Creating a Contract from a Reservation

Creating a Contract from a Reservation

A rental contract is your most important piece of paperwork. It protects you, protects the renter, and lays out exactly what both sides agreed to. TrailerBase makes creating one a 30-second job.

Where to start

Open any reservation and click the Contract tab at the top of its detail page. If a contract already exists, you will see it listed here with its status. If not, you will see a New Contract button.

The Contract tab is scoped to a single reservation — you are always tying the contract to a specific rental, not a generic renter, which is the right legal pattern.

Step 1: Pick a template

Clicking New Contract pops a modal with your available templates. Every account starts with a default rental agreement template that covers the basics — parties, trailer details, dates, payment, damage, governing law. You can also pick from any custom templates you have built in Settings > Contracts (for example, a separate template for out-of-state rentals or equipment with special handling).

If you are not sure, the default is a great starting point and you can always duplicate it later.

Step 2: Preview pre-filled

After you pick a template, TrailerBase fills it in using merge tags — every {{ }} placeholder is replaced with the actual value from the reservation:

• The renter's name, email, phone, and driver's license number.
• The trailer's name, VIN, type, and specs.
• The rental dates, number of days, and total amount.
• Your business's name, address, phone, and email.

The result is a full contract on your screen, ready to review. Scroll through it and confirm nothing is off. If a field is blank — say the renter did not include their license number yet — you can fix that on the renter's profile and the contract re-renders.

Step 3: Make in-contract edits (optional)

Sometimes a specific rental needs a clause the template does not have ("we agree the renter may subtend one additional towing person, John Smith, under this agreement"). Click Edit to open the contract in the rich text editor, add your edit, and save. The edits only apply to this specific contract — they do not touch the template.

Step 4: Send for e-signature

Once you are happy with the draft, click Send for Signature. That opens the sending modal where you confirm:

• Signatory — defaults to the renter's email, but you can override for cases where someone else is signing (say a fleet manager at a construction company).
• Subject line and a short message in the email.

Click Send. The renter gets a professional email with a link to the signing page. The contract moves to Sent status.

Tracking from here

Back on the Contract tab, the contract shows a live status chip — Draft, Sent, Viewed, Signed, or Declined. Click it for a detailed timeline with timestamps for each event. See the E-Signature Process article for what the renter experiences on their end.

One reservation, multiple contracts

Occasionally a reservation needs more than one contract — for example, a rider for tolls or a separate trailer-specific damage schedule. Just click New Contract again from the Contract tab. Each one is tracked and signed independently.