop items since it keeps all the items on the deal together.
- Financial items (Road Fund Licence, First Reg Fee etc) should be tied up by either accounts or vehicle admin when the money is spent to purchase these items. This type is intended for non-tangible items, such as Road Fund Licence. This could include warranty for example.
W - Workshop Items
 | Handling items by this method is both simple and effective. |
When the workshop PDI/Prep job is invoiced, the parts that were transferred from the vehicle sales order will post an Actual cost to the vehicle that the system will match against the Expected item. Labour to fit these items should appear as an actual expense against the accessories, not the vehicle, so this should be shown as a separate item or items.
 | Items transferred from the vehicle sales order are matched up by part number. It is therefore vital that any incorrect items from the vehicle sales order are not deleted from the workshop job or amended to enter the correct item. You must inform the sales department that the items are wrong, and they must correct the vehicle sales order, and reprint it. This will feed the corrections back to the workshop job, and they can be processed there. This will prevent doubling of the charges against the vehicle, with items sold to the customer being shown as Accessory expenses, and the corrected item being shown as a PDI/Prep expense against the vehicle as well. |
- Items required to PDI or prepare the bike should be added to this job in the usual way, and these will be shown as expenses against the vehicle, not against the Accessories sold with the vehicle.
S - Stock Items
When the vehicle sales order is printed and accepted, the system creates a stock sales order for these items. This sales order is retrieved like any other customer order, stock levels checked and the items charged to sales and allocated to a vehicle stock number. This creates the Actual expense to match against the Expected expense. As with the 'W' items above, any incorrect items must not be corrected here - it must be passed back to sales as above, otherwise we end up with duplicated expenses.
F - Financial Items
These items should be anything that is not a stocked item. Accounts or Sales Admin will pay for Road Fund Licence and First Registration Fee where relevant, and any other items where the cost can be entered directly against the vehicle (i.e. no involvement of the workshop or parts department) should be dealt with in this method. When the cost is incurred, either from a purchase invoice or a journal, it should be matched up against the expected financial expense on the vehicle record.
Pitfalls and Items of Note
Duplication of expenses
Using 'W' or 'S' type items from the vehicle sales order, it is very tempting for the Parts or Clothing staff to notice an item that is incorrect, and to sort it out themselves. This will cause problems of duplicating expenses against the vehicle. They must notify sales of the error and get sales to correct the vehicle order.
Late Costs
Some items sold with the vehicle may not be available at the time that the customer takes delivery, and you intend to fit these either at first service time or when they become available. The system incorporates the cost of these items as Expected expenses against the vehicle, but any labour costs to fit these items are not shown against the vehicle, nor is any provision made in the Accounts system for the costs of items not supplied. Once the items are supplied, then any costs incurred at this point will be allocated as Actual costs against the vehicle, and these will be reflected in the Accounts system at this time.
See Also
- How do I Deal with Vehicle Preparation/PDI?.
- How do I find Vehicle Sales Order PDI/Preparation jobs?.
- How are Vehicle Expenses classified?
- Vehicle Expenses Explained
- How do I Log a Purchase Invoice as an Expense Against a Vehicle?
- How do I Post Expenses against a Vehicle?
