Inspections reach you in the Spare Driver app in several different ways. Which one you use depends on whether you are on a duty, and whether you are checking the vehicle you are driving or a different one.
How it starts | When you use it |
Pre-duty check | Prompted automatically when your duty begins. |
Inspect Current Vehicle | Any time during a duty, on the vehicle you are driving. |
Inspect Other Vehicles | Any time during a duty, on a different vehicle. |
Vehicle Inspections card | When you have no duty scheduled at all. |
Start Vehicle Inspection | From the account menu, whenever you need it. |
Post-duty check | Prompted when your duty ends. |
Report a Vehicle Issue | A fault to report without running a whole checklist. |
At the start of a duty
When a duty begins, the home screen shows the duty card with Pre-duty inspection required against it, along with your start and end times and the vehicle. Tap Start Pre-Duty Inspection.
Work through the checklist and submit. The card then reads Pre-duty inspection completed and the button becomes Start Driving.
💡 The form you get is set by your vehicle's type, not by you. If it looks wrong for the vehicle, tell your supervisor — it is a settings change, not something to work around.
During a duty
Tap the gear icon at the top of the screen. While you are on a duty the menu offers three inspection options that are not there otherwise.
Inspect Current Vehicle
Runs a check on the vehicle you are driving right now. You are asked "Which inspection would you like to complete?" and choose Pre-Trip Inspection or Post-Trip Inspection.
Being able to pick either one mid-shift is deliberate. It exists for the two situations where the normal duty prompts do not fit:
A breakdown. The vehicle fails partway through your shift. Run a Post-Trip on it there and then, so the fault is recorded against that vehicle with your comments and photos before you hand it over — you do not have to wait for the duty to end, and you do not lose the evidence.
Switching vehicles. You are given a replacement mid-shift. Run a Post-Trip on the one you are handing back, then a Pre-Trip on the one you are taking out, so each vehicle has its own clean record for your shift.
⚠️ Run the post-trip on a broken-down vehicle before you swap, while you are still with it. Once you are in a different vehicle, Inspect Current Vehicle points at the new one.
Inspect Other Vehicles
Opens the full vehicle list so you can inspect something other than your own — useful for a spare, a vehicle a colleague has flagged, or one you are about to take over. Search by fleet number, then pick the form.
When you have no duty scheduled
If you have no duty, the home screen shows a Vehicle Inspections card instead — "Inspect any vehicle while you have no duty scheduled."
Tap Start Inspection, choose any vehicle, then choose the form. This is the route for checking vehicles off-shift.
From the account menu
The same account menu also has Start Vehicle Inspection, which goes straight to the vehicle list. It is the quickest way in when you already know which vehicle you need.
Reporting a fault on its own
Use Report a Vehicle Issue when something is wrong but you are not running a checklist. It reports against the vehicle you are currently on, so there is no vehicle to pick.
Title — required. Short and specific, like "Brake noise at low speed".
Description — optional detail.
Can the vehicle still drive? — answering this reveals a follow-up, Is the issue cosmetic only?
Add a photo — optional, but it saves the workshop a phone call.
Tap Submit Report and you get a confirmation. The fault appears in EAM as an Issue titled Driver Reported Issue, ready for maintenance to triage.
Filling in a checklist
Every route above opens the same kind of checklist.
Pass and fail
Each check has a tick and a cross. Choosing the cross marks it failed, and the app asks for a comment or photo before it will let you submit.
Groups of checks
Some items list several faults together. Tick the all-clear option if everything is fine, or tick the specific faults you found — each one you tick asks for its own comment or photo.
Odometer
The app shows the last reading and how long ago it was taken. If the meter is unreadable, use the Void button rather than guessing.
⚠️ If the distance since the last reading looks too large, the app blocks the entry — for example "Distance traveled (150 km) exceeds maximum allowed for time period." Check you have read the odometer correctly before trying again.
Signature
Sign on the pad and confirm. Once saved you can Update or Clear it.
When something urgent fails
If a safety-critical item fails, submitting shows Urgent Inspection Failures with your operator's instructions — typically to stop and contact dispatch for another vehicle.
You can acknowledge and continue, so treat it as a prompt to follow your operator's process rather than a lock on the vehicle. If you are given a replacement, use Inspect Current Vehicle to run a pre-trip on it before you set off.
At the end of a duty
When your duty ends, the home screen shows a Post-Duty Inspection card reading "Complete your post-duty inspection", with a Start Post-Duty Inspection button.
It works exactly like the pre-duty check, using whichever form your vehicle type has set for post-duty — which does not have to be the same form you used at the start of the shift.
The card stays on your home screen until the inspection is done, so an outstanding post-duty check is still waiting for you the next time you open the app, even if a new duty has already started.
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