Ask drivers to do a full inspection with photos every time they get into a vehicle, and within a week most of them will tap through it without looking. The checklist stops meaning anything. A better approach is to decide which inspection is needed, how often, and on which vehicles — and to ask for nothing more.
Two inspections cover most fleets
Trace4X comes with two presets that suit most fleets of cars, vans and pickups:
- Daily check — every day the vehicle is used: the defect checklist of the vehicle and its trailer. A quick walk-around, no photos.
- Weekly inspection — once a week: the required photos, the same checklist, and a check of every equipment item on the vehicle.
You can change both, add a monthly inspection, or create your own. Each schedule has a name drivers see, a frequency (daily, weekly or monthly), a checklist, the photos it requires, whether it includes an equipment check, and the vehicles or groups it applies to.
Ask for specific photos
A generic "add photos" step gets you six pictures of the same bumper. Instead, a schedule lists the exact photos it needs: front, back, driver side, passenger side, odometer, cargo area — up to twenty. The app asks for exactly those, one by one, and won't submit until they're all there.
Equipment, only where it matters
A schedule can skip equipment, include an equipment check, or include a check with photos. Photos are only requested for items that need one — a fire extinguisher, yes; a set of ratchet straps, no. That is set per equipment type and can be changed per item.
The thorough inspection counts for the quick one
Periods are calendar periods in your company's time zone: a day, a week from Monday to Sunday, a month. A more thorough inspection also counts for the more frequent ones in the same period, so the weekly inspection done on Tuesday is also Tuesday's daily check. Drivers never do both on the same day.
Parked vehicles aren't "missed"
An inspection period only counts as required when the vehicle was actually used: driven, connected to by a driver, or inspected. A van that stayed in the yard all week doesn't show up as a missed inspection. The Inspection Compliance view on the web shows, per vehicle and schedule, what was required, what was done and what was missed.
What the driver sees
After connecting to a vehicle, the driver app offers the most thorough inspection that is due. The driver can start it right away or postpone it, and it stays on the home screen until it's done. If nothing is due, the app doesn't ask. Everything works offline, photos included, and is sent when the phone is back online.
A good starting point
Start with the two presets on all vehicles, look at the compliance view after two weeks, and adjust: fewer photos where they add nothing, a monthly inspection for vehicles that need a deeper look, equipment checks only where equipment goes missing.