Digital service book for the entire car fleet

Fleet management is also about being able to document maintenance

A car fleet, regardless of whether it belongs to a company or a municipality, is typically managed on what is easy to measure: who drives which car, what does it drive, and when does the agreement expire. Maintenance is more difficult because it does not take place centrally. It happens in a workshop, on a random Tuesday, and the documentation remains where the work was done: in the workshop's own system, on one car manufacturer's portal, or as an invoice in an inbox.

This is the gap that a digital service book closes. The service is registered where the work is carried out, and the registration belongs to the vehicle instead of to the workshop, portal or the employee who drove the car that day.

What you can see today

For each vehicle, you can see the recorded history, when the car was last serviced, and when it needs to be replaced. This is the part that a fleet manager uses on a daily basis: not a report to be ordered, but an overview that is a consequence of the workshops recording the work.

Because the registrations come from the workshop and not from you, the overview keeps itself updated, even when the fleet is spread over several workshops, several car brands and several countries.

Why a spreadsheet doesn't hold up

A spreadsheet is up to date as long as someone remembers to update it. At 20 cars, it can work. At 200, it falls apart, and it does so quietly, so you only discover it on the day a car is to be returned or sold.

When the workshop registers the service in its own system, there is no reporting to forget. The overview becomes a consequence of the work rather than a task on top of it.

What the factory warranty actually requires

Many fleets stay at the brand workshop because they are in doubt about the warranty. The requirement is that the service is carried out according to the manufacturer's regulations and documented correctly. Not that it is carried out in a specific place. This has been EU law since 2010.

The prerequisite is that the documentation is available when it is requested. With registered service per vehicle, it can be presented car by car, even several years and several workshops later. For a fleet, it is the difference between being able to choose a workshop freely and paying for a security you already have.

What happens in the event of a lease return

When returning the car, the car is assessed, among other things, on whether the maintenance has been followed. If it cannot be documented, your word is against the leasing company's assessment, and that discussion costs money. If the service is registered with the date and mileage, it will be a notice instead of a negotiation.

The same applies when a company car is sold on. Documented maintenance is what justifies the price, rather than making it negotiable.

Why the history should be on the car

Fleets change workshops, suppliers and sometimes countries. If the history is with the individual workshop, the chain is broken every time. If it is on the vehicle, it follows the car throughout its life in the fleet and on to the next owner.

This is also why the information is collected across workshops and manufacturer portals rather than in one system. A fleet is rarely gathered at one supplier or one car brand, and the history must be able to withstand the fact that it is not.