Driver settlement software: how percentage, rent and the week closing are calculated

The most argued-over number in a taxi fleet is the driver's weekly balance. Driver settlement software (hakediş, in Turkish fleet language) calculates that number from the terms on the schedule, deducts fines and advances, adds bonuses and writes the result to a record the driver can see too. This article covers the three working arrangements common in Turkey, the steps of a week closing, and the mistakes made most often when the reckoning is done in Excel and WhatsApp.

Last updated: 19 September 2026

Three working arrangements, three different calculations

In most fleets the three live side by side: the day shift on a percentage, the night shift on daily rent, two or three trusted drivers on weekly rent. The same driver may work car A on a percentage one week and car B on rent the next. That is why the terms belong not on the driver's card but on the schedule event: the calculation follows whatever terms the schedule shows for that week.

PlakaPro keeps terms in two main kinds: percentage and weekly rent. The percentage can be tiered — for example 55% up to ₺8,000 of weekly takings, 60% above; all takings are calculated at the rate of the tier reached. A tax share, a fixed bookkeeping fee and a fleet bonus can be added to the terms. For a driver on daily rent the weekly amount is entered according to the number of days worked. In rent-a-car mode the rent is entered and shown directly as a daily rate; the system works out the weekly amount itself.

The week closing step by step

1. 1The schedule is read. Which days, which car and which terms the driver worked this week come from the schedule; days idle or in the workshop are visible, and the rent is adjusted accordingly.
2. 2The main figure comes out. Percentage: takings × rate; daily rent: days × rate; weekly rent: the fixed amount (adjusted if days are missing).
3. 3Deductions are taken. Traffic fines received that week, HGS/OGS toll passes, advances paid to the driver, the fuel difference that comes by itself from the return report (missing litres × the day's price), the damage share assigned to them on a handover report.
4. 4Additions are made. Bonus, public holiday difference, a credit carried over from the previous week.
5. 5The result is shown to the driver. The figure and its lines sit on a record the driver can see; the answer to «based on what?» is on the screen.
6. 6Collection is booked into the cash desk. The part paid enters the cash desk, the remaining debt carries over on the driver's account; late payers stay on the list.

How settlement works in PlakaPro

The terms are written inside the schedule event. When you open the week closing, the system produces the main figure per driver, lists the fines, advances and bonuses posted to the driver's card that week line by line, and shows the debt or credit. You check and approve; the collection is booked into the cash desk, the remainder carries over. Payment requests (advance, fuel, repair) go through a separate flow: request → approval → payment; who approved is clear.

No account is needed on the driver's side. The driver signs the handover report on their phone through a one-time link; the settlement lines are shown on screen or printed by the shift supervisor or branch manager. The account builds up on the driver's card: how many weeks worked, how many fines, how many advances — the answer to «do we keep this driver?» comes from the record, not from memory.

The cash desk and the settlement are two sides of one record. If a driver paid ₺3,000 on Monday, it is written at the same moment as a cash-desk receipt and as a credit on the driver's account; there is no reconciling a separate «cash book» against a «driver list». When the accountant asks at month end «what was collected from drivers this month, how much debt carried over?», the answer is one screen. In a fleet with branches every branch sees its own cash desk and its own drivers; head office sees the total.

Fines, advances, bonuses: where are they written?

• A traffic fine arrives against the plate; when you enter its date, the schedule knows who had the car that day, the fine lands on that driver's card and comes out as a deduction at the week closing.
• HGS/OGS toll passes follow the same logic: date + plate = driver. On weekly rent most fleets pass the toll on to the driver; on a percentage they leave it with the fleet — the rule is yours, the system applies it.
• An advance leaves the cash desk through a payment request; the moment it is approved it is written as a debt on the driver's account and deducted at closing.
• A bonus (a long week, night work, a damage-free month) is entered as an addition at closing; its description stays on record.
• A damage share comes from the handover report: the agreed amount for new damage assigned to the driver on the report is posted to their account.
• The fuel difference comes from the report too, but not by hand: when the return report is accepted, the missing level is converted to litres, multiplied by the branch's fuel price for that day and posted to the driver's account as a debt with the note «fuel difference». It shows as a deduction at closing; nobody reaches for a calculator.

Typical mistakes made in Excel and WhatsApp

The following happen at least once over the years in every fleet, and every month in most. The common cause: terms, schedule, fines and cash desk are kept in separate places that know nothing of each other.

• The terms changed, the formula did not. The driver moved from a percentage to rent; the Excel row kept calculating with the old formula. The difference was noticed weeks later.
• The fine went to the wrong driver. The date of the fine was not checked; the car was with another driver that day. The driver turned out to be right, and trust was damaged.
• The advance was deducted twice — or never. The WhatsApp message «gave him 500» was written into one week and then into the next; or into neither.
• «I paid last week.» The cash book says one thing, the driver another. If the payment record has no time and no person, it is an argument nobody wins.
• An idle day was counted as rent. The car was in the workshop for two days, the full weekly rent was taken; the driver left the following week.
• The car came back short of fuel and nobody wrote it down. «It was half a tank» stayed a spoken claim; how many litres, and what they cost that day — unknown. The difference was either never collected or collected by guesswork and argued over.
• The file lives on one person's computer. The person who did the reckoning went on leave or left; nobody knows the logic of the formulas.

A 20-car example

Example: 20 cars, 28 drivers, mixed terms. With Excel the week closing takes one person's Monday morning on average — three to four hours, plus ten minutes for each «what is this figure based on?» question during the week. In the software the closing comes out of the schedule by itself; what is left is checking the figure and booking the collection, twenty to thirty minutes. The time saved matters less than the figure itself; the real gain is seeing the same record as the driver. Where Excel is enough and where it breaks is discussed separately in Excel or software?.