Create a quote

Create Quote builds a priced offer for a customer — usually across several service levels so they can compare. Under Quotes → Create Quote (/operations/create-quote).

Quote vs booking

Use a quote when the customer is comparing options or hasn’t committed. Use Create Booking when they’ve already committed and you just need to enter the job.

Fill the form

1. Customer — Existing picks an account. New takes a company name, contact, email and phone for someone who isn’t a customer yet; a new customer is priced on the public (default) rate cards, never on another account’s contracted rates.
2. Load type — LTL, FTL or Towhaul. For FTL and Towhaul a Fleet picker appears: a whole-vehicle lane is priced per vehicle, so a Semi and a B-double on the same lane are different prices. The fleet is saved with the quote.
3. Pickup & delivery — the route (suburb/postcode).
4. Cargo — items, weight, dimensions, packaging, quantity, any DG. For whole-vehicle rows, see Containers and trailers below.
5. Options — the handling buttons (tailgate, etc.) on each address.

Price it — multiple service levels

Tick all the service levels you want priced in parallel (Standard, Express, Hot Shot). Pricing recalculates by itself as you change the details, once it has enough to work with: at least one service level, both suburbs, and — for LTL — a weight or all three dimensions. If something is missing, the banner over the pricing says what, rather than promising an update that isn’t coming. Calculate Rate (Recalculate Rate once there are figures) forces a recalculation.

The pricing section shows one priced row per service level, using the same rate engine as bookings — see Rate cards & pricing. The levels are saved, emailed and shown to the customer in the order you see them.

As on a booking, add-ons, fuel and GST are worked out on the freight actually charged (after the lane minimum), and every figure is held to the cent, so a row’s parts add up to its total. A level whose add-on charges can’t be calculated shows Error and “Pricing is unavailable: … No price was produced.” — it is left unpriced rather than quoted without its add-ons.

Choose the level you’re quoting

When more than one level prices, click a card (or use the arrow keys and Enter) to choose the level you’re quoting. The chosen card is highlighted and tagged Quoted; until you choose, it’s the first priced level. Choosing changes no price — every card keeps its own figures.

The chosen level is what the quote is for:

• its total is the quote’s total, and it’s recorded as the quote’s service level;
• the email and PDF still list every level, with yours bold and tagged Quoted;
• the customer’s Accept page starts with your level selected. They can still pick another, and the quote records whatever they accept.

Reopening a draft keeps your choice. If a recalculation means your chosen level no longer prices, the highlight moves back to the first priced level.

Containers and trailers

The Packaging list on each cargo row has three groups: Standard Freight (Carton / Box, Crate, Skid, Pallet, IBC), Containers (FTL) and Trailers (FTL) (A Trailer, B Trailer, B Double).

• Picking a container or trailer switches the quote to FTL and points the Fleet at the matching vehicle. Every container is priced on the B Trailer rate.
• Container and trailer rows take a Qty only — except a 20ft container, which still takes dimensions and weight. The Qty must be a whole number of 1 or more.
• A row that can’t be priced says why on the row — “Containers and trailers are FTL only” or “Enter a whole number of 1 or more” — and nothing is priced until it is fixed.
• The rows are priced per vehicle: a row’s Qty is how many of that vehicle, so 2 × 40ft container is two B Trailers, and A Trailer + B Trailer are two vehicles at their own rates. The Fleet picker is locked while they do this, with a line under it — “Priced per vehicle: …”. Change the packaging rows to change the vehicles. When more than one vehicle is priced, each service level shows one line per vehicle; one marked (no rate for this vehicle, cheapest used) had no rate of its own.
• If a row’s vehicle isn’t in the Fleet list, the rows are not priced per vehicle: the single Fleet you picked prices the quote.
• A saved quote keeps its container and trailer rows, so it reopens as, say, A Trailer + B Trailer.

If the container list can’t be loaded, the form says “Container options are unavailable right now. Showing 20ft only.”

Quick quote view

The Quick quote button (lightning icon, top-right) switches the same form to a short view for a whole-vehicle quote: customer, load type, fleet, pickup and destination, plus a Quote summary panel with the price breakdown and total. Click All fields to go back.

• City chips (Melb, Syd, Bris, …) fill the suburb with the city name and leave the postcode empty on purpose, so the lane prices on the city’s zone.
• Quick quote prices one service level: the one this customer is usually quoted (their most-quoted level over the last 18 months), else the company’s default service level, else the cheapest level. It never defaults to a premium level. The summary names the level it priced.
• Your choice of view is remembered for your login. Which sections it hides, which cities it offers, and whether new users start in it can be set by the published quote policy — see Validation policies.

It is a view of one form, not a second form: saving, templates and email work the same in both.

Save or send

• Save Draft — keeps it as a Draft. Only drafts can be edited later (Manage Quotes → Edit).
• Send Quote — saves it as Quoted and emails the customer Accept / Decline links. The links point at the portal you sent it from.

If the email could not be sent (for example, no customer email), the quote is still saved and you get an amber warning instead of a success message — use Email on the quote in Manage Quotes once it’s fixed.

The customer confirms one service level when they accept — yours is selected for them. See Quotes for what happens next.

What is saved, and what isn’t

Reopening a draft restores what the quote stored, so the price can be reproduced. Tailgate (pickup and delivery) is saved. Residential and hand loading have nowhere to be stored on a quote yet — they reopen off, so check them before you recalculate a reopened draft.

Speed it up

For repeat lanes, start from a quote template to pre-fill the route, cargo, and options.

Related

• Quotes — the list, and who decides each quote.
• Quote templates — reusable starting points.
• Service levels — what each level costs.