Offering instalment plans with Payment Assist

Summary

Payment Assist lets customers spread a large repair bill over 3 or 6 interest-free monthly instalments. The garage is paid in full within days; Payment Assist collects the monthly payments from the customer. From an unpaid Torqueflow invoice you can send the customer a sign-up link in one click - Payment Assist runs a soft credit check, the customer chooses their plan, the invoice is settled when the plan goes live.

The Payment Assist finance fee is paid by the customer, not by the garage. The Torqueflow invoice stays at the gross amount the customer owes you; Payment Assist adds its fee on top and shows the customer an adjusted monthly figure.

Prerequisites

• You are an Owner with the settings.payments.manage capability.
• You have a Payment Assist dealer account. From the Payment Assist Dealer Dashboard you can obtain an API key and a shared secret.
• To send Payment Assist offers from an invoice, you need the finance.payment_assist.send capability. Owner and Manager have this by default.
• The invoice must be active and unpaid, and the amount must fall inside the limits Payment Assist supports for your dealer plan.

Steps

1. Connect Payment Assist

1. Go to Settings > Billing > Accept Payments.
2. Find the Payment Assist card and click Connect.
3. Enter your API key and Shared secret. Sandbox credentials start with demo_; live credentials start with prod_. Torqueflow detects which environment you are in from the prefix.
4. Click Save. Torqueflow calls Payment Assist to validate the credentials and pulls the list of plans available on your dealer account (typically 3-month and 6-month variants, each with their own minimum and maximum invoice amounts).
5. On success the card shows a green Connected pip and the environment (Sandbox or Production) in a badge.

2. Send an instalment offer from an invoice

1. Open an active, unpaid sales invoice.
2. Click Offer Payment Assist. The button is hidden if the invoice amount is outside the supported range, or if Payment Assist is not connected.
3. Pick which plan to offer (3-month or 6-month if both are available).
4. Pick how to send the link - email, SMS, or both.
5. Click Send. The customer receives a Torqueflow-branded message with a link to Payment Assist’s hosted sign-up form.

The invoice now shows a Payment Assist: Pending badge with a timestamp.

3. What the customer sees

1. The customer taps the link in your email or text.
2. Payment Assist’s sign-up form shows the adjusted amount (the gross invoice amount plus Payment Assist’s finance fee), the monthly figure they will pay, and the plan length.
3. They complete a short application. Payment Assist runs a soft credit check.
4. On approval, the customer is redirected to a confirmation screen and Torqueflow is notified in the background.

The customer is told upfront that the monthly amount and the adjusted total are higher than the garage invoice - this is Payment Assist’s finance fee. They consent to it as part of signing up.

4. What happens after the customer is approved

1. Torqueflow receives the approval and automatically uploads the invoice PDF to Payment Assist (this satisfies their internal record).
2. Once Payment Assist confirms the upload, Torqueflow records a pending-settlement payment against the invoice and marks the invoice Paid.
3. Payment Assist settles the gross amount to your bank account via BACS within a few working days.
4. When the funds land, your bookkeeper reconciles the BACS receipt against the pending-settlement payment - same way they would for any direct bank transfer.

The customer continues paying their monthly instalments directly to Payment Assist for the next 3 or 6 months. The garage is not involved in collecting those payments.

5. Track Payment Assist status on the invoice

The invoice shows a Payment Assist status pip that moves through these states:

Pip	Meaning
Pending	Sign-up link has been sent; customer has not completed the application
Pending Capture	Application complete; awaiting Payment Assist’s deposit step
Completed	Plan approved; the invoice has been marked Paid with a pending-settlement payment
Failed	Customer was declined, or the application expired

The audit log records every status change with the timestamp.

6. Send a fresh link if the customer did not act

If the original link is still in Pending after several days, you can resend it. Open the invoice and click Resend Payment Assist link. The same plan options apply. The previous link continues to work until the customer clicks it - so if they had it saved, they can still complete the application.

7. Voiding an invoice that has a Payment Assist plan

If you void an invoice that has an in-flight Payment Assist plan attached, Torqueflow surfaces a ghost banner on the customer’s record explaining that the plan needs manual cleanup with Payment Assist. The void itself is not reversed - the invoice is voided as normal - but the banner is a reminder that a separate side-call to Payment Assist is needed to cancel the plan their end.

See Voiding an invoice for the standard void flow.

Expected Outcome

• Customers who would otherwise struggle with a £1,000+ bill can spread the cost over 3 or 6 months.
• The garage is paid the gross invoice amount via BACS within days, not weeks.
• The finance fee is borne by the customer, not the garage.
• All status changes are auditable.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Cause	Fix
Offer Payment Assist button is not visible	Payment Assist not connected, invoice already paid, or invoice amount outside the supported range	Check the connection state on Settings. Confirm the invoice has an outstanding balance and the amount is in range
Customer says they did not receive the link	The customer’s contact details on file are wrong, or the email is in their spam folder	Verify the customer’s email and mobile number on their profile. Resend the link
The amount Payment Assist shows the customer is higher than my invoice	Payment Assist adds its finance fee on top - this is the adjusted amount	This is expected. The fee is paid by the customer; your invoice and your settlement are at the gross amount
Application expired	The customer did not complete sign-up before Payment Assist’s window lapsed	Resend the link from the invoice. The customer can re-apply on the fresh link
BACS settlement hasn’t landed	Payment Assist’s bank transfer can take a few working days, particularly across weekends	Wait three working days from the Completed timestamp. If still missing, contact Payment Assist support with the dealer reference
Voided invoice shows a “ghost banner” warning about Payment Assist	The voided invoice had an in-flight plan; that plan needs separate cancellation with Payment Assist	Contact Payment Assist via your dealer dashboard to cancel the plan their end. The banner is a reminder, not a blocker

Notes

• Payment Assist is for one-off invoices, not for spreading subscription costs.
• The customer’s instalments are collected by Payment Assist directly - the garage has no role in chasing missed payments.
• The Payment Assist plan limits (minimum and maximum invoice amount, commission rate) are set by Payment Assist on a per-dealer basis. Your account’s current values are cached and visible on the Payment Assist card under Settings.
• Where the bookkeeping is concerned, the finance fee is a customer-borne charge, not a garage expense. The Torqueflow invoice stays at the gross. Your bookkeeper sees a pending-settlement entry that reconciles against the BACS receipt; nothing is posted to a cost-of-finance ledger.