Taking a proactive stance on fleet maintenance not only ensures vehicle uptime, but also helps guarantee the safety of your assets, drivers and the public at large. The use of Driver Vehicle Inspection Reports (DVIRs) has long been a daily practice for many fleet operators. While some government fleets may not currently use DVIRs, including them in your fleet management strategy enables you to better monitor asset health, mitigate safety risks, and improve maintenance workflows.

While paper-based DVIRs have been the norm for many fleets, they pose many issues for fleet managers. Completing paper inspections is a time-consuming process that many drivers try to rush through, leading to illegible or inaccurate information.

The seemingly small price of monthly logbooks for your drivers also adds up quickly. When you’re already on a tight budget, it’s important to look for the most efficient systems to make your dollars stretch as far as possible.

Another challenge of paper vehicle inspections is the communication gap between drivers and fleet managers. When your teams are already greatly dispersed on their routes, slowing down communication further increases unnecessary downtime in the maintenance process.

With the help of fleet management software, many government fleets are improving vehicle inspection processes through electronic DVIRs (eDVIRs), allowing them to monitor vehicle health and safety, prevent vehicle downtime, and collect better data on vehicle issues.

Fleet management software providers typically offer a mobile app where drivers can quickly perform thorough vehicle inspections in the field. Employing the use of clicks and swipes, eDVIRs can be completed more quickly and accurately than traditional paper inspections.

Maintaining and Recording Vehicle Safety

Safety is a top priority for any government fleet, and the ability to monitor asset safety over time can provide fleet managers with a complete record of asset health. Conducting daily vehicle inspections ensures that assets are in good working condition and do not pose safety issues that could threaten the operator or the public.

Having a record of past eDVIRs can provide a fleet manager great context into asset performance, as well as help identify overarching issues and trends across their fleet. This level of visibility into asset health ensures you don’t miss critical issues that could pose a safety risk.

Documentation of inspection history is also important for safeguarding your fleet from possible liabilities. Having a record of asset condition can be helpful in the event of an accident on the road. While operators aim to keep organized records, paper inspection logs often get lost or damaged in the field, making it difficult for fleet managers to keep accurate records.

To solve this issue, all eDVIR history can be stored in a mobile app, allowing operators and fleet managers to easily access information on the go. eDVIR history can provide insight into past and ongoing vehicle issues, allowing fleet managers to track asset health and better manage any possible safety issues.

Most operators conduct inspections in the field, which can create information bottlenecks for fleet managers who still rely on paper inspection forms. To improve clarity in reporting, drivers can upload photos and add comments to eDVIRs, helping fleet managers quickly troubleshoot issues.

Producing Real-Time Inspection Results

One of the biggest challenges fleet managers face is maintaining complete fleet visibility. When your team is spread out across their routes, it can be almost impossible to gauge the safety and health of your assets.

Fleets that still use paper inspection forms face the issue of gaps in the communication process. Inspection results often aren’t delivered to fleet managers quickly, causing problems to go unnoticed. This results in costly repairs and vehicle downtime — two things government fleets can’t afford.

Leveraging fleet management software bridges the gap between field and office, by providing inspection results and other fleet data in real-time. When defects are reported via eDVIRs, managers are alerted immediately, usually by e-mail notification, and can begin creating a plan of action.

Real-time fleet data is one of the most valuable tools a fleet manager can have in today’s world. Not only does it provide peace of mind and ensure asset safety, it also promotes fleet proactivity.

Improving Maintenance Workflows

When issues are identified through eDVIRs, corrective action must be taken quickly to remain in regulatory compliance. Older government vehicles are at an increased risk of developing issues, and it’s crucial to connect your vehicle inspection strategy with your maintenance plan to increase fleet efficiency.

Streamlining the inspections process with eDVIR ensures efficient maintenance workflows and synchronizes your entire fleet operation. Fleet managers can receive real-time inspection results and create mobile work orders in fleet management software to schedule repairs. Having all vehicle information in one place allows you to make well-informed maintenance decisions and reduce downtime.

Reporting on Asset Health

Maintaining compliance and managing maintenance with the help of eDVIRs provides a complete system of record for a government fleet. Inspection and service history data can provide much-needed insight to fleet managers regarding the health and safety of assets to help them make data-driven decisions.

With fleet management software, managers can create configurable reports to analyze compliance, inspection results, maintenance, and other fleet data to identify areas of improvement. These reports can help managers spot patterns and trends across assets, helping them hone failure workflows and manage issues.

When safety is your top priority, visibility into asset health is critical. Software provides some of the best tools to comprehensively track and analyze fleet efficiency and safety. By leveraging fleet reports based on eDVIR data, fleet managers can create end-to-end maintenance workflows and improve overall asset health in order to keep their government fleet assets on the move.

About the Author: Laura Flowers is the content marketing specialist for Fleetio, a fleet maintenance software solution.