Overview

When an insurance company pays for a repair, the end customer usually pays a fixed part of the cost themselves. This part is the deductible (also called an excess fee). Fixably splits the bill for you: the customer pays the deductible, and the insurance company is billed for the rest.

The insurance workflow is built from macro steps that Fixably Support adds to your macros. Your team runs them like any other macro: one step at check-in to link the insurer and the deductible, and one step when the repair is done to split the bill.

Prefer to watch? This video walks through the whole insurance workflow: setting up the insurance company, linking it at check-in, and splitting the bill at pickup.

Before you begin

Check these points before you start:

• The insurance steps are in your macros. Insurance steps are available on the Premium and Enterprise plans. Contact Fixably Support to have them added, either to your existing check-in and pickup macros or as separate insurance macros. Tell Support which billing option you want (see Step 4).
• A product with the code DEDUCTIBLE exists in your product list. The insurance steps look for this exact code.
• The insurance company exists as a customer in Fixably.
• You have the right permissions.
  • To set roles on a customer, you need the Edit role permission.
  • To manage default deductibles, you need one or more of: Add deductible presets for insurance company, Edit deductible presets for insurance company, Delete deductible presets for insurance company.
  • Staff who run the insurance steps need the permissions listed under Permissions needed to run the steps.

Step 1: Give the insurance company its role

Fixably only lists a customer as an insurance company when it has the Insurance Company role.

1. Open the insurance company's customer profile and edit it.
2. On the Contact details tab, find the Roles field.
3. Add Insurance Company.
4. Save the customer.

Check it worked: open the customer again and go to the Advanced settings tab. You now see a Deductible Presets table. The table only appears after the role has been saved.

Step 2: Add default deductibles

Default deductibles (shown in Fixably as Deductible Presets) are the fixed amounts an insurance company allows. When you add them, staff pick from a list at check-in instead of typing an amount. This avoids typing mistakes and keeps amounts in line with the insurance contract.

1. Open the insurance company's customer profile and edit it.
2. Go to the Advanced settings tab.
3. In Deductible Presets, click Add.
4. Fill in a Name (for example Standard phone claim) and an Amount (for example 150).
5. Add more rows if needed, then save the customer.

A few things to know:

• Enter the amount including tax. This is the amount the customer pays.
• Use a dot as the decimal separator (99.50, not 99,50).
• Rows with an empty name, an empty amount or an amount that is not a number are skipped when you save.
• To remove a preset, click the trash icon on its row and save.
• If an insurance company has no presets, staff type the deductible amount by hand at check-in.

Step 3: Link the insurer to the order at check-in

The Add insurance company step (insurance_company.add) links an insurance company to the order and adds the deductible to it. It usually runs as part of your check-in macro.

What staff see

The step shows three fields:

When staff change the insurance company, the deductible field resets and loads that company's presets.

What happens when staff click Next

• The insurance company is linked to the order.
• The claim number is saved on the order.
• A DEDUCTIBLE line is added to the order, or updated if the order already has one. The order never gets a second deductible line.
• The deductible line's price is the amount you picked or typed, including tax. Leaving the deductible empty gives a deductible of 0, which means the insurer pays everything.
• If staff leave the insurance company list on Select..., nothing is saved and the macro moves on.

The claim number then shows in the order sidebar (where you can also edit it) and on printouts such as the invoice, order confirmation, cost estimate and dispatch note.

Step 4: Split the bill when the repair is done

Once the repair is finished and all parts and labor are on the order, the bill is split between the customer and the insurer. There are two ways to set this up. Choose the one that fits how you invoice, and Fixably Support adds the matching step to your pickup macro.

Option A: Invoice straight away (Invoice insurance)

The Invoice insurance step (insurance.invoice) creates both invoices in one go and then creates the dispatch. Use it when you want to bill the customer and the insurer at pickup.

Staff see one field: the payment type for the customer's part (cash, card and so on).

When staff click Next, Fixably creates:

• An invoice for the customer. It holds the deductible and any shipping lines, paid with the payment type staff chose.
• An invoice for the insurance company. It holds the repair lines, minus the deductible. Shipping lines are not included. If the insurance company has a billing customer set on its profile, the invoice goes to that billing customer.
• A dispatch for the order.

A message shows the total of each invoice and the dispatch number.

Example: a repair costs $400 and the deductible is $150. The customer pays $150. The insurance company is billed $400 − $150 = $250.

Option B: Split the lines, invoice later (Insurance invoicees)

The Insurance invoicees step (insurance.invoicees) separates the order lines between the customer and the insurer, but does not create any invoices yet. Use it when you want to check the split, add more lines, or send the insurer's invoice at a different time from the customer's.

When staff click Next, Fixably sets the invoicee on each order line:

• Repair lines (parts and labor) are assigned to the insurance company.
• The deductible and any shipping lines are assigned to the customer.
• The deductible is taken off the insurance company's part, so the insurer is billed the repair total minus the deductible.

Lines that already had an invoicee are left as they are. When you are ready, open the billing (cart) menu on the order: it lists an Invoice option for each invoicee, for example Invoice Lone Star Assurance and Invoice Sarah Williams. Each invoice holds only that invoicee's lines, so you invoice the customer and the insurance company separately. No dispatch is created, so dispatch the order as you normally would.

Reference

Permissions needed to run the steps

Each step checks the user's permissions before it runs:

Typical macro setup

A typical insurance repair uses two macros, or two points in the same flow:

1. At check-in: Add insurance company.
2. After the repair is done and all parts and labor are on the order: Invoice insurance (Option A) or Insurance invoicees (Option B).

You can link the insurer at check-in before any repair lines are on the order. The deductible is saved at the full amount you entered.

Troubleshooting

The insurance company list is empty

No customer has the Insurance Company role. Follow Step 1 above and save the customer.

I can't see the Deductible Presets table on the customer

Either the customer does not have the Insurance Company role yet (save the role first, then reopen the customer), or you do not have any of the deductible preset permissions. Ask an administrator to check your role.

"Deductible product not found"

There is no product with the code DEDUCTIBLE. Create one, then run the step again.

"Company doesn't have insurance role"

The selected company lost its Insurance Company role after the step was opened. Add the role back on the customer profile.

"Deductible cannot be negative"

The deductible amount is below 0. Enter 0 or more.

"Insurance company not set for order"

The billing step ran on an order with no insurance company. Run the Add insurance company step first.

"No customer set for order"

The order has no customer to bill for the deductible. Add a customer to the order.

"Deductible product not added"

The billing step could not find a deductible line on the order. Check that the Add insurance company step ran on this order, or add a DEDUCTIBLE line by hand.

The deductible field is empty after I picked a different insurance company

This is expected. Changing the company clears the amount and loads the new company's presets. Pick a preset again, or type the amount.

Getting support

If something still does not work, contact Fixably Support and include:

• The order number.
• The name of the macro and the step that failed.
• The exact error message, or a screenshot.
• The insurance company's name in Fixably.