Messages with your renters
Renters message you from the Messages tab of their portal, and every one lands in Messages in your sidebar - one thread per renter, with their vehicle beside their name. A new message lights the nav badge and your notification bell, and sends a push notification if you use the app, so nothing waits for you to be on the page.
Read and reply
- Open Messages and click the renter's thread. Opening it marks their messages as read.
- Type your reply and press Enter. It lands in the Messages tab of their portal.
- The photo button beside the box sends a picture. Renters send photos the same way - click any photo, from either side, to see it full size.
- Contract at the top of a thread is a quick look at that renter's rental, so you can answer a dates-or-money question without leaving the chat.
- Message everyone sends one announcement to the renters you pick. Each receives it in their own thread, and replies come back to you alone - there is no group chat.
Deleting a conversation removes every message permanently, for both of you, and asks first. Archiving just tucks it out of your inbox.
The [Account update] lines
A message starting [Account update] was not typed by the renter. Fleetola posts it automatically when they change their own details in the portal - name, email, phone, licence or secondary ID - and it lists exactly what changed. It arrives unread like any other message, and the notification reads Customer updated details, so a new licence photo or a changed phone number never slips past you.
What renters see about reaching you
Tapping your business name at the top of the chat opens an info card: their vehicle, your support hours, and your phone and email. The hours are free text you write on the Support & contact panel, and they show under Rental details on the renter's Overview tab too. The phone and email are your business details, and the Your contact details toggle on the same screen decides whether the card shows them.
Where to find it: Settings → Renter-facing → Support & contact
If you hide Messages
You can hide the chat from renters entirely - switch Messages off under What renters can see. One button survives: Report an issue, on every renter's home screen, is deliberately never switched off, because it is a renter's only route back to a human when the car they are driving has a warning light on. With the chat on, a report is simply a message in your inbox. With the chat off, its Send button becomes Call and Email - your real phone number, and an email that opens with the report already written: the issue, the vehicle and who it is from.
Where to find it: Settings → Renter-facing → What renters can see
Tip: Hiding Messages does not make you unreachable - renters are handed your phone and email instead. If you want questions arriving in one place, that place is the chat.
Related guides
- Set up the renter app & portal - Customise what your renters see and can do.
- Customer addresses - Street, suburb, state and postcode - four fields, not one box.
- Renter logins and password resets - How customers get portal access, where they sign in, and how passwords are reset.
- The emails your renters get - Every automatic renter email, editable word for word - and exactly when each one sends.