Payments and fleet billing
Collect fleet invoices by card or ACH bank payment
Fleet customers often prefer a bank payment for larger invoices, while another customer may still want a card. VMOTEK can offer both methods through Stripe-hosted Checkout when ACH is enabled for the deployment and the connected Stripe account. Stripe—not VMOTEK—collects the sensitive card or bank-account information. VMOTEK keeps the invoice, payment attempt, provider status and final financial entry connected so staff do not have to guess whether an ACH debit merely started or actually settled.
Written by the VMOTEK Product Team · Updated August 13, 2026
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1. Understand when to offer ACH
Use ACH when a US customer wants to pay from a bank account, especially for fleet or consolidated invoices where card processing may not be the customer's preferred method. ACH is a collection option, not a replacement for account terms, credit limits or billing approval. A fleet may still require a purchase-order number, statement review or a defined payment term before it pays. Keep card enabled when the shop wants the customer to choose the most practical supported method.
- Card and ACH appear in the same Stripe-hosted payment experience when both are enabled.
- The fleet customer enters bank information in Stripe; shop staff should never request routing or account numbers by email, SMS or notes.
- ACH can take several business days and must not be treated like immediately available cash.
- Availability depends on the shop's connected Stripe account, country, currency and Stripe eligibility.
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2. Connect Stripe and validate the payment configuration
Select the Settings gear, open Payments and connect the shop's intended Stripe account. Complete Stripe onboarding for the correct legal business and settlement bank. An administrator enables ACH for the VMOTEK deployment only after the payment-attempt database migration and required Stripe webhook events are installed. Reopen Payments and confirm that Stripe reports a usable connection. Use Stripe test mode during implementation; test keys, webhook secrets and events must not be mixed with live credentials.
- Required behavior includes Checkout completion, ACH processing, success, failure and bank-return events.
- Validate each event in Stripe and VMOTEK before allowing staff to send production bank-payment links.
- A connected badge alone is not proof that asynchronous ACH settlement is configured correctly.
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3. Prepare an individual or consolidated fleet invoice
Finish and review the underlying work before collecting payment. For an individual invoice, confirm the customer, vehicle, completed labor, consumed parts, taxes, fees, prior payments and remaining balance. For consolidated fleet billing, open Fleet Billing, choose the account and billing period, review every included vehicle and work order, then generate the consolidated invoice. Confirm any customer PO requirement and send the final invoice only after the totals and supporting detail agree.
- Navigation for regular billing: Invoices → open the unpaid invoice.
- Navigation for consolidated billing: Fleet Billing → choose account and period → review eligible work → generate invoice.
- The payment link collects the open invoice; it does not correct an inaccurate invoice or bypass fleet approval.
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4. Create and send the card-or-bank payment link
Open the unpaid invoice and select Card / ACH link. VMOTEK requests a hosted Checkout Session for that invoice, opens the secure link and makes it available to share through the approved customer communication. The customer reviews the amount in Stripe and selects card or US bank account when eligible. Stripe may also display Apple Pay or Stripe Link when supported by the connected account, customer device, browser, currency and verified domain. For a bank payment, Stripe presents the authorization and any bank-verification step. VMOTEK never asks staff to copy a customer's card, wallet or bank credentials into the application.
- Verify the invoice number, customer and open balance before sending the link.
- Send the link only to an authorized billing contact for the fleet account.
- A fleet portal user can select Pay by card or bank on an eligible outstanding invoice.
- A paid invoice does not offer another payment action, helping prevent accidental duplicate collection.
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5. Read each ACH state correctly
Open the invoice and review Payment history & refunds. Bank and online payment activity distinguishes a started attempt from settled money. Created means Checkout established the attempt. Requires action means the customer or bank must complete another step. Processing means Stripe accepted the instruction but has not confirmed settlement. Succeeded means Stripe confirmed the debit and VMOTEK created the linked payment entry. Failed or Cancelled means no settlement occurred. Returned means a debit that had succeeded was later returned by the bank. Disputed identifies a customer bank dispute requiring review.
- Expected debit or settlement dates are estimates from available provider information, not a promise of cleared funds.
- A processing badge is also visible to the fleet customer in the portal.
- Failure and return messages should guide investigation; do not erase the attempt and recreate history manually.
- Use the Stripe event or PaymentIntent reference when support or finance needs provider evidence.
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6. Keep the invoice outstanding until settlement
VMOTEK deliberately does not reduce the invoice balance when the customer authorizes ACH or while Stripe reports processing. The open amount remains part of accounts receivable and customer credit exposure. Only a Stripe success event creates the positive ACH payment in the immutable invoice payment history and reduces the balance. This prevents a shop from delivering work, extending more credit or reporting collected revenue based on a debit that has not cleared.
- Do not add a manual bank-transfer payment to make a processing ACH look paid.
- Do not resend another payment link merely because ACH remains processing within its expected window.
- Investigate duplicate attempts before collecting through another method.
- Reconcile the provider status, invoice balance and payment-history entry as one control.
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7. Handle an ACH failure, return or dispute
A failed or cancelled attempt leaves the invoice outstanding and displays the available reason. Contact the authorized billing person through an approved channel and let them retry or choose another method only after confirming there is no active debit. If a settled ACH is later returned or disputed, VMOTEK preserves the original successful payment and creates a linked negative reversal. The invoice balance reopens rather than rewriting or deleting the original transaction. Finance can then follow the shop's collection, fee and customer-credit policy using the complete evidence trail.
- Confirm the Stripe event and provider reference before contacting the customer.
- Do not delete the original payment or edit it into a failure; the reversal explains what happened later.
- Review whether the reopened balance affects the customer's credit limit or future service authorization.
- Escalate disputes according to Stripe deadlines and the business's documented evidence process.
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8. Reconcile ACH with fleet receivables
Select Reports, then Payment Reconciliation. Filter or search for the invoice, fleet account, shop or Stripe reference. Confirm that processing attempts remain pending, succeeded ACH appears as a positive invoice payment and any return appears as a linked negative financial event. Compare the invoice balance with the fleet portal and Stripe before closing the exception. All Shops administrators can review authorized company activity; shop-scoped users see only their permitted locations.
- Daily: review failed, returned, disputed and unexpectedly aged processing attempts.
- Period close: reconcile ACH settlement and reversals to invoice balances and accounting handoff.
- Customer support: explain the current state without requesting sensitive bank information.
- Completion check: the invoice, portal, reconciliation report and Stripe event tell the same story.
Related product areas
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