Check-out and return from stamped evidence, not an argument
A hire vehicle is checked twice: on the way out and on the way back. The check-out and return walkarounds for cars and vans photograph every stop and every tyre with the live camera, stamped with time, location and heading, and mark damage on the outline. Fuel level is recorded in eighths at both ends, and both photo sets stay on the vehicle’s record.
Why it matters for hire fleets
ACT hire car service standards require a driver inspection before use and a defect reporting mechanism. Other jurisdictions and major customers ask for the same in contracts.
The WHS Act applies to a hire vehicle as plant the business provides. A vehicle with an open safety defect should not go out, and the record should show it did not.
Damage and fuel disputes are the cost. A photo set stamped at the moment of check-out and another stamped at return settle most of them without a phone call.
Pool vehicles in a company fleet have the same problem: nobody knows who had the car when the scratch appeared. The trip model records who took it and who brought it back.
Summarised from public sources on 13 October 2026. Not legal advice. Check the current rule with your regulator or adviser.
What gets checked
Check-out
- Every stop photographed
- Existing damage marked on the outline
- Every tyre photographed with its tread and pressure
- Fuel level in eighths and odometer
- Hirer and staff member sign
Return
- Same stops photographed
- New damage marked on the outline
- Fuel level in eighths and odometer
- Warning lights and faults
- Vehicle status set for the next hire
Fleet
- Registration, insurance and roadworthy expiry with 30-day warnings
- Services by distance or date
- Defects cleared by a named person
A typical pre-start: Hire car check-out walkaround
All starter templatesStarter templates carry your items in your wording. Readings with limits are left blank for you to set from the manufacturer or your procedure: we never invent a limit.
The fuel angle
Fuel level in eighths at check-out and again at return.
Fuel card fills by staff between hires come with a stamped photo or from the card import.
Where staff record trips, a fuel level that drops between the end of one trip and the start of the next raises an alert.
How fuel tracking worksWhat is kept
- Check-out and return records per vehicle with a stamped photo set at each end
- Damage history per vehicle, marker by marker, with before and after photos
- Fuel level and odometer at each end of every hire
- Defects with who found them and who cleared them, and the vehicle’s status at each point
- Expiry dates for registration, insurance and roadworthy, with alerts
Every record is kept while your account is open. Everything exports as PDF or spreadsheet, and the record is yours.
Starter templates
- Minibus pre-trip (before every trip, minibus)
- Wheelchair accessible vehicle pre-start (before every trip, van)
- Pool car pre-start (before every trip, car)
- SUV and 4WD pre-start (before every trip, SUV or 4WD)
- Weekly light vehicle check (weekly, car)
- Tilt tray and tow truck pre-start (before every trip, tilt tray or tow truck)
- Hook lift and skip truck pre-start (before every trip, hook lift or skip truck)
- Forklift pre-start (LPG or diesel) (before use, forklift)
- Electric forklift pre-start (before use, forklift)
- Scissor lift pre-start (before use, elevating work platform)
- Boom lift pre-start (before use, elevating work platform)
- Telehandler pre-start (before use, telehandler)
- Excavator pre-start (before use, excavator)
- Skid steer loader pre-start (before use, skid steer loader)
- Mobile crane pre-start (before every trip, crane truck)
- Integrated tool carrier or EWP pre-start (before use, elevating work platform)
- Lighting tower or generator check (daily, trailer)
- Hire car check-out (when needed, car)
- Hire car return (when needed, car)
- Monthly vehicle inspection (supervisor) (monthly, any vehicle)
- Post-trip check (after every trip, any vehicle)
- Box or plant trailer walkaround (before every trip, trailer)
- Hire car check-out walkaround (when needed, car)
- Hire car return walkaround (when needed, car)
- Hire van check-out walkaround (when needed, van)
- Hire van return walkaround (when needed, van)
The rules, in plain words
- HVNL and Chain of Responsibility: The primary duty, executive due diligence and what changed on 1 August 2026.
Settle damage from photos, not memory
Create your fleet, paste your registrations, print the tags and send a driver the link. Fourteen days free, no card and no hardware.