Pennsylvania notice templates

The Pennsylvania rule set comes with two notice templates. You will be able to print each one for a vehicle, see the merge fields it has to keep, and change the wording to suit your business.

Have your attorney check the wording before you send it. The templates give you a starting point. Your business stays responsible for what it sends and when.

Before you start #

Switch on the Pennsylvania rule set (see pennsylvania-rule-set). The owner or manager role can edit a template. Dispatchers can print.

Edit a template on the Mac #

Open Settings, find Compliance rules and, under Notice templates, choose Edit wording. The editor lists every field the template must keep and marks each one as it appears in the wording or goes missing. Save stays greyed until every required field is present. A template you have saved shows Your wording; one you have left alone shows Standard wording.

The owner and lienholder notice #

Kind: pa_owner_notice. It repeats what 75 Pa.C.S. section 7305(b) lists for the notice PennDOT mails to the owner and lienholders: the vehicle's make, model, plate and VIN; where it is held; the 30-day right to reclaim the vehicle and its contents; the statement that failing to reclaim counts as consent to disposition; and the right to ask the police for the abandoned vehicle information report and for a hearing.

Fields it must keep: today, owner_name, shop_name, shop_address, shop_phone, in_date, vehicle, plate, vin.

Section 7305(b)(1) also lists the title number when it is known. The template has no field for it, so add it by hand when you have it.

1. Open the yard record.
2. Print GET /tow/yard/{id}/lien-notice.pdf?template=pa_owner_notice.
3. Mail the notice, then log it in the yard notice log as a letter with the mailing date. The lien clock counts the owner's 30 days from that date.

The accident scene notice #

Kind: pa_accident_scene_notice. It tells the owner or operator at the scene where to retrieve the vehicle, with your name, address and phone number, as Act 110 of 2012, section 3(b) describes. It also says no signature is needed on a repair authorization or on a storage authorization over 24 hours (section 3(d)).

Fields it must keep: today, vehicle, tow_number, shop_name, shop_address, shop_phone.

A tow ticket for a call whose reason is Accident prints this notice before the signature lines whenever the Pennsylvania rule set is on.

Edit a template #

1. Read the current wording with GET /compliance/pennsylvania. Each template shows its kind, title, wording, required fields and any required field the wording lacks.
2. Send PATCH /compliance/templates/{kind} with a title and a body. Write merge fields in braces, for example {owner_name}.
3. Pop Dispatch checks that every required field is still in the wording and that every braced name exists. A saved template replaces the shipped wording from then on.

Merge fields you can use: owner_name, vehicle, plate, color, vin, in_date, days, daily_rate, storage_total, tow_number, today, shop_name, shop_address, shop_phone, released_to, release_date.

On the web console #

1. Open Settings, then "Compliance rules". The "Rule set" menu offers the sample rules and Pennsylvania. Owners and managers choose and save.
2. With Pennsylvania on, the page lists the dates it counts, its sources with links, the checklists, and the two notice wordings.
3. Open a notice wording, change the title or the words and choose Save. The page shows which required merge fields are still missing, and Save waits until all are present.

If something goes wrong #

• "The wording needs these merge fields so the notice carries what the source requires": add the named fields back.
• "These merge fields do not exist": fix the spelling of the braced name.
• 404 "No such template": the kind is pa_owner_notice or pa_accident_scene_notice.