Refunds and the deposit

What this is

This is how you handle the security deposit and refunds on a rental. A deposit hold reserves money on the customer’s card without charging it — you decide afterward whether to capture some or all of it (an actual charge) or release it back to them. A refund is separate: it sends money back on a payment you already collected.

Before you start

• Have the rental open — the deposit lives on its Deposit tab, and refunds start from a payment row on the Payments tab.
• Decide the deposit amount before pickup — it defaults to the amount set in pricing & fees, but you can hold a different amount for a specific rental.

Steps

1. To hold a deposit, open the rental’s Deposit tab and click Hold deposit. Enter the Amount, then click Hold deposit again to confirm. If you ran the hold on a separate card terminal, click “Have an authorization code from a card terminal? Add it →” and enter the code from the printed receipt.

📸 Screenshot: The Deposit tab, showing the Hold deposit dialog.

2. When the rental is over, decide what happens to the hold. If there’s damage, missing fuel, or a mileage overage to charge for, find the held deposit’s row and click Capture. Enter the amount to capture (it defaults to the full held amount — lower it if you’re only charging for part of it) and an optional reason, then click Capture.

📸 Screenshot: The Deposit tab, showing a held deposit row with Capture and Release buttons.

3. If nothing needs to be charged, click Release on that same row instead, add an optional reason, and click Release. This returns the full held amount to the customer without charging anything.
4. To refund money on a payment you already collected (not a deposit hold), go to the rental’s Payments tab, find the payment, and click Refund on its row. The amount defaults to the full payment — lower it for a partial refund — and type a reason (for example, “damaged vehicle” or “customer overcharge”). Click Issue refund.

📸 Screenshot: The Payments tab, showing a payment row with the Refund action and the Refund payment dialog.

How to know it worked

Capturing shows “Captured $X.XX” and the deposit row’s status changes to Captured. Releasing shows “Deposit released” and the row changes to Released. Issuing a refund shows “Refund recorded,” and the refunded amount appears as a negative line in the Payments tab, reducing the net total collected.

If something goes wrong

“Refund cannot exceed the remaining $X.XX on this payment.” You can’t refund more than what’s left on that payment after any earlier refunds — check the maximum shown just below the amount field.

“A reason is required to record a refund.” Every refund needs a short reason on file — type one before submitting.

You’re not sure whether to Capture or Release. Click What’s the difference? next to the Hold security deposit / Collect rental payment cards — a hold reserves funds without charging, while capturing (or collecting a payment outright) actually charges the card.