Templates are the rules behind every inspection report and rental agreement you produce in vehReports. They decide what each job asks for, how the finished PDF reads, and which terms apply — and the right template is chosen for you automatically, based on the vehicle and the type of job. This article explains exactly what a template controls, how the matching works, what happens when nothing fits, and how to make changes safely.
Everything to do with templates is free. Creating, editing, previewing and reordering templates never costs a credit. The only two actions in vehReports that ever use a credit (about £1 each) are signing off an inspection report and signing a rental agreement — see understanding credits for the full picture.
What is a template, and why does vehReports use them?
A template is a reusable blueprint that tells vehReports how a particular kind of job should be carried out and how the finished document should look. Rather than rebuilding the same checklist, photo prompts and terms every time, you set them up once on a template and every matching job inherits them.
There are two kinds:
- Inspection templates drive condition reports — the walkaround, damage, checklist and the report PDF your customer receives.
- Rental agreement templates drive hire agreements — the sections, clauses, charges and terms on the signed agreement.
Both live under Templates in the main menu, where Inspections and Agreements are listed separately. Tailoring a template once means every job of that kind comes out consistently, on-brand and complete — no missed checks, no copy-pasted terms.
What does an inspection template control?
An inspection template shapes both the inspection itself and the report PDF. It controls:
- Which sections appear on the PDF and in what order. You can turn sections off and drag them into the order you want; disabled sections are skipped on the generated report.
- The default checklist that pre-fills the inspection — each item starts as pass, advisory, fail or not-applicable, and inspectors can adjust it per job.
- Vehicle-class checks — extra pass / advisory / fail / not-applicable rows pre-filled onto every inspection of that vehicle class (for example, sliding-door checks for vans or a tachograph check for HGVs). These sit on the template itself and are separate from the reusable default checklist.
- Photo rules — the minimum number of photos per damage marker, the suggested photo angles inspectors are prompted to capture (guidance, not enforced), and whether completed photos are watermarked with the registration, inspector and timestamp.
- Signature rules — which signatures are required (customer / hirer, inspector, your team) and whether remote sign-off via the shared report link is allowed.
- Customer declarations — the statement shown next to the customer's signature, with separate wording for inbound and outbound reports. Leave it blank to fall back to the standard wording.
- Verdict rules — for inbound reports, how vehReports decides between a clean pass and a "concerns" verdict: flag concerns when the new-damage estimate goes over a set £ threshold, and/or when refuelling is required.
- The damage taxonomy — the damage codes, severity bands and repair-cost ranges shown to inspectors, which you can customise to match your insurer or scheme.
For a step-by-step on setting these up, see building inspection templates and checklists.
What does a rental agreement template control?
A rental agreement template shapes the printed hire agreement. It controls:
- Sections — the headed blocks that make up the agreement. Built-in sections (parties, vehicle, charges and so on) can be reordered or switched on and off, and you can add your own custom sections with fill-in fields (text, date, money or signature lines).
- Clause text — the boilerplate wording for insurance, admin charges, operator's licence and liabilities, plus any custom clauses you add. Edit these to match your trading terms.
- Rental policy defaults — fleet-wide settings such as mileage allowance and period, excess-mileage charge, admin fee, out-of-hours surcharge and VAT percentage. (Per-vehicle rates — daily hire, deposit and damage excess — live on each vehicle record so they scale with the asset.)
- A "require a return inspection" toggle — on by default, so an agreement must have a return walkaround before it can close. Turn it off for long-term leases, one-way hires or key handovers where a return inspection isn't part of the flow.
- An equipment checklist — the items handed over with the vehicle (spare key, charging cable, locknut key, documents). This records equipment, not inspection points, so it's separate from the inspection checklist.
- An attached terms & conditions PDF — a document appended to every agreement from this template (trading terms, fleet handbook excerpts, insurance schedules).
- Agreement signatures — whether the hirer and your team sign the agreement itself. (The condition-report signatures are set on the inspection template, not here.)
For the full walkthrough, see building rental agreement templates.
How does vehReports pick which template to use?
When you start a report or agreement, vehReports matches a template to it automatically using two things:
- The vehicle type (car / SUV, van, MPV / 7-seat, HGV, minibus or classic).
- The type of job — for inspections, the inspection type (general, inspection, inbound, outbound, mid-term, pickup, dropoff, pre-purchase or post-wash); for agreements, the vehicle type alone.
So a template set up for, say, HGV inbound inspections is chosen for exactly that combination, while a van rental template is chosen whenever you start an agreement against a van. You don't pick the template yourself — it's resolved for you the moment the job is created, and the matched template's sections, checks and terms flow straight into your draft.
A template doesn't have to be tied to one specific combination. You can leave the vehicle type or the inspection type empty so it applies across all values — for example, an inspection template with no vehicle type set applies to every body type, and one with no inspection type set applies to every kind of inspection. That lets you keep one broad template covering most work and layer narrower ones on top only where you need them.
What happens if more than one template could match?
The most specific match wins. A template that names both the exact vehicle type and the exact inspection type is preferred over one that leaves either field open.
Where several templates are equally specific, the one with the higher sort order is used. Sort order is a number you set on each template (the default is 50), and you can see and sort by it in the templates list — the list itself is ordered by sort order, highest first. So if you have two HGV inbound templates, give the one you want to win a higher number.
This is what lets you layer templates without them clashing: keep a broad fallback at a low sort order, and put your specific, higher-priority templates above it.
A quick tip: if a job is picking up the "wrong" template, check two things — that the more specific template actually matches the vehicle type and inspection type involved, and that its sort order is higher than any competing template. Editing either is free and takes effect on the next job.
What happens if no template matches at all?
There's always a fallback, so a report or agreement can always be produced — even for an unusual vehicle or an inspection type you haven't built a bespoke template for.
If no specific template fits, vehReports uses your default template. Each template has a "use as the fallback when no specific template matches" toggle; the one marked as the default catches anything that doesn't match a more specific template. It's worth making sure you have a sensible default for both inspections and agreements, since that's the safety net every unmatched job lands on. The templates list flags which template is the default, and you can filter to show defaults only.
Can I edit a template after I've started using it?
Yes — templates can be edited at any time, and editing is free. Open Templates, pick Inspections or Agreements, open the template and make your changes.
Changes apply to new reports and agreements going forward. Anything already signed off stays exactly as it was — a signed report or agreement is locked and permanent, so editing a template never alters documents your customers have already received. (Once a report is signed off you can't edit it; if it's wrong, you create a new one. See signing off, sending and managing a report.)
Drafts in progress are worth knowing about: a draft carries the template content it picked up when it was created, so changing the template afterwards won't necessarily rewrite a draft that's already open. If you want a draft to use updated template settings, it's cleanest to start it fresh after saving your template changes.
Where do per-vehicle and per-customer details come from instead?
Templates set the rules; the live details on a job come from the vehicle and customer records. Daily hire rate, deposit and damage excess are held on each vehicle as rental defaults and pre-fill new agreements, while the customer's saved details and licence information pre-fill the hirer fields. So you don't put a specific vehicle's rate on a template — you set fleet-wide policy on the template and the asset-specific figures on the vehicle. See adding and managing a vehicle and adding and managing customers.
What if I only ever inspect one type of vehicle?
You can keep things simple. A single default inspection template and a single default rental agreement template are enough to run everything — every job will fall back to them. Only add more templates when you genuinely need different sections, checks or terms for a particular vehicle class or inspection type. There's no cost or downside to running lean.
Who can create and edit templates?
Setting up your templates is part of the free configuration of your account rather than anything billable, and it's usually handled by Owners and Managers who look after the account. For exactly what each role can do, see roles explained. As with other setup changes, template edits are recorded in the team activity log so you can see who changed what and when.
Does setting up or changing templates cost a credit?
No. Building templates, editing them, reordering them, previewing how a report or agreement will look and saving drafts are all free and unlimited. The only moments a credit is used are when you sign off an inspection report or sign a rental agreement. If you're ever out of credits you can still build and adjust templates, create drafts and run free checks — only the final sign-off is held until you top up. See understanding credits for what's free versus paid.