What is a Vehicle Inspection Checklist?
A vehicle inspection checklist is an essential tool for any business that relies on vehicles to operate.
A vehicle inspection checklist is a list of items that need to be inspected on a vehicle. This can include things like the vehicle’s tires, brakes, lights, and engine.
A vehicle inspection checklist helps ensure that all aspects of the vehicle are in good working order before it hits the road.
It helps ensure the safety of your drivers and passengers, improves fuel efficiency, extends the life of your vehicles, and improves your company’s image.
Vehicle inspection checklists should be used as guides to facilitate checking and evidencing that your vehicles are fit for use on the roads and are compliant with safety regulations.
They are a key tool in preventative maintenance and should be carried out daily by the designated driver of the vehicle before they start their shift.
For more guidelines on workplace transport safety in the UK, click here.
9 Reasons why a Vehicle Inspection Checklist is Important
1. A vehicle inspection checklist helps ensure that all vehicles in your fleet are safe and roadworthy.
2. It helps you identify and rectify any potential safety hazards before they become a problem.
3. It can help you avoid costly repairs down the line by helping you spot potential issues early on.
4. It can help improve your fuel efficiency by ensuring that your vehicles are properly maintained.
5. It can extend the life of your vehicles by keeping them in good condition.
6. A vehicle inspection checklist can improve driver morale by ensuring that their vehicles are well-maintained and safe to drive.
7. It can help reduce accidents and injuries by identifying and rectifying potential safety hazards.
8. Helps improve your company’s image by ensuring that your vehicles are well-maintained and presentable.
9. A vehicle inspection checklist reduces vehicle downtime by helping you spot potential issues early on and rectify them before they cause problems.
How to create your own Vehicle Inspection Checklist.
When creating your own vehicle inspection checklist, you should consider all the items of a specific vehicle that you must check to make sure your vehicle is in working order and evidence its compliance with safety regulations.
Each different vehicle you own should have a separate inspection checklist that identifies all its individual parts that must be inspected daily before use.
Your form should include fields to capture the vehicle ID or name, the name of the driver completing the inspection and the date the inspection took place to ensure traceability.
Now you will want to focus on the checklist.
In our free example, which can be downloaded below we choose to use a tabular format for the checklist section as it is the best way to clearly present data especially for future reference purposes.
Your first column should be used to identify each individual item of the vehicle that must be inspected to ensure safety compliance before it can be taken on the road.
The kind of things you should include in your vehicle inspection checklist are:
Your odometer reading – This will help you keep track of how many miles the vehicle has been driven. It’s also useful information to have when it comes time to sell the vehicle.
Tire condition – You’ll want to check for things like tread wear, cracks, or bald spots. This is important information to have so that you can ensure the vehicle’s tires are safe and roadworthy.
Brake condition – Check for issues such as wear and tear, and movement of the vehicle when stationary. This means that you can ensure the vehicle’s brakes are safe and effective.
Lights – You may want to check all of the vehicle’s lights are in working order, including the headlights, taillights, turn signals, and brake lights to ensure the vehicle is visible to other drivers and pedestrians.
Engine – Oil leaks, coolant leaks, and warning lights should all be recorded to show proof that the vehicle’s engine is in good working order.
Body – You’ll want to have space to record issues like dents, scratches, or cracks. This is important information to have so that you can record the vehicle’s body condition and allow traceability for damage.
Next, you will want to include a column where the driver carrying out the inspection can either tick off or even better initial to confirm that they have successfully checked each listed item.
The final column should include a section where the driver can leave any comments about each item they must inspect, for example if an item isn’t working as expected and needs to be repaired.
Finally, at the bottom of your form you should include a field to capture the driver’s signature and date of signing to ensure accountability for that specific vehicle inspection.
Using Jomo247 to manage your vehicle inspections.
Vehicle inspection checklists must be completed daily and if these are being recorded on paper this can create a huge paper load that needs to be stored and maintained in a physical location.
With Jomo247, once your vehicle inspection checklist has been completed it is automatically stored in one centralised location that can easily be accessed whenever you need to reference or evidence compliance.
With our completely customisable form designer, you can create forms that tailored to the requirements of your organisation and every different vehicle your organisation may own.
Jomo247 is mobile friendly meaning checks can easily be carried out quickly before taking the vehicle out without the delay of sitting down at a desktop to complete.
Jomo247 also supports a wide variety of document types meaning you can upload photo and/or even video evidence to support what you have recorded in your vehicle inspection checklist.
If a fault with a vehicle or its parts is identified, you can immediately issue and assign repair tasks to the relevant employees.
With our timeline tool you can track exactly who carried out each vehicle inspection and when ensuring accountability of all employees involved.
For more of our free compliance templates, click here.
