Every dent, scrape and crack — with a photo, a date and a name.
Motentra logs fleet vehicle damage against the exact body area, rates it minor, moderate or major, and keeps the photos on the record. Open and resolved never blur together, so when a lessor, rental company or insurer asks what happened, the answer takes seconds.
Photos taken on the phone and stored with the vehicle
Where on the vehicle
Severity
Photos
The scrape nobody wrote down is the one you pay for
The damage itself is rarely the expensive part. Not knowing when it happened, who had the vehicle and whether it was already there — that is what turns a small repair into an argument.
Photos scattered across phones
The picture exists somewhere — a group chat, a driver’s camera roll — with no unit number and no date anyone trusts.
Nobody knows if it’s new
Without the last inspection on record, there is no way to say whether a dent happened on today’s route or three weeks ago.
Turn-in becomes a negotiation
When a lessor or rental company bills for damage at return, a fleet without its own dated photos has nothing to check the bill against.
One record, from the first photo to the repair
Every report answers the same five questions — where, how bad, when, who and is it fixed — in the same order, every time.
Photos on the spot
Take the photos on the phone while you are standing at the vehicle. They are stored with the damage report, not in somebody’s camera roll.
- Attached while you are at the vehicle
- Kept with the vehicle, not a chat thread
- Dated and attributed
Pinned to a body area
Choose where the damage is from a fixed list — 16 areas on a delivery van, 18 on general and trucking fleets including tailgate, bed and trailer — so every report is consistent and easy to find.
- Bumpers, doors, sliding door, rear doors
- Hood, roof, both sides, undercarriage
- Windshield, mirrors, wheels, interior
Minor, moderate or major
Rate each report so the fleet manager can see at a glance which damage takes a vehicle off the road and which can wait for the next shop visit.
- Severity on every report
- Major damage stands out on the dashboard
- Out of service in one tap when it is unsafe
A driver on the record
Attach the driver who had the vehicle, picked from your roster, when you need attribution for coaching, a claim or a chargeback conversation.
- Picked from your driver roster
- On the report and the vehicle history
- Left blank when you genuinely don’t know
Open until it’s resolved
A report is open or resolved — never “I think someone took care of it.” Mark it resolved when the repair is done; until then it stays on the open list.
- Open and resolved, never ambiguous
- Open damage counted on the dashboard
- History kept after it is fixed
Ready when someone asks
Open the vehicle and its damage tab shows every report with area, severity, photos, date and driver — the file a lessor, rental company or adjuster wants to see.
- Full history per vehicle
- Who holds the vehicle, on the same screen
- Inspections and maintenance alongside
Logged at the vehicle, ready at turn-in
Damage records are only useful if they are made on the day, by the person standing next to the vehicle. Motentra is built so that takes about as long as taking the photo.
Done before the next vehicle pulls in
Log damage on its own, or as part of the end-of-shift check or walk-around. Pick the area, rate it, take the photos, add a note and the driver, and it is saved against the vehicle you scanned.
- Area, severity, photos, note and driver on one screen
- Saved to the vehicle whose QR code you scanned
- On the fleet manager’s dashboard straight away
Sliding Door
Deep crease across the lower half of the sliding door, roughly 18 inches wide, paint torn to bare metal.
Reported by Sam Rivera
✓ Mark resolvedCheck the bill against your own photos
When a leased or rented vehicle goes back, the return inspection decides what you are charged. With Motentra you walk in with every damage report that vehicle ever had — dated, photographed and marked open or resolved — so you can see which charges match damage you already knew about and which ones you are hearing about for the first time.
- Your own dated photos, not just theirs
- Resolved damage shows it was repaired
- Who holds the vehicle and the fleet number on the record
Damage history · #14 Ram
Damage looks different on every fleet
The body areas, the vehicles and the people asking questions change with the operation. The record does not.
Vans that go back eventually
Branded and rental vans are returned and re-inspected. Keep the dated photos and repair history that let you check a damage bill line by line.
Motentra for DSPs → Service fleetsLeases that end on a date
Leased pickups and vans go back to the lessor at term end. Know their condition long before the turn-in inspection does.
Motentra for service fleets → TruckingTractors and trailers apart
Trailers are assets with their own damage history, so a swap at the dock does not erase who scraped what.
Motentra for trucking →A group chat, a spreadsheet, or Motentra
Most fleets track damage somewhere. The question is whether you can find it, date it and prove it when it counts.
| Group chat | Spreadsheet | Motentra | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where the photo is | Someone’s camera roll | A link, if someone pasted it | On the damage record |
| When it happened | When the message was sent | When someone typed it in | Logged at the vehicle, dated |
| Which part of the vehicle | “Back of the van” | Free text | One of 16–18 named areas |
| Who had the vehicle | Ask around | Maybe a column | Picked from the roster |
| Is it fixed? | Scroll up and guess | A status nobody updates | Open or resolved |
| At turn-in | Hope | Search | Open the vehicle’s damage tab |
Five habits that make a damage record hold up
Software keeps the record. These habits are what make the record worth keeping — whichever tool you use.
- Shoot wide, then close. A close-up proves the damage; a wide shot proves which vehicle and which panel it is on.
- Get an identifier in frame. The unit number, plate or the QR label in at least one photo ends the “which van was that?” question.
- Log it the same shift. A report made at the vehicle on the day carries far more weight than one reconstructed a week later.
- Name the driver when you know it — and only then. A wrong name is worse than a blank one.
- Close the loop. Mark the damage resolved when it is repaired, so the history shows what was fixed and when.
Damage tracking FAQ
Who logs the damage?
Can we track damage on trailers?
Can we take a damaged vehicle off the road?
Will this help with damage charges at lease or rental return?
Does it replace our dashcams or telematics?
What does it cost?
Related guides
How to document vehicle damage so it holds up
The photos, details and timing that make a damage report useful to a lessor, an insurer or your own shop.
Read the guide → Guide · All fleetsThe fleet lease-return inspection checklist
What lessors bill for at turn-in, a 60-day plan, and how to check the bill against your own records.
Read the checklist → Guide · DSPsThe end-of-shift van inspection checklist
What to check on every van when it comes back from a route, and what to do with what you find.
Read the checklist →