Blog Post

The ultimate truck inspection guide

November 12, 2021 by record360

Any rental company with an established truck fleet management structure will advocate for regular truck inspections.

Sticking to a consistent inspection schedule keeps your trucks in tip-top shape and gives you a better picture of your fleet’s overall condition.

Moreover, you can detect and address any minor issues before they escalate into full-blown vehicle breakdowns and irreparable damages. This allows you to operate as close to maximum efficiency as possible.

If you’re looking for tried and tested strategies to make your truck inspections seamless and efficient, continue reading the tips below.

Inspection app features for truck rental companies

You can run your truck rental business more efficiently with a truck inspection app. You can cut down on costs, increase your productivity, and even improve the work experience of your employees.

These are some of the many features a truck inspection app brings that rental companies can benefit from:

1. Centralized inspection data

A huge benefit of using a truck inspection app is centralizing your truck inspection data.

Any important information you enter into the app—such as service history, client history, and even truck lease agreement details—is neatly organized and instantly ready for review.

You’ll have access to cloud-based services that let you store and retrieve essential data when and where you need it.

This feature is handy for any rental business that doesn’t want to waste time manually inputting, requesting, and sending data across multiple branches. You can also pull a truck’s entire service history during a commercial truck inspection.

2. View your fleet’s status easily

A good truck inspection app will also have a dashboard that gives you an overview of your fleet’s real-time status.

For example, Record360 lets you access a dashboard that displays your fleet condition in real-time. This helps you manage your truck rental business since you can monitor your trucks easily.

At a glance, you can tell which trucks are available to rent under a truck lease agreement or are out of commission due to repairs, routine maintenance, or commercial truck inspections.

Access to all this information in real time allows you to make better decisions, helping you increase your utilization. What’s more, it makes your company more agile.

If it only takes seconds to determine the availability of your trucks, while it takes your competitors a couple of hours…your chances of dominating your competitors and winning new business drastically increase.

3. Perform truck inspections anywhere

Using a truck inspection app lets you perform a commercial truck inspection from anywhere and at any time.

With Record360, you can send contractors and drivers a direct link to the app, allowing them to perform a truck inspection on-premise or on-site.

You can even access remote inspection data, allowing you to find out about damage from any location.

Because your truck drivers only need their mobile devices to perform the inspections, it makes their life easier. They don’t need to bring paper checklists to conduct their inspections.

Also, losing their inspection records becomes impossible because everything is stored in the cloud.

Must Read: User-friendly Truck Inspection Apps to Streamline Your Business

4. Document the condition of your trucks

Without centralized inspection data, it’s easy to miss customer damage, especially if your customers return the truck to a different rental branch.

This leaves you no choice but to foot the expensive repair bills your customers should pay.

Using a truck inspection app gives you instant access to photos of your truck taken before the client signed the truck lease agreement. This makes finding any new damage to your truck easy and has irrefutable proof to back up your claim.

5. Obtain signatures instantly

A truck inspection app saves you time and effort by letting you capture digital signatures easily. No more waiting around for your customers or team members to sign your inspection reports.

You can sign off on important documents and authorize crucial jobs without dealing with mountains of paperwork.

Must Read: The importance of electronic signatures for equipment inspections

Because the people who are authorized to sign can enter their signature anywhere, the process of renting out your trucks is expedited.

6. Take photos and videos

Before renting out a truck, the last thing you want is to have a written narrative of its condition. After all…when your trucks are returned with an even bigger dent or damage, your written descriptions can’t save you.

For example, imagine your truck has a dent in the door. You describe the dent in a written report, then rent the truck out to your customer. When your truck comes back, the dent has tripled in size.

How can you claim compensation from your customer when you only have a written report describing the “dent”? Your customer can easily claim the dent was already there when your truck was sent to them. You can’t prove that the dent became bigger.

With written narratives, you’ll end up with unwinnable damage disputes. You’ll end up forking out thousands for repairs that your customers should be paying.

That’s why truck inspection apps must have photo and video capture features.

When you take a video of your truck before renting it out, you obtain an accurate visual of your truck’s condition. This becomes your irrefutable proof that damage was caused by your customer.

Must Read: Why equipment videos and photos are important for equipment inspections

Preparing for a commercial truck inspection

To ensure your commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) are always in the best condition, you must be proactive with your maintenance.

Your drivers must learn the hazards of driving a damaged CMV and how to detect, report, and repair minor problems before they become more significant.

A great way to do this is with a simple, walk-around inspection to check critical vehicle parts, elements, and functions before and after every trip.

1. Test the lights

Properly functioning lights are crucial to help truck drivers see the road clearly and avoid any accidents. Turn on the engine and switch each light on systematically.

Check the headlights, taillights, brake lights, high and low beams, turn signals, and any other important lights to ensure they all function properly.

2. Check the tires

Assess each tire for wear and tear. Look out for loose tires or any form of damage. Use a tire pressure gauge to ensure the air pressure is at recommended levels.

Though tires rarely blow out, worn and under-inflated tires can make a truck challenging to control. In worst-case scenarios, the truck may even become undrivable.

Be familiar with the rules and regulations concerning mudflaps in any of the states along your route. Some states provide specific requirements for mud flaps or splash guards to keep spray or debris from hitting the windshields of any vehicles following your truck.

It’s also worth pointing out that driving trucks with under-inflated tires can consume more fuel. So if you’re seeing an unreasonable increase in your fuel consumption, be sure to check your tires.

3. Look for cracks

Regularly check for hairline cracks and “stars” potentially caused by flying gravel or other debris. Any cracks on windows or windshields can worsen quickly if they aren’t addressed immediately.

4. Check your breaks

Inspect your air brake system to ensure you have no air leaks or air pressure loss.

5. Inspect your wipers

Make sure your blades aren’t missing or broken. When used, your wipers should give your drivers a clear vision. Damages or cracks can prevent this.

6. Check your truck’s security features

Examine your truck’s security features to make sure they’re functioning correctly. Check your seatbelts, doors, wiring, breaks, etc.

Must Read: Mastering DOT Annual Inspections: A Comprehensive Guide to Navigating the Checklist and Form

Tips for more accessible and more efficient truck fleet management

Consider the tips below to help make your truck fleet management less stressful and more efficient.

1. Switch to using a digital truck inspection form

Instead of manually filling out paper-based truck inspection forms and digging through records, your team members can easily pull up any digital forms with a mobile device linked to the truck inspection app.

By using digital truck inspection forms, your team members can easily access relevant documentation when necessary.

2. Stay up-to-date with the condition of your fleet

Knowing your fleet’s condition is important to ensure you run your rental business at maximum efficiency.

Staying updated with information such as which units are due for routine maintenance, out for repairs, or scheduled for truck inspection helps you create a more efficient working schedule for your drivers.

3. Keep everyone in the loop

Having quick access to critical information reduces the chances of errors due to miscommunication. That’s why keeping your team in the loop is a great way to keep your rental business running smoothly.

A dependable truck inspection app that lets you centralize your data allows seamless access to and sharing for your team members.

4. Invest in training your drivers

Drivers with poor driving habits can cause problems for your truck rental company. Your trucks will have a shorter service life, and your truck repairs and maintenance costs can skyrocket.

When you factor in the accidents and potential legal problems your delinquent drivers can cause, it becomes apparent why you must invest in training.

If your drivers avoid hard braking and making sharp turns, among other poor driving habits, you can get more mileage from your trucks since their service life is prolonged.

5. Put a premium on hiring the right people

Whether you’re hiring a driver, accountant, or rental manager, you need to be cautious about who you hire.

Take the time to do ample background checks and to dig in during interviews.

You can have the best processes and policies in place to run your truck rental company, but if you hire people with character issues, you’ll have many problems.

Truck inspection guide: Key takeaways

Following a regular truck inspection schedule is a great way to keep your fleet in good condition and your rental business running as efficiently as possible.

With a regular truck inspection schedule, you can detect and address minor issues before they escalate into bigger, more costly problems.

While it’s easy to keep track of a small fleet’s schedule, things quickly become more complicated the larger your fleet gets.

To address truck fleet management’s common issues and hiccups, integrate a truck inspection app into your operations to streamline your workflows.

Schedule a demonstration today to learn how Record360 can optimize your truck rental company.

5 benefits of a truck inspection app

November 3, 2021 by record360

Using a truck inspection app eliminates the tedious and time-consuming tasks of manual, paper-based processes.

Not only do manual processes make your truck inspection process inefficient, they also cause you to lose time and money. You need to go the paperless route.

A reliable truck inspection app can speed up your inspection process and save you and your staff tons of precious work hours and resources.

This guide covers five benefits of using a truck inspection app and how it can improve conducting your vehicle assessments.

1. Speed up your inspection process

The traditional way of conducting a truck inspection is often a headache with all the paperwork you must fill out, file, and organize.

It can also be a long and tedious process that wastes time and resources, particularly if you have a large fleet with over 50 trucks in and out daily.

A truck inspection app provides a streamlined solution, allowing you to conduct paperless, electronic assessments seamlessly.

The Record360 app provides an easy digital checklist and truck inspection form right from your mobile device. This cuts down significantly on the time and effort it usually takes to complete, send, and get signatures on paper-based inspections.

Must Read: Electronic DVIR for Truck Inspections: Improving Safety and Efficiency

The app lets you record all your data in a standard format. You can also modify your checklist and forms without the hassle of printing out tons of paper.

After filling out the digital commercial truck inspection forms, the app lets users send them directly to managers through email with a few taps.

A dependable app can also secure your data stored on the cloud, giving you the peace of mind of knowing your inspection information is safe and only accessible to authorized users.

2. Record vehicle condition anywhere

One of the advantages of using a truck inspection app is it lets users perform vehicle assessments, whether on-premise or on-site.

It simplifies your commercial truck inspection process and conveniently allows anyone from your team, contractors, and even customers to assess your vehicles and capture your asset’s real condition anywhere and anytime.

For instance, Record360 allows you to send drivers and contractors a direct link to Record360, allowing them to perform inspections wherever your trucks are deployed. This gives you instant access to remote inspection information, helping you detect damages promptly.

You can set alerts to trigger when damages are detected during truck inspections, helping you act on damages in real time.

With a truck inspection app, you can easily begin inspections from your desktop and send them to your team to complete in the field using their mobile devices.

You can take high-definition photos and videos to capture your truck’s damages and actual condition and, in turn, make your inspections simple and easy.

Must Read: Trucking Inspection Checklist: Importance, Components, and Benefits

3. Streamline getting signatures

Getting managers and customers to sign off on paper inspection reports can be a long and tedious back-and-forth process.

Save time and energy by using Record360 to obtain electronic signatures from the app.

Instead of a paper truck inspection form, you can capture electronic signatures on your digital forms and auto-email them to customers, speeding up the process.

Must Read: The importance of electronic signatures for equipment inspections

Once signed, you can store the reports in a secure dashboard for easy access and efficient record keeping. This also helps optimize your truck fleet management processes.

4. Centralize your inspection data

Paper-based truck inspection records can be challenging to accomplish promptly and accurately, but they can also be a nightmare to file, keep track of, and access.

A truck inspection app allows you to upload and store all vehicle assessment records in one central location. This provides quick and easy access, streamlining your workflows and truck fleet management tasks.

With consolidated commercial truck inspection records, you can pull record histories, identify trends, and analyze your data.

For instance, the Record360 web app offers a comprehensive dashboard to help you stay on top and gain insights from your truck inspection information.

You’ll get instant views of your inspection history, the number of total damages, recent activities and inspections, and other valuable data. This can help you make better decisions and identify areas to reevaluate and improve.

You’ll get real-time information with all your inspection records and other data on your transactions and units. You’ll have full access to everything you need to understand your fleet’s condition through damage analytics, past inspections, and employee usage (among others).

As such, a truck inspection app that centralizes your data helps managers stay on top of your inspections and related processes and keeps everyone in the loop.

5. Establish efficient inspection workflows

Conduct seamless truck inspections to streamline your workflows so you spend more time and resources on renting and, in turn, increasing your revenue.

A truck inspection app frees you and your team from time-consuming paper-based processes, allowing you to perform vehicle assessments efficiently.

Apps with custom-built truck workflows, for instance, simplify and streamline your inspection process.

You can complete an entire truck inspection in minutes, whether for an incident report, service inspection, appraisal, lease inspection, prep for sale, or lease inspection.

With the app, you can cover more ground with less effort than manual, paper-based methods, optimizing your truck inspections.

Efficient inspections and workflows also mean you can spot truck damages and act on them quickly. This helps you avoid potential issues, eliminate costly damage disputes, and protect your assets and business.

Must Read: Streamlining Truck Inspection Checklists with Record360

Start leveraging the game-changing advantages of a truck inspection app

Preserve your fleet’s quality and protect it from costly damages by streamlining your truck inspection process.

Take away the headaches that come with traditional methods.

Equip your team with a dependable truck inspection app that provides easy-to-use and access digital forms, robust damage and data recording features, a central data hub, and in-app signature capturing (among others).

If you want to leverage these powerful features to optimize your truck inspections, schedule a demonstration with Record360 today.

How digital inspection tools can protect your customers

October 27, 2021 by record360

Using the right digital inspection tools will help protect your customers.

Consider the potential lawsuits or hefty penalties you might face if your equipment breaks down while on rent. You need to give due diligence to choosing an equipment inspection software for your company.

What’s more, a reliable inspection tool adds other value to your rental company: it also increases your team’s productivity and reduces your business expenses.

So the question becomes, how exactly do reliable digital inspection tools help you protect your clients?

1. Digital inspection tools prevent customer fraud

Although physical rental and inspection processes involve identity validation, they lack security. Manual methods are less robust and reliable compared to electronic ones.

For example, the Record360 equipment management app captures clients’ electronic signatures for equipment log sheets, inspection sign-off documents, and rental agreements. It also automatically emails these signed files to the signees for their reference.

The software even has license scanning functionality that efficiently validates customer identity and lets clients safely present confidential documents (especially during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic).

That way, your customers and staff can better verify that the business and transacting party are accurate and legitimate.

Record360 then places these digital signatures in secure cloud storage for quick, safe access when needed.

Digital inspection tools also store equipment and inspection records with details about rental usage and asset condition. In the Record360 dashboard, you can find rental inspection history, activity logs, user history, and date and time stamped evidence.

2. Digital inspection tools bolster customer safety while out on rent

Digital inspection tools help enhance your assets’ condition, equipment inventory management, and, consequently, your customers’ safety while renting out your machinery.

Electronic software allows you to scrutinize and record any defects more closely and accurately, apply necessary repairs promptly, and follow the right maintenance schedules.

Record360 has various functionalities suited for that.

On the awareness side, it lets your staff perform inspections from any branch and fill in the digital equipment inspection checklists and forms to report the asset condition, especially if there’s any damage.

For reporting, Record360 then instantly disseminates information from the inspection form to you and the team via email and SMS.

You can also view the details about damages, needed repairs, and equipment maintenance schedules and activities for every asset on your Record360 dashboard.

During the inspection, your technicians and operators can take high-resolution equipment photos and videos of the asset’s defects and apply appropriate “damage tags” on them.

You can then monitor these equipment inspections and get real-time updates, location details, and activities to ensure the assets are being repaired and maintained — ready for the next customers’ safe use of them.

The Record360 dashboard shows an excellent top-level view of your inspections. You can see the number of ongoing and completed inspections and damages discovered within a given period.

If you have multiple branches, Record360’s location-related features are beneficial for coordination with your staff and monitoring. For example, you can view your inspections by location and get live updates on recent equipment evaluations.

These pieces of real-time information appear in Record360:

The asset’s ID number;
Name of the employee who updated the inspection;
Whether or not damages were found;
Status of the equipment examination;
How long ago the updates occurred;
And more.

You can also see your asset’s last location on a map.

All these actions and rich information enable your company to respond fast and keep your customers safe from accidents, injuries, and fatalities that can result from those defects.

3. Digital inspection tools protect customers against unfair accusations

Your technicians can perform more accurate and timely inspections electronically, compared to doing the inspections manually.

Not only that, documentation details are often more precise and up-to-date. They can also provide solid evidence for any dispute or accusation that can arise about damage or unlawful asset usage.

Manual inspection methods and records cannot track or pinpoint exactly who was at fault for the undesirable incidences. Is it your client, staff, a third party, or a natural circumstance?

Customers who receive unfair blame and charges for something they didn’t do can feel upset because they will feel you don’t trust them. Their budget will also be impacted negatively from the extra expense of covering for the damage. Both of these jeopardize your relationship.

That’s why digital inspection tools can better protect your clients’ feelings, sense of value and trustworthiness, and incomes compared with manual inspection methods.

For instance, an electronic sign-off and daily equipment inspection form can show the asset’s condition before and after being rented out. Customers can also electronically sign to validate the observation, especially for the pre-rental state.

On the other hand, suppose disagreements happen, and your digital inspections (through the photos and videos) reveal that your customers were proven liable for the damage.

In that case, they can check and concur with the findings, acknowledge their responsibility, and compensate appropriately. This helps build their integrity, trust in your company, and a solid foundation for your lessor-customer relationship.

Pioneer Equipment Rental shares a noteworthy story of how they were able to preserve their customer relationships despite charging them for the discovered post-rental damages:

We have a customer that is doing quite a bit of demolition and basically started demolishing our excavator, the bucket starting to come apart. Cracks, damage on the body, things like that, and we had clear pictures of that bucket before it went out with a new bucket versus how it came back.

And that was like probably a $4,000 claim in itself, and you know what, and it went smoothly. We still have a customer. He understands his people did the damage, and he’s responsible, and we still have a good customer relationship.

Michael Allan, president of Pioneer Equipment Company, even adds,

We don’t want to file insurance claims, so if we can settle damage issues with our customers in a diplomatic way, that is a good form of insurance itself.

Protect your customers with robust digital inspection tools

Maximize today’s digital inspection tools to protect your equipment and customers.

When you can effectively examine your equipment and guarantee its best working condition, you can better ensure your customers’ safety.

Need more help with exploring digital inspection tools? Schedule a demonstration today and we’ll show how Record360 can support your company’s inspections and other operations.

Commercial truck inspection mistakes you need to avoid

August 3, 2021 by record360

Your commercial truck inspection is crucial to the longevity of your vehicles.

Frequent, careful inspections safeguard your clients, fleet, and even your bottom line.

Sadly, because many truck rental businesses aren’t religious about their inspections, they miss out on the benefits of having well-maintained trucks.

Even small compromises in a truck inspection over time can lead to catastrophic repercussions, such as accidents, financial, and client losses, etc.

Prevent these from happening to your truck rental company. Learn the commercial truck inspection mistakes you should avoid and the right steps you should do instead.

1. Superficially checking truck parts

A truck inspection often becomes so habitual that technicians can perform it mindlessly. However, this results in careless assessments of vehicle parts’ conditions that don’t guarantee safe, optimal operation.

For example, testing the braking systems requires exhaustive scrutiny. It involves checking the slack adjuster with the brakes, hunching under the trailer or over the wheels, ensuring air lines are not leaking, etc.

If your technicians carry pens and clipboards, the steps become extra tedious, wearying technicians and tempting them to dismiss careful inspection.

To avoid that mistake, use a digital truck inspection form. For example, our Record360 app has an electronic inspection checklist customizable according to your operations.

It even lets you capture all needed inspection data in one standard format. This makes checklists and later reports look clean and easy to read.

By loading inspection checklists onto mobile devices, technicians can painlessly carry them around while comprehensively examining your truck’s parts.

The result is a precise inspection, leading to optimally running vehicles, plus client safety.

2. Inaccurate documentation of truck conditions

Another truck inspection mistake to avoid is using inefficient methods to record your vehicle’s pre- and post-rental conditions — especially when defects are present.

Manual methods (e.g., narrative descriptions, hand-drawn illustrations) fail to capture the extent of any damage accurately, even for visible ones.

Once you discover any defect emerging or worsening and argue with your clients about it, you’re likely to lose the dispute.

After all, you don’t have solid evidence showing they caused it.

That is why, to avoid making this mistake, you must use photo and video documentation for your pre- and post-rental commercial truck inspections.

Our Record360 app demonstrates that with its high-resolution photo and video capture functionalities. It also lets you add tags indicating exactly the damage type and area in your truck.

Here’s another benefit to the Record360 app for recording inspections. You can create digital pre- and post-inspection forms and reports, attach photos and videos of your truck’s condition, and request clients to verify them with their digital signatures.

All this streamlines and bolsters your documentation workflow and enables you to resolve any arising customer disputes peacefully.

3. Failing to alert the team of recorded damages

It’s not enough to document your truck’s condition properly. You should also report the damages and notify your team promptly for corrective action.

When this happens, don’t put handwritten reports on tables and risk losing them or delaying the needed repairs.

Use more efficient methods such as instant email and SMS alerts.

The Record360 app offers those features when you discover truck defects and inspections fail.

It schedules the automatic delivery of these messages, shortening the communication process from technicians to maintenance officers.

Plus, remember the photos and videos with damage tags?

Our app lets you upload them to the cloud for your team’s ready access. This enables them to view the defects even remotely and determine and schedule the correct repairs fast.

There is no need to transfer media files via USB cords and email long threads, resulting in more working time consumed and communication disarray.

4. Segregated monitoring of inspection activities

Trucking companies with multiple branches usually struggle with efficiently monitoring inspection activities from other locations. This is typical, especially if they use manual systems.

If that’s your case, you make the mistake of segregating your inspection monitoring.

This leads to inaccurate overviews of your fleet’s real situation, low responsiveness to issues, etc. Eventually, these will hurt your business performance.

The solution? Harmonize your inspection activities from various locations with truck fleet management apps.

Record360 software can help you with streamlining and centralizing your inspections.

It has a user-friendly dashboard that reports your inspections by location, their history, total damages found, recent real-time activities (including vehicle checks), and more.

Moreover, if you need specific inspection data from technicians in remote locations, you can send them a direct link to our Record360 app.

You can then get instant access to that dataset and respond immediately to damage or any other issue. This feature lets you perform truck inspections from any place.

5. Inefficient truck inspection implementation

Conventional inspection systems are often inefficient, whether using hand-drawn and narrative condition descriptions, relaying printed damage reports on office tables and bulletins, or others.

All this internal inefficiency in your truck inspection workflows could result in fewer rentals deployed, delayed service delivery, lagging rental and inspection schedules, etc.

Streamline your inspection workflow management by digitizing related processes, forms, and assignments for your team. Our Record360 truck inspection app can help with that.

For one, it allows you to start an inspection with your customized in-app checklist, then send it to your team. This enables technicians to complete a request immediately in the field, saving plenty of working time.

Record360 also makes it quicker for you and your team to begin inspections and document your vehicle’s condition.

Under the “New Inspection” functionality, Record360 displays various task choices. Clicking on any one of them leads you to the right forms, checklists, etc., suited to the type of inspection you need to perform. This simplifies and accelerates your team’s work.

When you can perform and finish inspections fast and correctly, you boost your internal productivity, service delivery, and customer experience.

6. Disregard a roadway safety mindset

The ultimate reason you conduct truck inspections is to promote roadway safety, which involves your clients’ lives, vehicles, and even national properties, among others.

Which is why you should always keep that in mind when inspecting your fleet. The goal of guaranteeing safety motivates you to examine trucks extensively — even beyond what’s in the checklist, routine, or other minimum requirements.

Inculcate this roadway safety mindset and culture among your team, so they can also give their best during truck inspections.

Stop committing these commercial truck inspection mistakes.

As a truck rental company, you c-a-n-n-o-t afford to compromise on your vehicle inspections.

Doing so endangers your clients, fleet assets, and eventually, your business.

Avoid making these and other truck inspection mistakes — and you’ll reap the benefits of managing a safety-first rental business.

Interested in learning more about Record360? Schedule a demonstration today.

The importance of electronic signatures for equipment inspections

June 7, 2021 by record360

Using electronic signatures streamlines your equipment inspections, asset management, and rental operations.

With it, you can obtain the signatures of parties involved in your processes and transactions without having to meet them physically.

Offering e-sign options for your customers can drastically improve and simplify your processes while making doing business with your company more efficient and flexible.

This article covers what an electronic signature is, its impact on your equipment rental company, and why it is crucial for modern inspections.

Definition of an electronic signature

An electronic signature (or e-signature) is a legal method of getting approval or consent on digital forms and documents. Legal e-signatures can replace handwritten ones in any virtual process.

The current U.S. code under the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce (E-SIGN) Act defines e-signatures as:

An electronic sound, symbol or process that is attached to or logically associated with a record and executed or adopted by a person with the intent to sign the record.

Are e-signatures legally binding?

In the U.S., electronic signatures are recognized and legalized as equally binding as pen and paper signatures after legislation passed the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA) and the E-SIGN Act in 1999 and 2000.

The two pieces of legislation allow e-signatures to replace ink signatures as long as they meet three legal hallmarks:

The signer must be whom he/she claims to be. The signer’s identity can be authenticated or verified through digital markers, such as an IP address (if required).
The signer’s intent to affix his/her signature to the document or form is captured. The e-signature is legally binding if the transaction’s parameters have been communicated and the signer unequivocally goes through the signing process.
The signature associated with the form or document is verifiable. The electronic signature is legally accepted if the steps in the signing process can be validated. This includes how the document was signed, what action the signer completed, and what documentation was presented to support the digital transaction. The business or originator must also keep a record of all electronically signed documents.

That said, e-signatures are legally binding as conventionally obtained signatures as long as they satisfy the legal requirements.

How to insert electronic signatures

How companies implement and set up electronic signatures depends on the type of business and transaction involved in the signing process.

E-signature deployment methods and the customer-facing interface can also be unique to the company based on the software or applications.

Most e-signature tools allow you to upload your document and enter the signer’s email address. The signer can then click the link within the email and sign digitally from a mobile device, browser, or computer without signing up to or downloading anything.

Equipment inspection software Record360 is equipped with a helpful eSign feature that lets inspectors affix an electronic signature after filling out a new equipment inspection form.

If you have a previous inspection record that needs signing off, you can open it from the app and send the report to your customer’s or other stakeholder’s email address.

With the in-app e-Sign equipment inspection software feature, you can easily replace your paper forms and processes.

You can capture digital signatures easily and on the fly, minimizing the waiting times involved in the traditional methods of securing signatures.

Record360 also allows you to set up auto-emails to send out inspection records efficiently to your customers, then store them in the app’s secure dashboard for easy document tracking and access.

Importance of electronic signatures during equipment inspections

Manually getting people’s signatures on your inspection records can be a long and painful process. This can lead to equipment inspection delays, can keep your operations from running smoothly, and in turn, you lose money.

Electronic signatures can address these issues while providing the following benefits.

1. Efficient inspections

The paperwork that comes with securing signatures for your inspection records can be time and labor-intensive.

It takes away precious time you could spend on core tasks that help you achieve your business goals.

Electronic signatures can help optimize your equipment inspection process, eliminating the manual and repetitive aspects through seamless digital methods.

With e-signatures, you and your staff won’t waste time on:

Waiting for senior managers to return to the office to get their signature
Signing (or obtaining signatures), printing, scanning, and manually posting inspection records and other related documents
Manually archiving authorized records
Manually verifying if the documents were signed by the right or authorized people

You can accelerate your rental processes, equipment inventory management, asset inspections, and entire business operations because e-signatures allow you to:

Save time on creating inspections and getting them signed
Secure signatures from everyone (customers and managers) anytime and anywhere through any device
Make the whole approval process less prone to error and streamline it
Get the same level of trust and security with documents signed with wet ink
Move your workflows along more efficiently, leading to seamless operations and increased revenue

2. Improved customer experience

Electronic signatures improve your customer’s experience with the company because it provides a convenient way for them to sign your equipment inspection reports.

This also means holding parties responsible for any equipment damages is more streamlined, and you’ll have clear, irrefutable proof to back up your claim.

Your staff can take high-resolution equipment videos and photos using the Record 360 app to capture equipment damages, attach them to the inspection, and send them to customers to sign and acknowledge.

Auto-emailing your inspection reports and obtaining signatures digitally efficiently improves the process and reduces potential damage disputes and frictions with customers. This can enhance your interactions and relationships with customers, encouraging repeat business and client loyalty.

3. Obtain signatures securely

Electronic signatures include encryption to ensure the document can’t be changed after affixing a signature, preventing tampering risks.

Digital signatures can also reduce errors on your equipment inspection reports because now you can do everything electronically and correct or update information easily without starting over.

A reliable equipment inspection software helps ensure you have accurate and secure records and an efficient asset inspection, inventory management, and rental process.

Start using electronic signatures for equipment inspections

Electronic signatures eliminate cumbersome, tedious paperwork and methods, streamlining your equipment inspection process.

With electronic signatures, your staff can do their jobs more effectively and efficiently, allowing them to focus their time and energy on critical and revenue-generating tasks.

Are you ready to leverage the power of equipment inspection software with robust e-Sign features?

Schedule a demonstration today to learn how Record360 can optimize your equipment rental processes.

10 equipment inventory management tips for better inspections

June 2, 2021 by record360

You need an efficient equipment inventory management system to run a streamlined and high-performing equipment rental company.

Without one, you’ll have a long-winded process for checking an equipment’s availability, renting it out, and creating client contracts, among other things.

To improve the quality of your rental company’s asset inspections, you need more than just a handy equipment inspection form. You need reliable equipment inspection software plus efficient equipment inventory management to organize your assets and monitor their availability and usage.

In this article, we’ll share tried and tested tips to improve your inventory management and equipment inspections.

1. Apply an efficient tagging system for rental inventory

Put unique tags on your assets to hasten your search and identification when you need them — e.g., during registration in your equipment inventory spreadsheet or future handling.

Serial numbers are frequent tags, but opt for more recognizable asset ID numbers and codes. Be intentional about the coding for simpler memorability.

Apply damage tags as well to streamline your identification and documentation of asset defects.

For example, the Record360 app lets you place and customize appropriate tags onto your equipment photos and videos for faster reference to your company and clients:

2. Leverage RFID tags, barcodes, or QR codes

Using barcodes, RFID tags, or QR codes is also straightforward and efficient for equipment inventory management and identification.

By scanning these codes during check in and out, you save time and effort and reduce human error in identifying your assets.

You can also opt for QR codes because they can provide further information from your equipment inventory system and lead you to relevant app pages and functions.

3. Digitize your equipment management forms and processes

Speed up your equipment management processes by replacing paper-based tasks, forms, and equipment inventory lists with digital ones.

For example, from the Record360 app, you can create electronic rental inventory checklists and inspection forms and load them straight onto your mobile device.

This helps your team capture essential standard information for input in the equipment inventory system, check your assets’ conditions, schedule repairs, and deploy it to your clients faster.

With these and other benefits of digitization for your company, you can agree that going paperless is a journey worth taking indeed.

4. Use robust equipment management software

To centralize your asset inventory management and its tasks, information, media, and inspections, use an equipment management software tool.

These tools streamline your operations more efficiently than equipment inventory spreadsheets, help you track your asset usage more closely, and minimize human error.

For one, Record360 has a comprehensive dashboard with data, insights, and visuals about your fleet’s real-time conditions, location, and others.

From this app, you can also verify client identities, assign inspections, get customers’ digital signatures, keep your team in the loop, and many more.

5. Simplify incident reporting for rental inventory

Upgrade recording asset defects in equipment inventory lists using electronic and other efficient systems to report them and notify your team fast.

Give your team quick access to visual documentation, automatic damage labels, and even geo-tags and time-stamp features, such as those on Record360.

Cloverdale Equipment Co. rental manager Sean Carr shares how these features helped them report asset damages and resolve any related disputes:

Because the record includes the time, date, and location of the drop-off, no one can dispute the condition the equipment arrived in…We record the same information so everyone knows the condition of the equipment exactly when we picked it up.

6. Set up real-time relevant notifications

Update your team fast by setting up real-time notifications for asset damages, inspection failure, and other critical equipment inventory management matters.

Use SMS, push, email, and other instant communication channels. For instance, the Record360 app lets you schedule automatic email delivery to concerned departments in your company.

Through these alerts, you maintain your team’s productivity, open active communication lines, and hasten your response time.

7. Streamline equipment assignments and handoffs

Delegate and hand off tasks easily to your team through electronic inspection checklists and forms, such as the ones on Record360’s app.

With this feature, you can kick off asset inspections from mobile devices, quickly and thoroughly check your equipment inventory system, and help your team finish their assignment on the field.

8. Manage your equipment and inspection locations

Streamline your multi-site asset inventory checks and inspections through an equipment management system that lets you perform those tasks from anywhere.

For example, Record360 lets you send to your team direct links to digital inspection forms and checklists in the app. You can then immediately obtain remote data in real-time and act accordingly to the reports.

Bobcat of St. Louis corporate rental manager Mike Rust relays how using Record360 helped him do that:

With Record360, it’s much easier to do equipment reviews across locations… All the rental manager needs to do is call up the original rental record, take a new batch of photos, and see if there’s any new damage.

This results in a more rapid turnaround for them and their clients.

9. Implement simple, secure documentation

Beyond equipment inventory spreadsheets, document your assets’ actual condition through high-resolution photos and videos you can upload to the cloud and share with your team.

With these media, you can precisely capture any equipment defects, instantly inform your team and clients, and provide solid evidence on your innocence about the cause of damage.

The Record360 equipment management software has simple-to-do high-res camera functions, damage tags, and cloud-secure storage and sharing systems.

These simplify and enhance your documentation and inspection far better than incomplete manual, handwritten reports, and equipment inventory lists — and are among the several ways rental software protects your assets.

10. Schedule periodic rental inventory audits

Regularly audit your assets for your accounting and tax duties and equipment inventory spreadsheet updates instead of doing it entirely at the end of the year.

By dividing a whole year’s workload into more doable chunks, you lessen your stress and get more time to verify information and correct any errors.

Schedule your internal audits every week, month, or quarter — whichever is suitable for your company. However, high-value assets must undergo more frequent inspections.

Additionally, keep tabs on looming tax changes and prepare for them ahead of time. Then, apply the adjustments to your regular inventory audits for a gradual, less burdensome implementation.

FAQs on Asset Inventory Management

Following are some FAQs on asset inventory management and their corresponding answers:

What is an equipment management system?

An equipment management system is a software tool to help monitor asset conditions, generate accurate reports and information, and provide other functionalities to simplify related tasks.

How do you track equipment usage?

Track equipment usage through asset identification and geo-tags, time-stamps, an equipment inventory system, high-resolution before-and-after photos and videos, user logs, barcodes and QR codes, equipment inventory lists, and others.

How do you manage equipment inventory?

Manage equipment inventory efficiently through equipment management software, which logs asset users, location and date-and-time information, photos and videos, and more.

Improve your equipment inventory management process

Optimize your company’s equipment inventory management through hyper-efficient practices and robust but simple electronic and software tools.

Show your team how these adjustments streamline your asset inventory management to encourage them to adopt the tools and best practices.

Interested in learning more about Record360? Schedule a demonstration today.