When a new car comes in, you don't have to type its specs out manually. Pistonlog hits the DVSA's public vehicle lookup with the registration and fills in everything it knows about that vehicle.
How to use it
Open New Vehicle
From the vehicle list, or inline from the Create Jobcard flow.
Type the registration
Pistonlog auto-formats it as a UK plate. Hit Lookup (or press Enter).
Confirm the result
DVSA returns the vehicle. Pistonlog pre-fills: make, model, colour, fuel type, engine size, year of manufacture, and MOT due date. (DVSA doesn't expose tax status to this lookup, so tax isn't filled in.)
Save
Vehicle record is created. On the next jobcard you link it to a customer — vehicles aren't bound to a specific customer at the record level, the link is per-jobcard.
What you still need to fill in
DVSA gives you the official record but not the working detail you'd want:
- Mileage — set on the jobcard, not the vehicle directly
- Next service date — set when you complete a jobcard with a service job
- Engine size, transmission, drive type, more granular spec fields — see vehicle spec fields
- Customer-facing nickname — most garages don't need this; some do
When DVSA doesn't return anything
For pre-1960 vehicles, non-UK registrations, and a few edge cases, DVSA won't return data. Add the vehicle manually with the Skip lookup button — same form, just empty.