Equipment rental software
Contact Location is the equipment rental software from the Contact range, published by ComputerLine since 1987. From quotation to delivery, from return to invoice, right through to accounting transfer.
In brief
What Contact Location manages on a daily basis
What equipment hire software needs to cover, and what Contact does every day:
Availability and schedule
The number of parts available on a given date, including or excluding quotes, over a month, six months or a year.
Stock and inventory
Stock levels are updated automatically with every check-out and check-in, and physical counts are carried out from the software.
From quotation to invoice
Quotes, contracts, dispatch notes and invoices in the same chain, without re-entry, right through to transfer to accounting.
Remote access
Remote Windows Desktop and cloud access, with telephone and remote maintenance support.
The principle
Equipment rental software: manage your entire fleet from a single screen
Managing a rental fleet using spreadsheets and notebooks works as long as the volume remains low. Beyond a certain threshold, the double bookings, the unbilled returns and the fixed assets cost more than the tool that would prevent them.
Contact Location brings together in a single software what is currently split across several files: the schedule, quotes and contracts, dispatch notes, returns with the invoicing of broken, lost or unreturned equipment, the inventories and remote access.
The software is organised into modules: rentals, sales, purchases and files. You only open the ones your business needs, and the rest don't get in your way.
Step 01 · Book
01
Your rental schedule in real time
Knowing what is available, what has gone out and what is coming back in tomorrow: that is the question a hire company answers twenty times a day. Contact answers it without having to open three files.
On a date
The schedule shows the number of parts available on the requested day, part by part.
Excluding quote or including quote
Two readings of the same day: what actually went out, and what will do so if the current quotes are signed.
Over a month, six months, a year
The same availability can be projected over the period of your choice: the seasonal troughs become visible.
The schedule indicates the number of rooms available on a given date, whether quoted or unquoted, and looks ahead a month, six months or a year. You can see the equipment already booked, that which is returning and that which remains to be hired. Double bookings disappear, and off-peak periods become visible.
A second schedule gives the vision of your employees' day: the deliveries to be made and the tasks assigned to each person.
Step 02 · Going out and coming in
02
Stock, inventory and tracking of hired equipment
Every departure and every return update the stock. Damaged, lost or unreturned equipment is automatically removed from stock as soon as you declare it on the return form, and is sent for invoicing at the same time.
Knowing where the equipment is
The visual schedule and the start and end dates make it possible to know where each reference is, and with which customer. The real-time tracking and the rental history says who had what, and when.
Inventories and weights
Stocktakes are carried out from the software. The management of gross and net weights, with tare calculation, allows loads to be prepared without manual recalculation.
Park maintenance
The maintenance alerts settle on the equipment that needs it. A machine serviced on time is a machine that does not break down in the middle of a rental.
Step 03 · Invoice
03
Quotes, contracts and invoicing for your rentals
Once the customer's information has been entered, you go straight from quote to invoice, without re-entry. Equipment availability is managed in the same movement using the planning tool.
At the end of the chain, customer and supplier invoices as well as payments are transferred into your accounting without any re-entry, or sent to your accountant as journal entries. The schedule tells you at any time what your clients owe you, and the VAT return can be generated from the same tool.
La electronic invoicing is progressively becoming mandatory for French businesses: you might as well make sure your rental invoices already originate from a single tool.
Short or long-term rentals
Equipment rental software has to handle two different rates, because a fleet is not hired out at just a single tempo. A half-day rental for a weekend and a machine tied up on a construction site for six months are not managed in the same way, yet they come from the same stock.
Contact manages short-term lets like long-term lets from the same interface. You see on the same screen what is running and what is sleeping.
The real cost
The cost of poorly managed equipment
The cost of equipment rental software is rarely compared to the right figure. Opposite its price, you have to weigh up what the absence of a tool costs, and those lines do not appear on any invoice:
- the goods dispatched without being invoiced, because the return note was not matched with the dispatch note;
- the hours of re-entry between the quote, the invoice and the bookkeeping;
- the double booking resulting in a refused rental, or an emergency call-out at a fellow firm;
- equipment that sits idle because nobody sees that it is available;
- the breakdown of a machine whose service has been overlooked.
The software statistics give the turnover, the gross margin and the forecast. It is from there that the buying back a reference becomes a decision, not an impression.
The choice
Spreadsheet, free software or industry-specific solution?
Many hire companies start on a spreadsheet, and that is a logical step. The limitations appear when several people are typing at the same time, when equipment moves between multiple depots, or when you need to find out who had what eight months ago.
Booking, checking out, checking in, invoicing: equipment rental software links all four. Free tools generally cover booking, rarely invoicing, stock and accounting in the same chain. The real question is not the price of the tool, but the cost of re-entry hours and equipment taken out without being invoiced.
The contacts
An integrated CRM for your customers and suppliers
The contact card
The Contacts range allows you to manage the details of each of your contacts: postal address, telephone number, postcode, email, website and status. The tool includes customisable fields and one alert management, for example the last and the next call.
Opportunity tracking
Opportunity tracking makes it possible to identify a prospect and follow them right through to conversion, with automatic reminders for chasing up. A message book archives internal and external communications, calls and emails, and can be displayed by priority, by date or by caller.
The campaigns
For campaigns, the emailing tool selects recipients based on activity or geographical criteria, and outputs by mail, fax or email. The details can be read on the page Contact CRM.
Occupations
The parks that Contact equips
The configuration follows what you are hiring. A fleet of access platforms and a stock of crockery have neither the same item numbers nor the same turnaround times, but they pose the same question: what is available, and for when?
construction, materials handling, agricultural
Plant, tools and construction equipment, with backorder tracking and maintenance alerts for the machinery.
Sound and lighting
The fleet is tracked by reference, which avoids double bookings on busy weekends.
Tents and marquees
An item can be booked beyond its rental period: these periods are entered into the schedule, including their start and end times.
Reception, crockery and tables
The tracking of rented, broken and unreturned quantities, with gross and net weights to prepare the loads.
Structures and scaffolding
The metal structures are rented out by the element: stock is counted by the piece, not by the batch.
Toilets, skips, bungalows
Equipment that remains in place for several weeks, the rotation of which can be seen on a long-term schedule.
Stands
Stand elements are booked individually, with availability shown for the requested date.
Containers and bottles
Returnable equipment is tracked like the rest of the fleet, with what has been checked out and what has not been returned.
Two parks have their own page: the construction and civil engineering equipment rental software for site machinery and tools, and the event equipment rental management software for sound systems, marquees and the reception. If you sell as much as you hire, see the trading management software. The profession is represented in France by the DLR Federation, which brings together distributors, rental companies and repairers of construction and handling equipment.
Remote access, support and developments
The software remains accessible at all times thanks to remote access in the Cloud. Included as standard:
- Remote Windows desktop, as many sessions as necessary
- telephone and remote maintenance support
- email, mail and spreadsheet tools
- built-in automatic backups
Word and Excel are directly integrated, and document management makes it possible to store, organise and retrieve file documents in the same place as the related rentals.
If your job requires a function that the software does not cover, ComputerLine develop modules or specifications made to measure. It is the same software vendor that writes the software and answers the phone.
Frequently asked questions
You will find further answers in our management software frequently asked questions.
Which software should I choose to manage equipment rental?
Equipment rental software is judged on three points: the real-time fleet availability, the quotation to contract to invoice chain without re-entering, and the migration of your existing data. Software that does not cover these three points will leave you with a parallel file to maintain.
How to manage the schedule and availability of one's fleet?
By centralising bookings in equipment rental software updated with every checkout and return, Contact displays the number of items available on a given date, including or excluding quotes, which avoids double bookings and the untenable promises.
Is there free equipment rental software?
There are free tools, generally limited to booking. As soon as invoicing, stock control and accounting come into play, you either have to use multiple tools or switch to a business solution.
How to track rented equipment on construction sites?
Each dispatch is linked to a customer and a delivery note. The schedule and the start and end dates make it possible to know where the equipment is. Upon return, you declare any equipment that is broken, lost or unreturned: the software invoices it and automatically removes it from stock.
Does the software handle quotes, contracts and invoicing?
Yes. The quote is converted into an invoice without re-entry, and the data is transferred to accounting.
Does Contact handle long-term rentals?
Yes, short and long durations are managed from the same interface, using the same inventory. The schedule projects up to a year ahead, making long-term rentals visible among the fast turnovers.
Does the software adapt to my type of fleet?
The configuration depends on what you are hiring: event equipment, tableware and tables, marquees and tents, sound and lighting, construction, handling and agricultural equipment, metal structures and scaffolding, toilets, skips and site cabins, stands, containers and gas cylinders.
Do I need to install the software on every workstation?
The software is used via a remote Windows desktop, with as many sessions as necessary, on a shared server. Automatic backups are built-in, and support is provided by phone and remote maintenance.
How long does it take to set up the software?
That depends on volume of references to be revised and the number of workstations. ComputerLine handles configuration, data migration and telephone support. The setup is prepared primarily beforehand, on the catalogue structure she's the one in charge of the rest.
Let's talk about your park
ComputerLine supports you in setting up your equipment rental software, with a fully customisable configuration for your business.