Dates, time zones and money

Time zones

HQ stores every date in UTC.
Reservations (lists, single reservations and the booking flow), contacts and some related records convert dates to the time zone of the API user, chosen in this order:

UTC, if HQ Support has set the user to receive API dates in UTC.

The user's personal time zone, if one is set.

Your account time zone.

If your account has Enable Multiple Timezone Support per Location turned on, the v1 reservations list and single reservations return their dates in the pick-up location's time zone, or in your account time zone when the location has none, unless the user is set to UTC.
The v2 reservations list keeps the API user's time zone.
Converted dates come as 2026-11-02T14:00:00.000000Z in most fields, or as 2026-11-02 14:00:00 for the pick-up, return and flight dates of a single reservation and of the booking flow.
Unless the user is set to UTC, read both as local time, even with the Z.
The v2 reservations list returns its dates in the API user's date format instead, or in your account's when the user has none, for example 09-10-2026 10:00.

With multiple time zones turned on, dates you send to POST /car-rental/reservations/{reservation_id}/update are read in the pick-up location's time zone, unless the user is set to UTC.

For a new integration, ask HQ Support to set your integration user to UTC, then send and read every date in UTC.

Date formats

Field	Format
Dates you send, such as `pick_up_date` and `return_date`	`YYYY-MM-DD`, for example `2026-11-02`
Times you send, such as `pick_up_time` and `return_time`	`HH:mm` in 24-hour time, for example `14:30`; `HH:mm:ss` also works
Date filters	`YYYY-MM-DD` (see Filtering and incremental sync)
`updated_since`	`YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm:ss` in UTC

Money

The booking flow and single reservation responses return the calculated prices in data.total as Money objects:

{
  "currency": "usd",
  "currency_icon": "$",
  "amount": "267.75",
  "usd_amount": "267.75",
  "amount_for_display": "$267.75"
}

amount is a string with a dot as the decimal separator and no thousands separator; parse it as a decimal, not as a float.

currency is the lowercase currency code.

amount_for_display is formatted for people; do not parse it.

usd_amount is an approximate conversion to US dollars, and "0.00" when no exchange rate is known; do not use it for accounting.

Amounts inside data.reservation, such as total_paid and outstanding_balance, can be plain decimal strings or Money objects depending on your account, so read totals from data.total.
Reservation payments also return Money objects.
GET /car-rental/reservations returns amounts as plain decimal strings in v1, for example "total_price": "267.7500", and as Money objects in v2.
Most other endpoints do the same, but some accounts return Money objects on them instead, so check a response from your account before you build.

Each reservation has one currency.
exchange_rate_from_currency_to_base is the number of units of the reservation currency per unit of your account's default currency, fixed when the reservation is created or its currency changes.
Divide a reservation amount by it to get the amount in your default currency.

Time zones#

Date formats#

Money#

Time zones

Date formats

Money