No matter how long you’ve been managing your fleet, chances are good that you’ve become intimately familiar with — and perhaps even disillusioned by — the requirement that is the daily vehicle inspection report (DVIR).

This document serves as a record that a thorough inspection was conducted of the driver before and after each trip, ensuring its safety and effectiveness. Considered a precautionary safety measure, DVIR protects your fleet in the event that a vehicle collision or other incident were to occur, both by preventing physical harm and by presenting legal evidence of the vehicle’s condition.

Traditionally, paper-based DVIR have dominated the industry, but an exciting new development is shaking up the way drivers and fleet managers like yourself approach their business.

Thanks to the latest technology, you can now toss away your filing cabinet full of inspection reports and embrace the future. Growth only comes with innovation, and for the fleet management business, that innovation has come in the shape of electronic DVIR (or eDVIR, for short).

By simplifying and streamlining the processes involved in completing and filing an inspection report, this new tool takes the guesswork out of DVIR, allowing you to take your fleet into the modern era. Along the way, you’ll be able to take advantage of a host of benefits, which we’ll discuss in greater detail below.

However, before we get to all that, why not offer you a proper introduction into how eDVIR works?

WAY OF THE FUTURE

Federal law requires that every driver of a commercial vehicle files a daily inspection report of whatever vehicle they’re operating. This activity extends to completing a new report prior to each trip as well as finalizing the previous report with updates, especially if any action items had yet to be performed.

However, due to the consistent nature of DVIR, the perpetual need to file more and more paperwork has a tendency to jeopardize one’s schedule and slow down productivity, making it more difficult for your drivers to stay focused on the task at hand. With an entire fleet of drivers to manage, this complication is compounded exponentially.

In fact, you’re liable to be trapped in an unfortunate scenario in which you’re likely to be caught in an endless cycle of following up on inspection reports rather than turning your attention to more important matters. eDVIR eliminates that headache, with an easy-to-use system that prioritizes production above all else.

You’ll be relieved to know that this new system isn’t entirely dissimilar from its predecessor. Drivers still complete and submit new reports each day, following up on the previous one. What is drastically different is the manner in which this process is conducted.

Rather than filling out antiquated paper forms, drivers can log into a cloud-based user interface that is updated in real time and complete a fully customized inspection form. This fact alone remarkably trims away much of the time of shuffling through pages and pages of standard forms, since you’ll be able to structure your inspection forms based on your fleet’s specific needs and which fields take priority.

Rather than the cumbersome task of filling out paperwork, your fleet will be able to log in, complete a report and file it in minutes. No more lost or illegible inspection reports for you!

While its methods may seem completely foreign, the primary difference between eDVIR and paper-based DVIR is simplification. The former removes all the frustrating and challenging aspects of filing these required inspection reports and allows you to place your emphasis on keeping your operation moving smoothly.

With just the click of a button, you’ll be able to access all the submitted reports throughout your organization, and the quality of these reports — thanks to the streamlined forms — will be more readable, more complete and more accurate. After all, it’s a lot more difficult to overlook fields or slip into human error when dealing with a straightforward electronic interface.

Regardless of where your drivers are located, you’ll be connected through the data and able to communicate to ensure that everything is going precisely as planned.

EVERYTHING TO GAIN

We’ve already alluded to the fact that eDVIR cuts down on the amount of time it will take you to complete and submit inspection reports. However, the time-saving element of eDVIR, as they say, is only the tip of the iceberg.

So let’s delve into some of the other benefits that this digital alternative offers.

• Easier management: Since eDVIR makes the entire process much smoother for drivers, you won’t have to waste your time reminding them to submit their inspection reports. Instead, they’ll be able to log in, complete and file them before you even have to worry about it in the first place, making your job (and your life) much less stressful.

• More competitive: Your processes will have gotten a major facelift if you opt to upgrade to eDVIR, making your business far more able to outperform your competitors. With all the time you’re saving, you might even find the bandwidth to look for process improvements in places you didn’t even know you might find opportunities for growth.

• Automatically saves: One of the key problems with paper-based forms is how easy it is to miss critical fields — leaving out essential information — or to misplace completed forms entirely. In either case, eDVIR sidesteps this possibility, automatically saving your progress as you fill out your fully customized form from anywhere you may be.

• Detailed analytics: eDVIR also leans heavily into the analytic side of things. Consider it just another perk of a fully digital system. As data syncs between your driver’s mobile devices and the web-based dashboard, you’ll receive real-time results in the form of analytics, leaderboards and even alerts that can inform your business decisions.

• Fully searchable: If you’ve ever tried to pull an old file, you know what a pain it is to find what you’re looking for, and that’s even if you have a thorough organizational system in place to give your filing some semblance of order. With eDVIR, you’ll be able to easily search the complete archives and find the report or data you need in no time at all.

• Unlimited storage: Speaking of your archive, here’s something we know you’ll love. So many online companies nowadays make mountains of profit by ratcheting up costs on storage but not eDVIR. This system gives you unlimited storage right from the outset, making it easy to hold onto the full extent of your report history for future reference.

• Customizable: As we’ve mentioned, your inspection forms are completely customizable. But this dedication to tailoring your experience to your specific needs doesn’t end there. Through and through, eDVIR puts an emphasis on customization. From the forms to the data reports, you’ll be amazed at how much you can adjust this system to your liking.

• Rapid submission: Remember when you had to wait days or weeks to gain access to a driver’s inspection report? Actually, you may be facing that reality right now. Well, no longer. eDVIR gives drivers the opportunity to submit completed reports instantly, and you’ll be able to review, ask questions and take action within seconds.

• Remain in compliance: The law required DVIR be a regular part of your business, but few ways to remain compliant with regulations are as effective as eDVIR. Given its speedy process and impressive breadth of capabilities, you’ll never again have to wonder to yourself if your business is truly keeping up with the latest legal requirements.

A DECISION TO MAKE

Most likely, your schedule as a fleet manager is already brimming with administrative tasks and other thankless duties. So DVIR may very well be the least of your concerns, but because of the critical role these reports play in the long-term safety and reputation of your business, they really do need to remain top of mind in at least some capacity. Your drivers are, of course, your greatest asset, and these reports maximize their safety (and that of those around them) on the road.

Moreover, they protect your business from facing any liability should something go wrong in the throes of a job. You have a responsibility to guard against injury and litigation alike, and DVIR is one of your most effective tools to prevent both from ever occurring on your watch. So, if DVIR truly must remain an integral part of your fleet management, then the only real question you have left is whether you’re willing to take the plunge and incorporate eDVIR into your operation.

Broadly speaking, there’s an argument to made on both sides of the technology debate. The ways in which the internet, digital products and the like have affected our culture and society are undoubtedly far-reaching and not without consequence.

On the other hand, when it comes to DVIR, an all-digital solution will only benefit how much your team is able to accomplish in a specific period of time. Your productivity may be at stake, but your legal standing might be as well. Since one of the key purposes for DVIR is to remain in full compliance with the law, you need to ensure that your fleet is being as thorough and organized as possible.

Given the amount of vehicles in your fleet and the sheer volume of paperwork that results, your business doesn’t naturally lend itself to an intricate system designed to keep your reports intact. Instead, chaos is likely inevitable when you remain complacent with paper-based DVIR.

How even are you able to keep track of every inspection report that comes, let alone ensure its quality, if you’re overwhelmed with having to file physical copies of reports? Imagine the countless hours that your drivers take to complete paper forms and the questionable results these yield.

If you do, you’ll probably agree that it’s simply not worth the effort to try and wrangle together better output if you’re slavishly sticking to the same methodology that your business has been using for years. You need to find a new, better way of taking your operation to the next level and maximizing your fleet’s performance.

Again, these are all the elements you need to consider before you discount eDVIR as a luxury your fleet just doesn’t need right now. Most likely, it is precisely the tool necessary to keep your business steadily moving forward.

THE WHIP AROUND WAY

While eDVIR is quickly becoming the standard-bearer for your industry, we pride ourselves in the fact that our solution, Whip Around, is among the finest all-digital DVIR products on the market. In just minutes, you’ll be able to empower your team with the wide-ranging abilities we discussed above and take your fleet to new heights of productivity and efficiency.

Protecting your team and your business has never been so easy, and you might catch yourself wondering how you ever managed to go so long without such an asset in your arsenal. Bid farewell to that lengthy downtime it used to take to complete and submit inspection reports because a new day is here.

From your driver’s mobile device right into the cloud-based system, this seamless process connects you to your fleet and your fleet to their inspection reports like never before. The real-time aspect of it all provides you with the time needed to move on action items for a particular vehicle and more closely manage your fleet from any location anywhere.

All your drivers need is a mobile device, and they can complete and submit high-quality DVIR every single time. You might think that you’ve honed your fleet management tactics over the years, but we guarantee that you haven’t experienced just how easy it can be until you’ve tried eDVIR the Whip Around way.

A CLOSER LOOK

Of course, our goal in discussing not only the extensive benefits of using eDVIR but also the distinction that Whip Around’s services can bring to your business is to convince you that this new tool is worth upgrading your systems. Any time a drastic change like this is proposed, our natural reactions are often to step back and balk at the discomfort that accompanies having to second-guess our own mindsets.

But as the person in charge, it’s your duty to continually explore emerging ways to boost the effectiveness of your operation and the efficiency of your processes. Nowadays, that means taking your once-paper-bound approach to DVIR and transferring it into the electronic realm for the very first time.

Still undecided about making the switch? We completely understand. At Whip Around, our mission is to make fleets like yours be the very best that they can be. eDVIR is still coming into its own and spreading like wildfire across your industry.

So we know you may be looking to further solidify your opinion of the technology before jumping into it headfirst. Perhaps you’re a visual learner and need a more tangible way to visualize the differences between paper-based DVIR and its electronic counterpart.

If that’s the case, check out our extensive infographic that compares and contrasts the two, presenting you with perhaps our most compelling argument for why you should at least consider revolutionizing your inspection reports.

Feel free to reach out to us with any questions you may have or get started today to optimize your fleet!