Equipment Rental: Deposit Release Check

Excel Formulas › Equipment Rental

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A deposit should come back when the machine does — on time, undamaged, and fueled. Three yes/no columns and one AND turn that policy into a decision the counter cannot get wrong.

Quick formula: All three conditions must be TRUE:

=IF(AND(B2,C2,D2),"Release","Hold")

Two yeses and a no is still a hold. AND only returns TRUE when nothing on the list failed.

Functions used (tap for the full reference guide):

IF AND

The example

Three returns checked against the same three conditions. 1 means the condition was met, 0 means it was not.

	A	B	C	D	E
1	Return	On time	No damage	Fueled	Deposit
2	Trencher #4	1	1	1	Release
3	Auger #2	1	0	1	Hold
4	Mixer #7	0	1	1	Hold

The formula

AND collapses the checklist into a single TRUE or FALSE, and IF turns that into words:

=IF(AND(B2,C2,D2),"Release","Hold") // every box ticked, or the deposit stays

How it works

Read it inside out:

AND(B2,C2,D2) is TRUE only when all three cells are non-zero — Excel treats 1 as TRUE and 0 as FALSE.
IF(...) converts that to the word your staff actually needs to see.
Adding a fourth condition means adding one more argument inside AND — the rest of the formula is untouched.

Because AND is strict, a blank cell counts as FALSE. That is usually what you want: an unchecked box is not a passed check.

Try it: interactive demo

Interactive

Tick the conditions that were met on return.

On time

No damage

Fueled

Variations

Any one failure is enough

OR reads the other direction — hold if anything went wrong.

=IF(OR(B2=0,C2=0,D2=0),"Hold","Release")

Count how many checks passed

Handy for a returns scorecard by customer.

=SUM(B2:D2)

Pitfalls & errors

Do not write AND(B2:D2) expecting a per-row answer in older Excel — list the cells as separate arguments so the intent is explicit.

Store the checks as 1 and 0 rather than the words Yes and No. Numbers work directly inside AND and still add up with SUM.

Practice workbook

📊

Download the free Equipment Rental: Deposit Release Check practice workbook

Edit the yellow 1/0 condition cells; the deposit decision recalculates.

Frequently asked questions

Can I show which condition failed?

Yes — nest IFs or use TEXTJOIN over the failed labels. The interactive demo above does exactly that, naming late, damage, or fuel.

Does AND work with more than three checks?

It accepts up to 255 arguments. Practically, once you pass about six, a helper column counting failures is easier to read.

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Function references: IF AND