Guide · Fleet
Paper logs get lost and apps get abandoned. Compare paper, iAuditor and WhatsApp van checks, and see exactly what DVSA wants when they knock.
Free forever: 20 reports a month. No card, no trial clock.
The real problem
A walkaround check takes three minutes. The common failure at DVSA inspections is not dangerous vehicles, it is incomplete records. Paper goes missing in gloveboxes; apps demand a login then an update then another login. A single missing week undermines an otherwise tidy record, and "it fell behind the seat" carries no weight in an enforcement visit.
What DVSA looks for
A record per vehicle per day, with the driver's name and the time.
What was found, who found it, and when, with a photo where it matters.
A defect with no follow-up is the most damaging record you can show. It proves you knew.
The three approaches
Free and valid, but no search and no patterns. Finding a record across 30 vans takes half a day.
iAuditorStrong for firms with a rollout and per-seat budget. Without one, completion rates drop.
QuicklerNo app, no login. Checks arrive in the app engineers already use, with photos and timestamps.
Get started
Upload your existing paper form and Quickler builds the WhatsApp workflow. Engineers check in from day one. Pricing is 20 pounds per active user per month, and dormant users are free, so you only pay for who works, with a free tier of 20 reports a month.
Your van fleet runs on one of two things. A paper logbook that vanishes behind the seat, or an app your engineers quietly stopped opening weeks ago. Both leave the same hole in your record.
This is what DVSA actually wants to see when they knock, and how paper, iAuditor and WhatsApp stack up.
The real problem
A daily walkaround check takes three minutes. Everyone knows this. The most common problem at DVSA inspections is not dangerous vehicles. It is incomplete records.
The gap is not attitude, it is friction. Paper forms go missing in gloveboxes. Apps demand a login, then an update, then another login. By the time the screen loads, the van has already pulled away.
A single missing week undermines an otherwise tidy compliance record. DVSA will note it. "It must have fallen behind the seat" carries no weight in an enforcement visit. The hard part was never the check. It was getting the record made.
Here is the pattern that catches firms out. A director buys a fleet app. Six weeks later completion sits at 40%. The other 60% of checks are in the old paper book, which nobody has opened since launch. You now run two incomplete systems instead of one, which is worse than where you started.
What DVSA looks for
DVSA enforcement officers can inspect fleet records at any time. For vans and light commercial vehicles, the standard request covers three things. First, evidence that daily walkaround checks happened: a record per vehicle per day, with the driver's name and the time. A blank logbook for a Tuesday the engineer spent on site is not evidence. Second, defect reports. A cracked light, a tyre near the limit, a broken mirror, it must be recorded with what was found, who found it, and when. Third, evidence of action. A defect with no follow-up is the most damaging record you can show. It proves you knew. Officers want repair records or a signed-off confirmation that the defect was assessed.
For van fleets there is no retention rule as strict as the 15-month requirement for HGV operators. In practice, 3 months of accessible digital records plus 12 months of archive covers the realistic enforcement window. Keeping 15 months costs nothing in a digital system. Here is the test. If DVSA arrived today and asked for the last three months across every vehicle, could you produce it in ten minutes? If the answer involves finding a folder or phoning someone who might know where the logbook lives, your system is not working.
Paper
Paper still works. Plenty of small fleets run on logbooks with no enforcement trouble. The conditions are specific. The van needs a dedicated logbook kept inside it. The logbook must stay in the van. The driver must complete it every morning. When it is full, it must be filed somewhere known. Someone must review it monthly.
That is five things that all have to happen, and most fleets manage three of them most of the time. Paper has no search. When DVSA asks about one vehicle on one date, you are leafing through a book. With 10 vans, manageable. With 30 vans, half a day gone. Paper also hides patterns. Van 7 might log three tyre warnings in two months and nobody notices, because noticing means transcribing the logbooks, and nobody transcribes the logbooks.
iAuditor
iAuditor, now SafetyCulture, is the market leader in digital inspection software. For firms with a structured IT rollout, a training budget, and engineers who sit in an office between jobs, it is a strong platform.
The failure mode is adoption. iAuditor wants a login, a profile, and familiarity with the interface. Engineers who spend the day on tools, not screens, meet a new app with indifference at best. Per-seat licensing gets expensive across 15-30 engineers, and the full feature set sits behind the premium tier. With an operations manager who owns the rollout and checks completion daily, it works. When the director is also the operations manager and compliance is one of twelve jobs, the overhead of chasing adoption outweighs the benefit. The app is only ever as good as its completion rate.
Quickler runs walkaround checks through WhatsApp. Engineers get a message at the start of the shift and answer in the chat. Nothing to install, no login to remember, no interface to learn. The product is rooted in UK compliance but not limited to it: Quickler runs any inspection or checklist, across any trade, anywhere WhatsApp does. It is used throughout the English-speaking markets including the UK, Ireland, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The DVSA detail here is the UK case, and Quickler works in any country. Every engineer already lives in WhatsApp, so a check that lands in the app they used five minutes ago has near-zero friction against a separate inspection tool.
Find a defect and the engineer photographs it in WhatsApp. The image attaches to the record. The dashboard shows red, amber, green status per vehicle. A red flag means an open, unresolved defect, visible to the fleet manager without a phone call or a paper form. Checks are scheduled and the trigger fires automatically. Every record is timestamped, attributed to the named engineer, and stored on EU servers. If DVSA asks for three months, the export takes a minute. Pricing is 20 pounds per active user per month, and dormant users are free. An active user is anyone who files at least one report that month, so you only pay for who actually works. Everything is unlimited on paid: reports, photos, messages and workflows. There is a free tier of 20 reports a month with up to 10 photos each, no card and no trial clock. Setup to first live check takes under a week: upload your existing paper form and Quickler builds the workflow from it.
So which one fits? Paper suits a disciplined sole trader with one van. iAuditor suits larger operations: 50+ staff, a dedicated compliance function, engineers already used to apps on site. WhatsApp-based checks suit the middle, 5-30 vans, where engineers are trades professionals not desk workers and the director wants visibility without another system to manage. The real question is simpler than the brochures: what is your current completion rate, and do you actually know it? If you do not know the number, the system is not giving you the oversight you think it is.
Yes. Under the Road Traffic Act 1988 and associated DVSA guidance, operators of commercial vehicles must ensure vehicles are roadworthy before use. The driver is responsible for a daily walkaround check. The check is the legal obligation. The record is the evidence it was done.
DVSA enforcement officers can request records of daily walkaround checks, defect reports, and evidence of follow-up action. They expect at least 15 months of records for HGV operators and typically ask for a rolling 3-month sample for van fleets. Records must show who checked the vehicle, when, what was found, and what action was taken.
Login friction, update prompts and unfamiliar interfaces add time to a task they already resent. A walkaround check takes 3 minutes. If opening the app takes 2 minutes, they skip the app. WhatsApp is already open. That removes the friction entirely.
DVSA guidance recommends at least 15 months for goods vehicles. For vans and light commercial vehicles, a minimum of 3 months is commonly cited. Keeping 12 months of digital records costs nothing and protects you in an incident or an enforcement visit.
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