Fleet: vehicles, drivers, checks and running costs

Fleet keeps every company vehicle road-legal, safe and paid for in one place. Open it from Field Service → Fleet in the sidebar. Fleet comes with Field Service on the Business and Enterprise plans.

The Fleet hub

The tiles at the top (on the road, off the road, overdue, open defects, in the workshop, drivers) each open the list behind them. The hub has five tabs:

• Due — everything overdue or due in the next 30 days: MOT, road tax, insurance, services, driving licences and contract end dates. Click a row to open the vehicle or driver.
• Vehicles — search by name or registration, filter by status, tick Needs attention to see only vehicles with something overdue or due soon, or show archived vehicles. Export downloads the fleet as a CSV file.
• Drivers — each driver's licence state, points and vehicles. Click a driver to see their details, checks and costs.
• Defects — faults reported on walkaround checks that are still open.
• Workshop — services and repairs that are booked or in progress.

Adding a vehicle

Click Add vehicle. Enter a name and the registration (each registration can only be added once, however it is typed), then the type, fuel, make and model, VIN, odometer, and the MOT, tax, insurance and next service dates. Set a service interval in months and/or distance so the next service is worked out for you. Choose a manager: they get the reminders and defect alerts for that vehicle. Without one, your admins do.

Drivers

Click Add driver and pick an HR employee, a team member, or just type a name. Record licence categories, expiry date, penalty points and when the licence was last checked. Only fleet managers and admins can enter or change licence numbers, points, expiry and driver status, and only they see licence numbers in full. Everyone else sees a masked number.

To hand a vehicle over, open it and click Assign driver (or Change driver), pick the driver and enter the odometer reading. The driver is told the vehicle is theirs. A driver whose licence has expired cannot be given a vehicle. Suspending a driver, or marking them as left, hands their vehicles back.

Walkaround checks

On the vehicle, open Checks and click New check. Mark every item OK or Fault; each fault needs a note. The checklist suits the vehicle (couplings for trucks and trailers, charging for electric vehicles). Every item must be answered.

• A fault on a safety item (tyres, brakes, lights, steering, seatbelts and similar) marks the check unsafe and takes the vehicle off the road. The manager is told straight away.
• Other faults are recorded as defects for the manager to look at.

A manager can sign off defects as fixed or book a repair from them. When that repair is marked done, the defects are closed and the vehicle goes back on the road.

Workshop

Open Workshop on the vehicle to book a service, repair, MOT, tyres, inspection or bodywork job. Pick a supplier from your vendors or type any garage. Start the job when the vehicle goes in, and mark it Done with the cost and odometer when it comes back. A finished service moves the next service date and distance on by the vehicle's interval.

Fuel and odometer

Log each fill under Fuel with the quantity (litres, gallons or kWh), cost and odometer, and tick Filled to full when you fill up. Plenix works out real-world economy (mpg, l/100 km or miles per kWh) between full fills. The odometer follows each fill, check and workshop job. You can also add a reading on its own. Readings cannot go backwards unless a manager corrects them.

Contracts and costs

Add leases, insurance, finance, warranties, breakdown cover and fuel cards under Contracts with the provider, reference, dates and payments. You are reminded before a contract ends. Add tolls, parking, fines, congestion charges, cleaning and accessories under Costs, and charge them to a driver if you want to.

The Costs tab adds fuel, servicing, contracts and other costs together, with the cost per mile and the total cost of owning the vehicle.

Reminders

Every morning Plenix checks MOT, tax, insurance and service dates, licences and contract ends. The vehicle's manager, or your admins, are reminded 30, 14, 7 and 1 days before, on the day, and every week once something is overdue.

Disposing and archiving

Dispose of vehicle records the sale value, releases the driver and keeps the full history. A disposed vehicle can be restored. Archive hides a vehicle from the lists without disposing of it. Only managers and admins can dispose of, archive or delete vehicles.

Automations

Fleet adds four automation triggers: Walkaround Check Submitted (filter on the result to act on defects or unsafe vehicles), Vehicle Service Completed, Vehicle Added and Vehicle Assigned.

Security

Licence numbers are encrypted and are never included in the export. Viewers can see the fleet but cannot change it.