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Read moreRegular vehicle inspections are needed in order to maintain fleet safety and compliance.
Walkaround checks are essential for tracking vehicle condition and performance. These pre- and post-trip inspections can identify issues early, before they become a bigger and costlier concern potentially leading to accidents, extended downtime or expensive fines.
Many companies manage these inspection reports manually through bulky, paper logbooks that limit their visibility, utility and customisation. Some electronic vehicle inspection reports eliminate a few of these issues but may require engaging a standalone website or service, effectively siloing key vehicle data.
New and existing global Verizon Connect Reveal customers can now streamline operations with a native, customisable vehicle inspection report, directly integrated with the Reveal fleet management software.
What is a vehicle inspection report?
A vehicle inspection report is a walkaround check that drivers must complete for commercial motor vehicles. Outside of compliance, many fleets opt to utilise vehicle inspection reports voluntarily to help prioritise safety and maintenance.
These walkaround checks help create a formal record about required inspections, streamline compliance with regulations and help manage fleet maintenance.
To complete these reports, drivers at the start of their shift can review the last inspection completed on the vehicle, review and sign off on any defects and inspect the vehicle to see if it is in good condition. At the end of their shift, drivers can complete another inspection and report defects to their fleet manager so that corrective action can be taken.
Completing a walkaround check also helps fleet managers perform regular preventative maintenance, address minor issues before they become big issues (with bigger price tags to repair) and spot problems that could impact safety.
The vehicle inspection report and fleet management software
While completing daily walkaround checks is critical for good maintenance and compliance, they aren’t always easy to manage.
Paper vehicle inspection reports have obvious limitations: Handwriting can be hard to read and prone to errors, and much of the information you must handwrite is repetitive. Paper forms or logbooks are easily misplaced or damaged, which is particularly problematic because they legally must be kept intact and accessible for three months. Paper forms are difficult to share and fleet managers cannot always confirm that checklists are being completed properly and on time, leaving companies vulnerable to fines and delaying the discovery of vehicle repair needs until they are much more costly and time-consuming. It is also harder to provide actual photographic evidence of the issue in paper forms.
Electronic vehicle inspection reports offer clear operational advantages and when you can connect a customisable solution with your fleet management software, the benefits are even greater. Using an electronic vehicle inspection report within Verizon Connect Reveal, customers can achieve:
- Visibility: vehicle inspection integration within the fleet management dashboard streamlines compliance monitoring. This enables managers to swiftly identify and address vehicle issues.
- Streamlined compliance: the enhanced vehicle inspection solution keeps all information in the same place, with clear, typed forms customised to each vehicle so they can easily be shared with regulators.
- Proactive maintenance: when defects are reported through the vehicle inspection process, the fleet manager can schedule the vehicles for service quickly and see photos of the issue before manually inspecting the vehicle. This is an important layer of proactive maintenance that layers on top of GPS fleet tracking data, which 35% of fleets in the UK say improves their vehicle maintenance, according to theFleet Technology Trends Report UK 2024.
Features to help your fleet simplify compliance
The Reveal vehicle inspection reports also offers additional features that make filing and managing vehicle checks even easier:
- Customisable inspection report: vehicle inspection report forms can be custom-crafted to meet company needs, and tailored at the individual vehicle level.
- Driver app: a new modern app that will be continuously updated and refined for easy use.
- Visual evidence: drivers can upload photos to provide additional visual evidence of issues or damage.
- Alerts: get notifications when vehicle inspection reports are not completed or register a vehicle defect.
- APIs: third-party maintenance companies can connect to see defects and schedule repairs.
All of this comes in an integrated platform with Verizon Connect Reveal. Fleet managers can track complete fleet, compliance and vehicle inspection reports data without needing to switch to different websites or apps. You also don’t need an inspection tool, specialised hardware or changes to your current IT setup to start using the cloud-based Reveal vehicle inspection report solution. Simply access reports by logging into your secure account from anywhere with an internet connection.
Regularly completing the vehicle inspection report process is essential to fleet safety and compliance, so fleets are well maintained while on the road and drivers are safe.
With the new Vehicle Inspection Report from Verizon Connect Reveal, managing the entire process is easy and efficient.
