Introduction
The driver app is the self-service page an extra driver opens on their phone from a link in their own booking email. It is the extra driver's version of the self-service app the main renter uses. With it, a driver who is on the booking can photograph the vehicle, start the rental, unlock and lock the doors during the rental, and end the rental, all without anyone at the desk. Before it shows anything, the app asks for the booking's security PIN (personal identification number).
Staff never work inside the driver app. It is a separate page on the driver's phone, and nothing in RentVisie opens it for you. Your part is setting it up, reading out the PIN when a driver asks for it, and checking the photos the driver took. Both sit on the booking's Self service tab: the Security pin box at the top, and the photos under Customer photo uploads below it.
You would be here because:
- a company car is booked for a whole team, and the colleague who collects it is not the person who made the booking;
- a driver phones from the car park because the app asks for a PIN they never received;
- a driver says the doors will not unlock from the app;
- you want to check the pickup photos a driver took before a damage is raised;
- you are setting up self-service and want extra drivers to use it too, not only the main renter.
Words this screen uses
| The screen says | What it means |
|---|---|
| Security pin | The booking's security PIN, a number the driver types into the app |
| DriverBookingConfirmation | The email that carries the driver's own link |
| Self service | The switch on a vehicle that allows pickup and return without staff |
| Picked up | The booking status once the vehicle has been collected |
| Traci | The company that makes the tracking box in the vehicle; the box carries out lock and unlock |
The scan found one way into the driver app: the link in the DriverBookingConfirmation email. The main renter uses a different link and has more steps; see Let customers collect and return a vehicle on their own.
How to use
Configuration
Five things must be in place before a driver can use the app. Only the first needs RentVisie; a company administrator does the rest.
1. The web address of the self-service pages. From the main menu open Admin, then Settings, and click the Operational tile. On the screen headed Operational settings, the Customer portal tab holds Customer portal base url. Every driver link starts with this address. RentVisie support fills it in; leave it alone unless they ask you to change it. While it is empty, the driver links in your emails lead nowhere.
2. An email that carries the link and the PIN. From the main menu open Admin, then Communicator, and click the Bookings tile. Click New Automated and choose DriverBookingConfirmation under Automated type (if a template of that type is already in the list, open it with the pencil icon instead). In Body, type:
- ${driverSelfServiceUrl} where the link should go. When the email is sent, the app turns it into this driver's own link for this booking;
- ${bookingSecurityPin} where the PIN should go. The link itself does not contain the PIN, so without this the driver has to ask you for it.
Set Active to Yes and click Save. It applies to every email sent from then on; drivers who were emailed before do not get a new one by themselves. How templates work in general, including a second language, is on Set up the emails the app sends by itself. Use ${driverSelfServiceUrl} only in this type of email: in any other email it becomes a link to the RentVisie website instead.
3. The vehicle must be set up for self-service. Its Self service switch must be on, and a Traci tracker must be linked to it. See Let customers collect and return a vehicle on their own and Link a tracker to a vehicle and follow it on the map. Without the switch, the driver can still start and end the rental in the app, but nothing is checked and the doors cannot be unlocked or locked from the phone.
4. Whether photos are required. Your company setting for required photos at pickup and at return applies to drivers too. It is described in Let customers collect and return a vehicle on their own.
5. The driver must be on the booking, with an Email and an Invoice name on their customer record. See Add extra drivers and company contacts. The main renter can also add drivers to the booking from their own self-service app.
Before you start: Settings and Communicator are for a company administrator. Opening a booking and reading its Security pin is open to counter staff. The driver needs no account of their own: the link and the PIN are all they need.
Using the driver app
From the main menu open Bookings, then Overview, and open the booking. In the lower row of tabs, next to Emails and Payment Requests, click Self service.
- Send the driver their link. Each driver gets their own DriverBookingConfirmation email when the booking is confirmed. To send it again, click Reconfirm new data on the booking's Emails tab. Resend confirmation email does not send it: that button re-sends the main renter's email only.
- Give the driver the PIN when they ask. Read it out from the Security pin box on the Self service tab. You cannot change it here; the box is read-only. The two boxes below it, Auto checkout and Auto process status, save the moment you change them, with no Save button; they belong to unattended pickup and return, so leave them alone here.
- Check the photos. Under Customer photo uploads, each photo shows the booking number, the date and time it was taken, and the side of the vehicle (Left, Front, Right, Back). Click a photo to enlarge it.
What the driver does in the app, in order:
| Step | When the driver can do it | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Take photos | Booking Confirmed or Picked up | Each photo is saved on the booking at once. Photos taken before pickup count as pickup photos; photos taken after it count as return photos |
| Start the rental | Booking Confirmed, from 15 minutes before the pickup time until one minute before the return time | The app checks payment and photos, the tracker unlocks the doors and the engine, and the booking becomes Picked up |
| Unlock or lock | Booking Picked up | The tracker opens or locks the doors. The engine is not touched |
| End the rental | Booking Picked up | The same return checks as for the main renter; the tracker locks the doors and the engine |
Key details
One PIN per booking, shared by everyone on it. The app gives each booking a random PIN when the booking is created, usually six digits. The main renter and every extra driver use the same one. The main renter can change it from their own app; staff cannot. When the renter changes it, the old PIN stops working for the drivers too, and ${bookingSecurityPin} in later emails shows the new one.
The driver can do less than the main renter. The driver app has no damage reporting, no checklist, no mileage and fuel entry and no signature. The driver also cannot delete a photo once it is taken. If a driver took the wrong photo, it stays on the booking; ignore it when you check. For damage the driver reports by phone, record it yourself as in Record a damage on a vehicle.
Worked example. Booking 24518 for a van, pickup Friday 09:00, return Sunday 18:00, rent €240 including value-added tax (VAT) and a €300 deposit. The renter has paid the €240 rent and €200 of the deposit. Their colleague Sanne is on the booking as a driver.
| Sanne's attempt | Result |
|---|---|
| Friday 08:40, starts the rental | Refused with Checkout not within allowed time period: 20 minutes early is outside the 15 minutes allowed. From 08:45 it is allowed |
| Friday 08:50, starts the rental | Refused with Please settle outstanding amount first: €540 is due and €440 is paid, so €100 is open |
| Friday 08:55, after the renter pays the last €100 | The doors and engine unlock and the booking becomes Picked up |
| Saturday 14:00, locks the van at a supermarket | The doors lock |
| Had she never collected it: Sunday 17:59 | Refused with Checkout not within allowed time period: from one minute before the return time, a rental can no longer be started |
The payment check allows up to €0.05 open, so a booking short by 5 cents still passes and one short by 6 cents does not.
What to do next: when a driver cannot end the rental, go to Help a customer whose self-service return is refused. After the return, check the return photos against the pickup photos on the Self service tab before you invoice.
Q&A
The app says Booking not found, though the driver typed the PIN. The PIN is wrong. The usual cause is that the main renter changed it after the driver's email went out. Read the current number from the Security pin box on the booking's Self service tab and give it to the driver. Security pin not provided means the box was left empty.
The app says Driver not found. The person is no longer on the booking's driver list, for example because someone pressed Update on the Drivers screen without ticking them. Put them back as in Add extra drivers and company contacts.
The app says No active booking found. The booking is not Confirmed or Picked up. It may still be provisional, already returned, or cancelled. Check the status on the booking and, if the booking should go ahead, confirm it as in Confirm a booking.
Unlock does nothing, and the app says Please update booking status first. Unlocking and locking only work once the rental has started. The driver must start the rental first; that step unlocks the doors by itself.
The app says Self service not supported, No linked Tracker found or No traci connection. The vehicle is not set up for remote unlocking: its Self service switch is off, it has no tracker, or your company is not connected to Traci. Hand over the key in person as in Run the pickup inspection, and ask your administrator to fix the vehicle.
The app says Not all required images have been taken. One of the four sides is missing: Left, Front, Right or Back. Ask the driver to take the missing side. You can see which sides are there under Customer photo uploads.
A driver never received their email. Check that the driver has an Email and an Invoice name, and that your DriverBookingConfirmation template exists and is Active. Then click Reconfirm new data. Note that reconfirming makes a new draft agreement and removes an existing signature; see Confirm a booking.
The link in the driver's email opens the RentVisie website. The link was placed in a different email type, not in DriverBookingConfirmation. Move it to that template.
Related pages: Set up the customer portal and help customers use it for the renter's own booking page, and Link a tracker to a vehicle and follow it on the map for the box that does the locking.