Guides
NEMT quote template: ten fields and three pricing structures
NEMT quote template of ten fields, plus the pricing structure for a repeating run, a will-call return and a long-distance transfer, set in your own variables.
What to take away
- Quote per trip type, not per customer. One account frequently contains three kinds of work with three different costs.
- Every price comes from three variables you measureT, the vehicle occupancy time per passenger; C, your cost per staffed vehicle hour; and U, your utilization.
- The cost floor per trip is T multiplied by C divided by U. A quote below it is a discount you did not choose.
- A repeating run, a will-call return and a long-distance transfer need three different pricing structures, because they consume different things.
- Nothing here states a rate, a mileage charge or a wait charge. Substituting your own measured numbers gives you a real quote; borrowing anyone else's gives you a guess.
The three variables behind every quote
Every figure in a quote comes from three measured variables. T is the vehicle occupancy per passenger, C is your cost per staffed vehicle hour, and U is your utilization. C divided by U is your cost per billable hour, and T times that is the cost floor per trip.
Measure T from the trip itself: approach, load, drive, unload, and the empty leg to the next pickup. Measure the load separately, because a door-to-door wheelchair load is where the minutes are. Take the times from your own addresses, not from a map estimate.
Build C as set out in the material on pricing to a fair margin. The labor input is the one to check first. The Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS wage program produces employment and wage estimates annually for approximately 830 occupations, which is an honest starting point.
The ten fields that carry the price
A quote in this trade is a scope document with a number at the end. The number is the part people argue about; the scope is the part that decides who is right. Fill all ten fields, in this order, including the awkward ones.
- The requesting party, and separately the paying party if they differ.
- Trip types covered, each namedmode, assistance level, and pattern.
- Service area, stated as a boundary rather than as a city name.
- Days and hours of availability, including whether after-hours is included.
- Booking lead timehow far ahead a trip must be requested, and what happens to a later request.
- Wait rulehow long the driver holds, and what applies after that.
- Cancellation windowthe point after which a canceled trip is chargeable.
- What counts as a completed trip, in terms a billing clerk can apply.
- Price, per trip type, in the unit the payer uses.
- Validity period and what triggers a re-quote.
Ten Quote Fields
- Requesting party vs paying party
- Trip typesmode, assistance, pattern
- Service area as a boundary
- Days, hours, after-hours included
- Booking lead time and late requests
- Wait rule and after-wait charges
- Cancellation window and charge point
- Completed trip definition for billing
Fields six to eight carry the awkward rules, so write them out in full. A fill-in version, with your own values in the brackets:
The driver holds for [your hold time] after the booked pickup, after which [your wait rule] applies. A trip canceled after [your cancellation point] is chargeable. A trip is complete when [your payer's confirmation] exists.
Field eight is the one most often missing, and the one that most often stops payment. If your payer requires a signature or a confirmation, say that the trip is complete when that record exists, and say what happens when it does not. The wider proposal around a quote is covered in the proposal template.
Trip type one: a repeating wheelchair run
The customer wants the same two passengers, three mornings a week, wheelchair, door-to-door, to a clinic eleven minutes from their homes. Price it from T, C and U, and decide one assumption before the number: whether the pair shares a vehicle.
Pricing a Repeating Wheelchair Run
- Measure Ttotal vehicle occupancy per passenger
- Measure load separately for door-to-door wheelchair
- Build C divided by Ucost per billable hour
- Cost floor per tripT times C divided by U
- Check whether two passengers can share a vehicle
- State sharing assumption in the quote scope
- Split appointment times trigger a re-quote
Work it as follows, with your own measured values:
- T is total vehicle occupancy per passengerapproach, load, drive, unload, and the empty leg to the next pickup.
- C divided by U is your cost per billable hour.
- Cost floor per trip is T multiplied by C divided by U.
- Because the two passengers share a destination and a time, check whether they can share a vehicle. If so, T falls for the pair and rises for each individual.
Quote the pair as a package with the sharing assumption written into the scope. Say plainly whether the price assumes shared travel. If the clinic later splits their appointment times, that is a re-quote, and field ten is where you said so.
Trip type two: a will-call return
The customer wants outbound trips at scheduled times and returns whenever the patient is discharged. The outbound leg prices like any scheduled trip. The return does not, because you are selling availability rather than a journey.
Two Honest Will-Call Structures
Per hour of commitment
- Pricing unit
- Vehicle hours
- Starts when
- Dispatched or held
- Minimum
- Stated minimum
- Outside it
- Charged hourly
- Risk
- Low utilization
Reserved window
- Pricing unit
- Block of hours
- Starts when
- Window opens
- Minimum
- Block minimum
- Outside it
- New request
- Risk
- Unused block
There are two honest structures:
Worked example two
- Price the return per hour of vehicle commitment from the time the vehicle is dispatched or held, with a stated minimum.
- Or price a reserved windowa block of hours held for that account, within which returns are covered, with anything outside it treated as a new request.
What does not work is pricing a will-call return as an ordinary trip and absorbing the wait. Do that and your utilization falls exactly where you are least able to see it. The arithmetic of that leak is set out in the material on break-even and margins.
Trip type three: a long-distance transfer
One passenger, out of area, most of a day. Price this as a day rather than as a trip, because that is what it consumes. Include the return leg explicitly, whether loaded or empty, and say which.
Long-Distance Transfer Quote Items
- Price as a day, not a trip
- Include return leg, loaded or empty
- State which return leg applies
- Include driver hours and break requirements
- State whether overnight is possible
- State what happens if overnight becomes necessary
- Confirm state-line licensing before quoting
Include driver hours honestly, including any break requirements, and state whether an overnight is possible and what happens if it becomes necessary. A trip that crosses a state line may involve a different licensing position, so confirm that before quoting rather than after.
The considerations behind extending a service area are covered in the guide to growing beyond one area.
The three structures side by side
| Example | What you are selling | Pricing structure | What to write into the quote |
|---|---|---|---|
| Repeating wheelchair run | Occupancy time, repeated | Per trip type, from T, C and U | Whether the price assumes shared travel |
| Will-call return | Availability | Per hour of commitment with a minimum, or a reserved window | What counts as inside the window |
| Long-distance transfer | A day of the vehicle | A day rate, with the return leg stated | Return leg, driver hours, overnight, licensing position |
Use the table as a check before you send. If a quote for one of these trip types is priced the way another shape is, the number is wrong before the arithmetic starts. Choosing the pricing unit itself is treated in the pricing and profit guide.
The closing line that guards the number
A price only holds if the scope behind it holds. Put one closing paragraph near the end of every quote, in your own words. It states what the price includes at the door and inside a building, and what happens if needs on the day differ from the booking.
Dispute-Prevention Paragraph
- What the price includes at the door
- What it includes inside a building
- If needs differ in mode or assistance
- Unagreed equipment or handling not attempted
- Contact the booking party instead
- Protects passenger and operator alike
Add that a trip requiring equipment or handling you have not agreed to provide will not be attempted, and that you will contact the booking party instead. That sentence protects the passenger as much as it protects you. A doorway, with a driver improvising, is the worst place for that decision to be made.
Claims and the numbers afterward
Describe the service in words you can meet every time, not on a good day. A quote is a representation as surely as an advertisement is, and the Federal Trade Commission's small business advertising guide says ad claims on the Internet must be truthful and substantiated.
The quote makes promises about time, and your records have to show whether you kept them. Occupancy, wait and mileage, captured in the ordinary day, are what turn the first renewal conversation from an argument between two memories into a comparison of figures.
Where the reader is a family rather than a facility, add a line saying that coverage under any benefit program is decided by that program and pointing them to it. Do not tell them what will be covered.
Common questions
Should the quote show my cost workings?
No, but keep them. When a rate is challenged, measured occupancy times for that customer's own addresses are the most persuasive thing you can produce.
How long should a quote stay valid?
Long enough for the customer to decide and short enough that your costs have not moved. State the date and state what triggers an earlier re-quote.
Can I quote a single rate across all trip types to keep it simple?
You can, and you will be sent the trips that are expensive under that rate. Simplicity that ignores load time is a discount you did not intend to give.
What if the customer wants my quote on their own form?
Fine, provided the ten fields survive the transfer. If their form has no place for the wait rule and the cancellation window, attach them and reference the attachment.
