Record a damage on a vehicle

Introduction

Every scratch, dent and missing part the app knows about is kept in one damage register. Damage found during a pickup or return inspection is covered on Record damage during an inspection; this page covers everything else.

You work in two places. The first is the screen headed Damages: one table listing every damage in your company, with a New Damage button above it, a filter under each column heading, and a pencil and bin icon at the end of each row. The second is a single vehicle's own diagram, reached from that vehicle's record, where you click the spot on a drawing of the vehicle. Both open the same form, headed Damage.

You come here when:

• A colleague walks in from the yard: "the blue van has a new dent on the back door".
• The bodyshop has repaired a scratch and you want it off the vehicle's list.
• A damage report arrives before anyone knows which vehicle it is.
• You are just checking what is currently wrong with a vehicle before it goes out again.

Terms used on this screen

Every way to record a damage

Use the vehicle's diagram whenever you know the vehicle; New Damage when you do not.

How to use

Configuration

Nothing needs switching on to record damage outside an inspection. Two things make the result better:

• A damage diagram on the vehicle. The drawing you click on comes from the Damage template chosen on the vehicle's Core tab. A vehicle without one shows the note Please add a inspection template at the top of its record. Setting up diagrams is covered on Set up damage diagrams.
• The category list is fixed. The seven categories on the form (see step 3 below) cannot be added to or renamed. The Damage categories tile under Damage mgt is a separate list used for damage claims, not for this form.

Before you start: the Damages screen sits in the Admin menu, so only a Company admin can reach it, and only a Company admin can use New Damage, the pencil icon or the bin icon there. Staff with the Employee role record damage from the vehicle's record instead: they can add a damage, open one, change it and save it, but they cannot delete one.

Using the damage register

Route 1 — damage on a vehicle you know. From the main menu, open Assets, click the Assets tile, make sure the Vehicles tab is selected, and open the vehicle. On its record, click the Damages tab. It lists every damage ever recorded on this vehicle, with a Damage period column showing whether each was found at a pickup or a return. Click Manage damages above the list.

The screen headed Vehicle Damages shows six drawings: left, back, right, front, top and inside. Existing damage shows as markers on them.

1. Click the spot on the drawing where the fault is. The damage form opens with Side, X and Y already filled in from your click.
2. Continue at step 3 below.

Route 2 — from the damage register. From the main menu, open Admin, then Assets, then click the word Damages on the tile with the broken-heart icon. The screen is headed Damages. Click New Damage.

1. Choose the vehicle in the Asset box on the right, by registration number — or leave it empty if you do not know yet. Decide now: once saved, this box is locked.
2. Type the position. X and Y start at 0 and must both be more than 0. They are the marker's place on the drawing; if you do not know it, type 1 in each.

For both routes, fill in the form:

1. Fill in the fields. The left-hand column, top to bottom:

   Field	Starts as	What it does	What it accepts
   Category	Dent	The kind of fault: Dent, Scratch, Broken, Dirty, Missing, Defect or Temporary	One choice from the list
   Description	Empty	The short line everyone sees in lists	Required, up to 200 characters
   Notes	Empty	Anything longer	Up to 800 characters
   Amount	0	Your estimate of the repair cost, in euros	Any number, decimals allowed
   Side	Left, or the drawing you clicked	Which drawing the marker appears on	Front, Back, Inside, Left, Right, Top or Bottom
   Date	Now	When the damage was found	A date and time; required
   Status	New	Where the damage is in its life	New, Confirmed, Reparation or Archived

2. Attach a photo. Click Damage Photo on the right. A small window headed Edit Damage Image opens: upload the picture, give it a Name if you like, and click Save. The photo appears on the damage form.

3. Click Save. The form closes and the damage appears in the lists.

To change a damage later, click the pencil icon on its row (on the Damages screen or the vehicle's Damages tab), or click its marker on the drawing. Change what you need and Save. Cancel throws away your changes.

To delete a damage, a Company admin clicks the red bin button at the top right of the form, or the bin icon on its row in the Damages table.

Key details

What each status does. Skim this once; the status is what decides whether a damage still shows up on the vehicle.

Nothing moves a damage between statuses by itself; you change it on the form. Every status stays listed on the Damages screen and the vehicle's Damages tab.

The amount is a record, not a charge. Typing 350 in Amount does not add €350 to any booking or invoice. It is kept on the damage, and it is the figure a damage claim starts from — see Handle a damage claim.

A damage recorded here belongs to no booking. It is marked as a pickup damage and never counts against a customer. The Temporary category only clears itself away at the end of a return inspection for damage recorded in that inspection, so a Temporary damage recorded here stays until you archive or delete it.

Bottom has no drawing. Side offers Bottom, but the vehicle's diagram has no underside picture, so a damage set to Bottom appears in the lists but never on a drawing.

A worked example

On Monday a colleague reports a 10 cm dent in the rear door of van 45-VLT-2. You open the van's record, click Damages, then Manage damages, and click the dent's spot on the back drawing. You choose Dent, type "dent, rear door right-hand side", enter Amount 280 from the bodyshop's quote, take a photo, and Save. Status is New.

On Wednesday the van goes to the bodyshop: set Status to Reparation and Save. The marker leaves the drawing, but inspections still list it. On Friday the bodyshop invoices €265; update Amount to 265 and set Status to Archived. The damage leaves the van's inspections for good, and the record stays on the Damages screen.

What to do next: if the damage is to be charged to a customer or claimed from an insurer, open a claim — see Handle a damage claim. If the drawing looked wrong, fix the vehicle's diagram on Set up damage diagrams.

Q&A

Why can't I attach a damage to a vehicle after saving it without one? The Asset box is only open while you create the damage from New Damage. Every time the form opens afterwards, the box is locked. Record a new damage from the vehicle's Manage damages screen with the same details and photo, then ask a Company admin to delete the one without a vehicle from the Damages screen.

Why does Save say "X should be greater than 0"? A damage recorded from New Damage starts with X and Y at 0, and both must be more than 0. Type a number in each — 1 is fine if you do not know the position. The same message appears as X is empty or Y is empty if a box was cleared. Description is empty means the Description box needs text.

Why did clicking the Damages tile open Damage Templates instead? On the Admin → Assets screen, the icon at the top of the Damages tile and of the Damage images tile both open Damage Templates. Click the word Damages under the icon, or the empty space of the tile, instead.

Why does the second photo I added replace the first one on the form? The damage form shows one photo per damage. The earlier photo is kept in the list under the Damage images tile (Admin → Assets), but it no longer shows on the damage. Choose the single clearest photo, and put anything else worth saying in Notes.

Why has a damage disappeared from the vehicle's drawing? Its status is Reparation or Archived — both hide it from the drawing. Open the vehicle's Damages tab, which lists every damage whatever its status, click the pencil icon, and set Status back to New or Confirmed if it is still there on the vehicle.

Why is there no bin button, or why won't a damage delete? Deleting needs the Company admin role. With the Employee role, set the damage to Archived instead: it disappears from the vehicle's drawing and from inspections, and the record is kept.

Why can't I find the Damages screen in the menu? It is under Admin → Assets, which only a Company admin sees. Everyone else works from the vehicle's record: Assets → Assets tile → open the vehicle → Damages tab.

Why doesn't the drawing look like this vehicle? The drawing comes from the Damage template on the vehicle's Core tab. Change it there, or see Set up damage diagrams. Markers already placed keep their position.

Where do I see damage that was never tied to a rental? From the main menu, open Dashboards and click Off rent damages; see Fleet and damage reports.

Related pages:

• Record damage during an inspection — damage found while a vehicle goes out or comes back, tied to that booking
• Handle a damage claim — charging a damage to a customer or insurer
• Set up damage diagrams — the drawings staff click on
• Add a vehicle to your fleet — where a vehicle's damage template is chosen