Setting up your vehicle records

Fleet is your vehicle register. Each vehicle's record carries its compliance, checks, defects, inspection cycles and running costs. Trailers and plant live under Assets & equipment instead.

The Fleet page

• Tabs: Vehicles, Costs, Review, Invoices and Fuel cards. Costs, Review and Invoices appear while the Running costs feature is on, and Fuel cards while Fuel cards is on. Both are switched on under Global settings › Modules.
• The header has Import and Add vehicle, and the gear (Fleet settings), which opens Vehicle fields, Compliance types and Vehicle statuses.
• The tiles count what needs attention — Expired, Expiring soon, Inspections due, Open defects and Off-road — and each narrows the register when you click it. A notice above the list names the vehicle whose compliance needs looking at first, with Review vehicle.

Adding a vehicle

Add vehicle has three sections:

• Vehicle details: Registration (required, and unique in your fleet), Fleet no. / name (e.g. Tipper 3, Depot 7 van), Category — Car, Motorcycle, Van / LCV, HGV, Bus / Coach or Other — and Ownership, Owned or Hired. A hired vehicle expects a hire cost schedule; see Recurring costs and tank size.
• Specifications: Make, Model, Year, Fuel / energy, Tank capacity (L) ("Used to check fuel fill quantities.") and VIN (optional).
• Custom fields, if you've added any. File fields are filled in from the vehicle's record after saving.

The vehicle record

Click a registration to open its record. The header shows the registration, the status (click it to change it), Edit details and Submit check.

On the left, the facts pane:

• Assigned driver, with Change;
• Vehicle details, including your custom fields;
• Odometer, with Update odometer;
• Return to service, while the vehicle is off the road.

On the right, the tabs:

• Overview: Compliance, Running costs, Defects and Inspection cycles;
• Inspections: the checks made on this vehicle;
• Forms: forms filed about it;
• Notes, where you can @mention a colleague.

On a narrow screen the facts pane becomes a Record tab ahead of the others.

Checks, defects and compliance are covered in Vehicle checks, defects and compliance, and costs and the odometer in Vehicle running costs.

Fields, statuses and views

From the gear, Fleet settings:

• Vehicle fields: add columns of your own — text, number, date, dropdown, checkbox, file or link — the same kinds as on jobs.
• Vehicle statuses: five built-in statuses drive the off-road safety rules, and you can add your own. See Vehicle statuses and what their phase does.
• Compliance types: see Vehicle checks, defects and compliance.

Above the register:

• All vehicles or Needs attention: vehicles with expired or expiring compliance, open defects, an inspection due in the next 14 days, or an off-road status.
• View: for saved views, Search vehicles, Group by (Category or Status), Filters (Phase, Status and Category), Columns and Save view. A view is just for you or for the office, and one can be the view Fleet opens on — see Saved views.

The register shows Registration, Fleet no., Category, Make / model, Driver, Status, Defects, Next inspection and Compliance, then your own fields. Columns opens Visible columns, where you can hide any column except Registration.

Tick vehicles to bring up the selection bar: Set status, Set category, Record compliance, Delete and Clear. Record compliance enters one certificate, such as a fleet insurance policy, on every vehicle ticked. See Vehicle checks, defects and compliance.

Drivers

On the record, choose Change beside Assigned driver to open Assign driver, pick a Driver from the searchable list, or Unassigned, and choose Assign. Each change of driver is kept, with its dates, and recorded in the audit trail.

The new driver is told "You are the driver of {registration}", unless you picked yourself. While they hold the vehicle, they're also told when a graded defect takes it off the road ("{registration} is off the road") and when it's returned to service ("{registration} is back in service").

A vehicle can only take a driver while its status means it's available. Otherwise the assignment is refused: "This vehicle is off the road.", "This vehicle is not in service yet." or "This vehicle is retired." Unassigning always works.

The Driver capability switch on a person (in Edit access & role) marks who is expected to drive. It's a label, not a restriction: the list offers every active person.

Importing your fleet

Import opens Import vehicles. Choose Upload file or Paste rows (with your header row first), then:

• Match your key columns: Registration is required; Category, Status and Fleet no. are optional.
• Untick a column to skip it. Unknown columns become new custom fields.
• Preview your vehicles shows each row. A registration already in your fleet is skipped ("Already in the fleet — skipped."), and so is one repeated in the sheet.

Up to 2,000 rows go at once. You'll see "Imported 14 vehicles."

Tip: get Registration right on import. It's the unique key, so a typo creates a second vehicle rather than updating the one you meant. Everything else can be tidied up later.

Managing vehicles needs Manage vehicles, and so does opening a vehicle's record with its compliance, checks, defects and costs. Without it, the vehicle list leaves out costs, hire, compliance and your own fields: it's there so people can pick a vehicle, for a check or a fuel fill. Anyone can still submit a check.