The vehicle checklist: knowing what is there, what is missing, and who is handling it

The first aid kit was in the truck. It had been there for months, behind the passenger seat where everyone knew to find it. Someone had used the gloves. Someone else had taken the last of the bandages. The case still closed. From the outside, nothing had changed. The truck had a first aid kit. Whether it would be useful when someone needed it was a different question.

The same thing happens elsewhere on a vehicle. A tire loses pressure. A brake light stops working. The jumper cables move to another truck and never come back. People are working. One person notices something and means to mention it, another assumes it has been handled, and the vehicle leaves for another job.

Roofometry’s vehicle checklist gives someone a reason to stop and look. It records what they find and turns the things needing attention into work someone can own. A missing item written down and forgotten is still missing.

The checklist, the inspection, and the follow-up

The checklist says what your company wants checked. The inspection records the walkthrough for a particular vehicle and quarter, including answers, notes, photos, and who completed it. The follow-up carries a reported problem forward until someone records how it was resolved.

A completed inspection can still have unresolved work behind it. The driver may have checked everything while someone in the office still needs to order supplies or arrange a repair. Completing the inspection records that the walkthrough is finished. Resolving the follow-up records what happened to the problem.

Build a list that fits your vehicles

Managers and owners maintain reusable lists under Checklist templates. A template can apply to any vehicle or a particular kind, and serve as the default for new vehicles of that kind. A service truck and an equipment trailer do different work. Their lists should reflect that.

The standard checklist suggests a high-visibility vest, first aid kit, fire extinguisher, reflective warning triangles, wheel chocks, jumper cables, portable air compressor, and tire chains. Maintenance items cover tire pressure and condition, oil level and service, wipers and washer fluid, lights and turn signals, and visible fluid leaks.

You can change the wording, reorder items, make them optional, set their severity, remove what does not belong, and add what is missing. Give each template a recognizable name. If people keep reaching an item that makes no sense for the vehicle in front of them, the list needs attention too.

Make each item clear

A useful template gives the fleet a shared starting point without pretending every vehicle carries the same equipment. Review the suggested items against the work your company does and the requirements it needs to meet. The people using the list should understand why each item belongs there and what they are expected to check.

Each item has a name, an optional instruction, a group, a required setting, and a severity. “Tires” tells someone where to look. Mentioning pressure, tread, sidewalls, and the spare tells them what you expect them to inspect.

Required means an answer is needed before completing the inspection. It does not require a passing answer. Someone can select Needs attention and complete the inspection after providing the required note. Severity describes how serious a fault should be treated and carries into the follow-up process. Whether an item needs an answer and how urgently a fault needs handling are separate decisions.

Allow for differences between vehicles

The vehicle’s Checklist section shows its template and individual list. You can switch off items that do not belong and add items specific to that vehicle. Template updates reach the vehicles following it, while switched-off items remain off and vehicle-specific items stay. Choosing another template replaces the inherited items and keeps the vehicle’s own additions.

An inspection already begun keeps its original list. One not yet started takes the updated list when opened. Someone halfway through a walkthrough can finish the work they started, and the record preserves what they were checking.

Know who has it and when it is due

These changes apply to the list used for inspections going forward. Keeping an inspection’s original items matters when someone reads it later: an answer should still describe the question that person was given, even if the company has since changed its instructions or replaced the equipment.

Each vehicle in service receives one inspection per calendar quarter, due on the quarter’s last day:

• January through March: March 31.
• April through June: June 30.
• July through September: September 30.
• October through December: December 31.

The inspection goes to the vehicle’s active driver, or to the company’s owner if no active driver is assigned. When the driver changes, open inspections move to the new responsible person. Earlier assignments remain in the history. Find yours under My vehicle inspections; people overseeing the fleet can use Vehicle inspections to review the wider picture.

Walk the vehicle and record what you find

Confirm the vehicle, quarter, and due date before answering. Then check what is actually there. Remembering that something was in the truck last month does not tell you whether it is there now.

• Pass: The item is present and working.
• Needs attention: Something is missing, broken, due, or needs action.
• N/A: The item does not apply to this vehicle or this inspection’s circumstances.

Use N/A when something does not apply. An item you have not checked is still unchecked. A Needs attention answer requires a note. “Gloves and bandages are missing; the kit is behind the passenger seat” tells someone what to bring and where to find it. Add a photo when it helps show the condition or damage. Notes can also explain a passing or N/A answer.

Answers save as they change, so you can leave and return. Make sure saving has finished before leaving. When the walkthrough is done, press Complete. Completion is refused for an unanswered required item or a Needs attention answer without a note. Optional items may remain unanswered, though answering everything that applies leaves a fuller record.

You can complete an inspection that contains problems. Finding and reporting them is part of the work. The walkthrough can finish while a repair or replacement moves to whoever is responsible.

See the problem through

The person reading your note may never have driven that vehicle. They may be ordering supplies from the office or meeting the truck at another location. Give them the information they would otherwise have to call you to get. A clear description helps the work move without making someone repeat the inspection just to understand the finding.

Completing the inspection creates one follow-up per Needs attention answer, connected to the item, note, available photo, and source inspection. Your company’s rules determine responsibility, deadlines, and escalation. The person who found the problem is not necessarily the person assigned to fix it.

Follow-ups move through Open, Acknowledged, In progress, and Resolved. Resolution requires an explanation. “Replaced the missing gloves and bandages and checked the remaining supplies” tells the next person what happened. A passing inspection next quarter does not close that earlier follow-up. Someone still needs to record how the original issue was handled.

Act on serious findings

The follow-up keeps the problem connected to the inspection after the driver has moved on to other work. Someone taking over can read what was found and what has happened since. That history is useful when responsibility changes, when a repair takes longer than expected, or when someone needs to understand why an issue is still open.

A critical issue flags the vehicle for leadership review. An unresolved follow-up reaching the final escalation tier can also flag it. Marking the vehicle out of service is a separate action on its record, with a reason explaining why it is unsafe to drive. Report unsafe conditions through your company’s process immediately. The inspection may be due at quarter’s end; the condition exists now.

Keep unfinished work in view

A review flag and an out-of-service designation serve different purposes. The flag brings a problem to leadership’s attention. The out-of-service record states why the vehicle is unsafe to drive. Keep those decisions clear so the person responsible for the vehicle can understand what has been reported and what action has been taken.

Inspection reminders go out 14 days before the due date, three days before it, and on the day. Once overdue, reminders continue weekly and include managers. The inspection stays overdue until completed. Repair follow-ups track their own work, so finishing the walkthrough does not settle the problems it uncovered.

The Vehicle inspections page brings together inspection progress, vehicle warnings, and the follow-up board. Start with overdue inspections, check approaching deadlines, and read the completed findings. Look at who has unresolved issues and whether the work is moving. Keep the templates useful as equipment changes, and rewrite instructions that keep producing questions.

Months later, someone may open that same first aid kit. They will see gloves. Bandages. The things they reached for. Behind that moment is someone who looked, someone who handled what was missing, and a record that carried the work between them.