Creating and completing an inspection report

An inspection report captures a vehicle's condition at a single point in time — photographed, itemised, signed and turned into a branded PDF for your customer. It's the core record vehReports produces, and everything about building one is free right up until you sign off. This guide walks you through the whole job: starting the report, working the tabs, pulling DVLA and MOT data, capturing photos, recording tyres, fuel and mileage, completing the checklist, and clearing the panel that stands between you and a finished report.

#What an inspection report is for

A report is your dated, evidenced statement of how a vehicle looked and behaved at a moment — at handover, at return, before a sale, after a wash, or as a routine fleet check. It pulls together photographs, damage markers, tyre and fuel readings, mileage and a traffic-light checklist into one branded PDF that's automatically emailed to your customer once you sign off. Because it's all captured at the time — stamped to a vehicle, a person and a timestamp — it's far harder to dispute than a recollection after the fact.

vehReports is for businesses inspecting, hiring or checking their own or managed vehicles — fleets, rental and lease operators, dealers and workshops. It's not a consumer car-history service. For the bigger picture of what the product does, see what vehReports does.

#Before you start

You'll get the smoothest run if these are in place first:

• The vehicle exists in your account. If it's new to you, add it by registration first — its make, model, colour, fuel, tax and MOT details arrive from DVLA automatically.
• The customer is on file (if the report is for one). You can add them inline as you build, or set them up first under Customers — see managing customers.
• A template covers this vehicle and inspection type. Your account ships with sensible defaults, so you don't have to do anything here — but if you want the walkaround tailored, see how templates match and building an inspection template.

You do not need credits to start. Building, previewing and saving a draft is free and unlimited. The only step that uses a credit is sign-off — see understanding credits.

#Starting a new report

From Reports, choose New report. You'll set a few things up front on the Vehicle tab:

• Vehicle — the vehicle being inspected. Search by registration or name. Picking it pulls in its known details and pre-fills the mileage.
• Inspection type — general, inspection, inbound, outbound, mid-term, pickup, dropoff, pre-purchase or post-wash. The type matters: it helps choose the right template and, for inbound reports, can drive a verdict. See inspection types explained. You can turn types on or off under company settings.
• Inspection template (optional) — leave it blank to let vehReports auto-select the best match for this vehicle and inspection type, or pick a specific one. The list shows each template's vehicle type, inspection type and whether it's your default.
• Customer — who the report is for, so it can be emailed to them and filed against their record. Picking a customer pre-fills their name, company, email and phone into the customer-details box, where you can correct anything for this report without changing their saved record.
• Inspector — defaults to you, but you can record that a colleague carried out the walkaround.
• Linked rental agreement (optional) — if this inspection is the handover or return for a hire, linking it keeps the two tied together. See the rental lifecycle.

The report opens as a draft and is given a reference automatically. No credit is used, so you can start it now and finish it later, or build it over the course of a job.

#How the report is laid out

The report is split into tabs so a full walkaround stays manageable. What each tab asks for is shaped by the inspection template matched to this vehicle and inspection type — which is why an HGV inbound report can ask for different things than a car pre-purchase check.

#The Vehicle tab

Confirm the registration and the vehicle's details — make, model, colour, fuel type — most of it already pre-filled from the DVLA lookup. Here you also set:

• Current mileage — the figure the whole report is built around.
• Fuel or charge level — full, three-quarters, half, quarter, reserve or empty (or the equivalent state of charge for an electric vehicle).
• Inspection type, template, customer, inspector and any linked agreement, as above.

#The Inspection tab

The heart of the report — the walkaround itself, organised into collapsible sections:

• Walkaround photos from the standard angles
• Damage diagram and markers pinned to a silhouette matching the body type
• Tyre tread depths at each wheel
• the OK / advisory / fail checklist

Each of these is covered in detail below.

#The Notes tab

A place for anything else worth recording against the report — context that doesn't belong on a specific marker or checklist item.

#Pulling DVLA and MOT data

You rarely need to type a vehicle's details by hand. On the Vehicle tab, the Refresh action looks the registration up and populates:

• make, model, colour and fuel type
• tax and MOT status and due dates
• the latest recorded mileage from the MOT history

If the most recent MOT shows a higher odometer reading than the record holds, the mileage is brought up to date so you're confirming a figure rather than guessing, and an unusual jump stands out.

This lookup is free — it never uses a credit, and you can refresh as often as you like. The same data flows in automatically when you first add a vehicle by registration.

If a vehicle isn't found: for a brand-new vehicle or a personal import, DVLA may not return data yet. You can still complete the report by entering the details by hand.

#Recording walkaround photos

Photos are the backbone of a defensible inspection — more than anything else, they're what settles a question about condition.

#Capturing a complete set

In the Walkaround photos section, add photos to the grid. There are suggested angles to prompt a complete set so nothing important is missed:

• front and rear
• both sides (near-side and off-side)
• interior
• dashboard (useful for warning lights and mileage)
• fuel or charge gauge
• number plates

You can add several photos at once and you're not limited to the prompts — capture as many as the vehicle warrants, up to a generous per-report limit (around 40 images).

#Editing and ordering

Reorder photos so they read logically — front to back, outside then in. You can tidy a shot with the built-in image editor before it's saved, which is handy for cropping or straightening on the move.

#Automatic watermarking

When you sign off, every photo is watermarked with the registration, the inspector's name and a timestamp. That stamp is what makes an image hard to dispute later — it ties each photo to a specific vehicle, person and moment, rather than being just "a photo of a car". You don't have to do anything to trigger this; it happens as part of completion.

#Walkaround photos vs damage close-ups

There are two distinct kinds of photo, and it's worth keeping them separate:

• Walkaround photos sit in the photos grid and show the vehicle's overall state.
• Damage close-ups belong on the individual damage markers, where each marker carries up to six of its own photos pinned to a spot on the diagram.

Using the right one keeps your evidence organised: general condition in the grid, specific defects against their markers.

#Tips for strong evidence

• Shoot in good light and get close enough that detail is readable.
• For any damage, take a close-up and a wider shot showing where it sits.
• Capture the dashboard with the ignition on if mileage or warning lights matter.

#Marking damage

In the Damage diagram and markers section, pick the body type so the right silhouette appears — car/SUV, van, HGV, minibus/MPV or classic. vehReports defaults this to the vehicle's known body type, so it's usually already correct. Then tap the diagram to drop a marker wherever there's a dent, scuff, scratch or chip, and record the area, severity, a note and up to six photos for each one.

Marking damage is a job in its own right, with its own customisable codes, severities and cost bands. For the full walkthrough see marking damage on the diagram.

#Tyre tread, fuel and mileage

Alongside photos and damage, an inspection records the measurable basics — the numbers that turn an impression into evidence.

#Tyre tread

Record the tread depth for each wheel individually. Readings are flagged against two thresholds:

• 1.6 mm — the UK legal minimum, measured across the central three-quarters of the tread. Below this, the tyre is illegal and unroadworthy.
• 3.0 mm — an advisory level. At or below this the tyre is still legal but worth watching or planning to replace.

Recording per-wheel matters because tyres rarely wear evenly — a single worn corner is exactly the kind of thing you want flagged and photographed at the time.

#Fuel or charge level

Note the fuel level, or the state of charge for an electric vehicle, at the time of inspection. On a hire this is the figure a return inspection is compared against, so an "out full, back quarter" situation is captured cleanly and can be charged for if your terms allow.

#Mileage

Record the current mileage on the Vehicle tab. Where DVLA and MOT data is available, the latest known reading is pulled in for you, so you're confirming a figure rather than guessing — and an unusually large jump since the last reading stands out.

#Why these numbers matter

Captured at the time, in the report, they're far harder to dispute than a recollection afterwards:

• a tyre below the legal limit is a clear, dated, photographed finding
• a fuel level that doesn't match the handover supports a refuel charge
• mileage well beyond an agreed allowance is easy to evidence against the agreement

#Completing the checklist

The checklist is the structured, traffic-light part of the inspection — quick to complete in the field and easy to read back on the finished report.

#OK, advisory or fail

Each item is marked OK, advisory or fail — or not applicable where it doesn't apply to this vehicle. Advisory is the useful middle ground: the item is acceptable now but worth watching — a tyre near the wear marker, a small stone chip, a bulb that's dim but working. Capturing it as advisory rather than a bare OK gives the customer fair warning and gives you a record that you flagged it.

#Where the items come from

The list is pre-filled from your inspection template, so every inspection of that type asks the same questions in the same order — consistency across your team and across vehicles. The section header tells you which checklist is in use. You build these reusable lists when building an inspection template. If no checklist matched, the section records free notes only.

#Vehicle-class checks

Some checks only make sense for certain vehicles — a tachograph check on an HGV, for instance. Your template can add class-specific items so the right extra questions appear for the right vehicles, and don't clutter inspections where they don't apply.

#One-off items and notes

When something comes up that isn't on the standard list, add a bespoke item to that specific report — without changing the template for everyone else. Any item can also carry a short note: on an advisory or fail, a line of context ("nearside front tyre 2 mm") makes the finished report far more useful than a bare result. Switch on Add a note against an item to type one.

The completed checklist appears on the customer's PDF, giving them a clear, itemised summary alongside the photos and damage record — and a documented basis for any advisory or failed item you've flagged.

#The "before sign-off" panel

A panel at the top of the report lists everything still outstanding — a missing signature, a required photo, an incomplete checklist item, missing mileage. It updates live as you work, so you always know exactly what stands between you and a finished report. Sign-off stays blocked until every required field is filled, and each item in the panel deep-links straight to the tab that needs your attention.

#Tab badges

Each tab shows a badge when it still has outstanding fields, so you can see which area needs work without opening every tab. When the panel is clear and the badges have gone, the report is ready to sign off.

What's required isn't fixed — it comes from your template's photo and signature rules. For example, a template can insist on a customer signature, an inspector signature, or a minimum number of photos per damage marker. If you try to sign off before those are met, you'll be told exactly what's missing.

#Saving, pre-fill and drafts

#Your progress is saved as you go

A report stays a draft until you sign off, and your work is saved as you go — so you can put a report down and come back to it, or move between tabs and devices, without losing anything or spending a credit.

#Pre-fill from the last report

To save re-entering things that rarely change, vehReports can carry over detail from the vehicle's previous report — from nothing at all, up to the full condition and damage. You choose how much under company profile, settings and branding: off, condition only, condition plus damage, or everything.

#Drafts don't get forgotten

Unfinished drafts stay under Reports, and a draft left longer than 24 hours is flagged in the navigation so it's easy to spot and either finish or remove.

#Verdicts on inbound reports

Inbound reports — a vehicle coming back from hire — can show a verdict, such as "concerns", along with a short rationale, when the template's verdict rules apply. Typical triggers are new damage above a set threshold or a refuel being required. When a report comes back with concerns, the managers and owners who've opted in are alerted by email or SMS, so a problem return doesn't slip past. See inspection types explained for how inbound reports differ.

#Finishing up: signing off

When the before-sign-off panel is clear, you're ready to sign off — the one step that uses a credit (about £1). At sign-off you capture the inspector and customer signatures, agree the declaration, and the report is finalised: one credit is debited, the report locks and becomes a permanent read-only record, the branded PDF generates, and the customer is emailed their copy automatically. You can then re-send it by email or SMS and share a signed-PDF download link valid for 30 days.

The full process — including what to do if you're out of credits, and how to re-send or share a finished report — is covered in signing off, sending and managing a report.

#Common questions

Does building a report cost anything? No. Building, previewing, refreshing DVLA/MOT data and saving drafts are all free and unlimited. Only sign-off uses one credit.

I've run out of credits — am I stuck? No. You can still build the whole draft and capture everything; only the final sign-off is blocked until you top up. Your draft is saved, and you're prompted to add credits. New accounts start with around 10 free welcome credits. See topping up and pricing.

Can I edit a report after sign-off? No — a signed-off report is locked permanently as the audit record. If something needs to change, create a new report for the vehicle instead.

A required photo or signature is blocking me. That's your template's rule. The before-sign-off panel and the sign-off prompt will name exactly what's missing — for example, a minimum number of photos on a damage marker, or a customer signature.

The vehicle's details look wrong. Use Refresh on the Vehicle tab to re-pull from DVLA and MOT history. If DVLA still has nothing (a brand-new or imported vehicle), enter the details by hand.

Who can build and sign off reports? Owners, Managers and Inspectors can carry out inspections; sign-off uses a credit but doesn't require billing access. See roles explained.