TowingBossPro Blog — Impound & Storage

Following Up on Storage Invoices Billed to Accounts

Collecting at the window is simple: no payment, no keys. Account storage is different. A body shop, dealer or fleet customer may take the vehicle on terms and pay the invoice later. That is normal and often good business, but it means the money depends on follow-up, not leverage.

Finding the Vehicles That Have Sat in Storage the Longest covered the vehicles that sit too long. This article covers the invoices that sit too long.

Keep Every Invoice Under Its Account

TowingBossPro keeps commercial accounts with their calls and invoices under the account. That one structure answers most of the questions you need for follow-up: what has this account been billed, what is paid, what is open and how old it is.

When storage days are counted and added to the invoice for a vehicle the account sent you, that invoice lands under the account with everything else. There is no separate pile of storage bills to remember.

It also makes it easy to answer the account's own questions. When a shop's bookkeeper calls asking what an invoice is for, you can see the call, the vehicle details and the storage days on the same screen, and answer before they finish asking.

Agree on Terms First

Follow-up is easier when the terms were clear from the start. Before you hold vehicles for an account on credit, agree on the daily storage rate, when invoices are sent, when they are due and what happens when they are late. Write it down and share it with the account.

Storage fee rules can still apply to account work in some places, so check what is allowed where you operate.

Pay attention to who your contract is actually with. Sometimes the shop asked for the tow but expects the insurance company to pay storage. Sort that out up front, in writing, so you are not trying to figure out who owes you three weeks after the vehicle left.

Let the Software Send the Reminders

Nobody likes chasing money, which is why it does not get done. TowingBossPro handles payment follow-ups, so reminders go out on overdue invoices without someone having to remember. The tone stays polite and consistent, and your staff gets to spend their energy on the accounts that actually need a phone call.

Card on file helps too. An account that keeps a card on file can be charged according to your agreement without a check getting lost in their accounts payable department.

Set the reminder schedule to match your terms. If invoices are due in fifteen days, a reminder a few days before and another a few days after is plenty to start. You can always pick up the phone for the ones that stay quiet, and your reports will show you which ones those are.

Look at Open Invoices Every Week

Set a weekly habit: open the accounts with unpaid invoices and look at what is aging. A storage invoice that is a week overdue is a reminder. One that is two months overdue is a conversation. One that is six months overdue is a problem you should have caught earlier.

Reports make this quick. Pull unpaid invoices, sort by age and work the list from the top.

Add up how much storage is sitting unpaid across all your accounts. Many owners are surprised by the total the first time they look. That number is cash you have already earned and are lending to your customers for free.

Talk to the Right Person

When a reminder does not work, call. Ask for whoever handles payables, not the service writer who sent you the car. Have the invoice in front of you with the vehicle details, the start date, the rate and the number of storage days, so the conversation is about when they will pay, not whether the number is right.

If an account repeatedly pays late, consider changing their terms: collect at release, require a card on file, or charge storage from day one with no grace. Your accounts should be worth the credit you give them.

Clean Records Get Paid Faster

Accounts pay invoices they understand. An invoice that shows the vehicle, the tow and each storage day at the agreed rate is easy to approve. One that says "storage $640" with no detail goes to the bottom of the pile. Clear invoices are the cheapest collection tool you have.

See how account billing fits with the rest of storage on the Impound & Storage Software page. Next: storage for body shops and dealers.