How Unreported Damage Impacts Fleets, and How They Can Eliminate It

For fleets, unreported vehicle damage isn’t just an aesthetic issue - it’s a key contributor to unplanned downtime, increased maintenance costs, and critically, safety & compliance issues.

For more than 20 years, sopp+sopp have worked with the UK’s leading fleet operators, and commercial insurers, to help them keep vehicles moving, respond to incidents with precision, and stay in control of claims & repair costs.

Here we discuss why unreported damage is such a crucial issue for fleet operators, and the steps they can take to reduce its occurrence.

How unreported vehicle damage impacts fleets

When vehicle damage regularly goes unreported, it doesn’t take long for fleet operators to notice the financial & operational impact. Here’s why unreported damage is such a key issue for fleets to overcome:

It can lead to unplanned vehicle downtime

If vehicle damage isn’t reported quickly, even small issues can escalate into more severe problems, which can lead to vehicles being unfit to drive. Any time for which a vehicle is off the road leads directly to lost earnings for fleets, and expensive fees for recoveries & temporary hire vehicles - making it a critical issue for operators.

It can compromise fleet safety & compliance

Even damage that appears ‘less severe’ can compromise vehicle safety, or worsen over time to impact roadworthiness. If fleets have no way of tracking and controlling their vehicles’ conditions, they risk falling short of safety standards, and losing compliance with key licences & accreditations.

It can reduce vehicle lifespans & inflate costs

Vehicle damage isn’t static; the longer it goes unreported, the more risk there is of it worsening to impact the vehicle’s overall integrity. If damage builds up without operators being made aware, it can quickly lead to shortened vehicle lifespans, and inflated repair costs when it eventually gets noticed.

It makes it hard to recover claims costs

The longer it takes for damage to be reported, the less opportunity fleets have to recover repair costs from liable parties, driver agencies, or insurance partners. When damage is reported quickly, it’s much easier to understand how it happened, and identify who is liable for covering its repair.

It can harm their commercial reputation

For fleets in customer-facing industries, or with clients who rely on their services, vehicle condition has a significant influence on their commercial reputation. When damage goes unreported, it makes it harder to keep vehicles presentable, and risks negative perceptions of their fleet’s approach to both safety and service standards.

How can fleets reduce unreported damage?

Reducing unreported vehicle damage is vital for maintaining a safe & efficient fleet. Here are some steps operators can take to ensure any new damage or defects present on their vehicles are reported swiftly:

#1 - Improving driver inspection processes

One of the main reasons vehicle damage goes unreported is because drivers don’t have clear pathways for reporting it during inspections.This is often due to inspections being completed manually, on paper, or without clear guidance on the checks that need to be completed.

By digitalising inspection processes through apps & questionnaires, fleets can prompt drivers to check for specific types of defects & damage, and report it directly for immediate intervention.

Regular training is also essential to ensure drivers know what to look out for, why it matters, and how they can report any issues they find.

#2 - Installing camera systems at depot locations

Depot-based camera systems, such as at site entrances/exits, can be a powerful tool for both identifying vehicle damage, and encouraging drivers to report it quickly.

Monitoring vehicles as they leave and return to sites also helps to pin down when the damage may have occurred, assisting fleets with cost recovery processes & liability decisions.

Footage can either be reviewed manually, or fleets can take advantage of emerging visual AI applications to help spot defects automatically - reducing workload, and improving accuracy.

#3 - Harnessing advanced technology & AI

AI has come a long way in the past  few years, especially when it comes to visual models - capable of spotting specific characteristics, such as vehicle damage, from images or video footage.

Such AI systems can be effectively integrated with on-site cameras, and driver inspection apps, to help fleets spot defects automatically, categorise their severity, and prompt drivers for supporting details.

In some cases, it’s as simple as driving the vehicle through a fixed gantry/camera setup, with any damage, defects, or structural issues present highlighted immediately by the AI - with unparalleled accuracy.

Fleets are increasingly using such technology to eliminate the inconsistencies of manual, driver-led inspections - and even track the progression of damage over time, in granular detail.

#4 - Ensuring robust escalation processes

Identifying vehicle damage is only part of the challenge - the most crucial step is ensuring it’s resolved quickly to reduce the risk of escalation, or unplanned vehicle downtime.

Fleets must therefore ensure they have robust processes in place to escalate defect reports to the appropriate stakeholders to deal with them - such as in-house engineers, or repair partners.

This points further to the need for a tech-driven approach, connecting driver reporting processes with system-backed escalations, such as email notifications, or in-system alerts, to progress damage for repair quickly.

Driver inspection apps, and AI integrations, can help fleets ensure that reports, as well as any accompanying images, are progressed to the appropriate stakeholders automatically for fast resolution.

#5 - Monitoring vehicle condition centrally

While tracking and escalating damage & defect reports are key to reducing unreported vehicle damage, it’s also vital that fleets have a way to measure their success.

This means connecting the reporting, escalation, and repair process together in one unified view to understand how long it takes drivers to report damage, how quickly it’s resolved, and - critically - how much it costs.

Many fleet management systems, and specialist vehicle maintenance platforms, offer integrations with reporting applications & on-site repair tracking systems, allowing fleets to join the dots across every step of the process.

This enables them to understand the strength of their approach, identifying areas for training & education opportunities, and make long-term enhancements to their defect management strategies.

Stay tuned for sopp+sopp’s latest innovation…

Sopp+sopp are working directly with one of the UK’s leading supermarket fleets to develop an end-to-end defect & compliance management solution.

This latest innovation in our fleet management toolkit is to be announced in the near future - combining intelligent visual AI with centralised monitoring, repairer integrations, and guided inspection processes to reduce the occurrence and impact of unreported damage.

Stay tuned to learn more about this exciting development, which we’ll be launching at 2025’s Fleet and Mobility Live.

In the meantime, get in touch to learn more about sopp+sopp’s market-leading fleet management solutions & services: