A car in the garage and a diary full of lessons
The school supplies cars to several franchised instructors. One car's service is overdue because nobody noticed the mileage. Another's MOT runs out next week, and its instructor has a full diary. A pupil clipped a kerb last month, and the instructor mentioned it at the time, but nobody wrote it down, so nobody knows whether the tyre was checked.
Then an instructor rings at 7am: warning light on, car not safe to drive, eight lessons today.
Why car records slip
- Each car has several dates: service, MOT, insurance, road tax, and any checks your policy sets for dual controls.
- Mileage-based servicing depends on readings nobody sends in.
- Cars are driven by instructors, so the school does not see them daily.
- Minor damage and faults are mentioned verbally and forgotten.
- When a car is off the road, lessons, pupils and franchise fees all need dealing with at once.
The cost of a lapse
A car that should not be on the road puts pupils and instructors at risk, and it is the school's car. Lapsed documents can cause problems with insurers and leave you exposed. A car off the road unexpectedly means cancelled lessons, unhappy pupils and a franchise fee question. And unrecorded damage turns into an argument when the car comes back at the end of a lease.
Road safety rules and insurance terms are for you and your insurer. We only make sure the dates and reports you rely on are not lost.
The fleet record we build
- Each car has a record: registration, instructor, lease terms, and every renewal date, including service by date or mileage, MOT, insurance, tax and any checks your policy sets.
- Instructors send a mileage reading on their phone at intervals you choose, so mileage-based services are predicted.
- Reminders go to the office and the instructor before any date, early enough to book the garage around lessons.
- Instructors can report a fault or damage in a few taps, with photos, and the report is logged against the car with the date and pupil lesson involved if relevant.
- A weekly check, if your policy asks for one, can be completed on the phone, including the dual controls, with any fail raised to the office.
- When a car goes off the road, the office marks it, sees the affected lessons in the diary, offers a spare car if you have one, and pupils are told if lessons must move.
- Car downtime feeds the instructor's statement, so any fee adjustment under your terms is applied without a separate conversation.
| Item | Tracked by | Reminder to |
|---|---|---|
| Service | Date and mileage | Office and instructor |
| MOT | Due date | Office and instructor |
| Insurance and tax | Renewal date | Office |
| Dual control checks | Your policy's interval | Instructor |
| Damage or fault | Report with photos | Office |
A fleet you can see
The office sees every car's upcoming dates on one screen and books services in quieter weeks. Damage is recorded when it happens, with photos. When the 7am call comes, the office marks the car off the road, sees the day's lessons, moves the instructor into the spare car or tells pupils quickly. At the end of a lease, the car's history is there for everyone to see.
It also makes planning the fleet easier. When the record shows that one car has been off the road more often than the others, or that services keep landing in the busiest weeks, the owner can decide whether to replace it or move service dates, based on the history rather than a vague feeling. And a new instructor joining the franchise can be handed a car with a complete record from day one.
Recognise your fleet admin?
- Car renewal dates are in a diary or on paper.
- Services are missed because nobody tracks mileage.
- Damage is mentioned but not recorded.
- A car off the road means a morning of phone calls.
- Fee adjustments for car downtime are argued over.