When you're moving from another garage management system, you don't want to hand-type hundreds of customer + vehicle records. Pistonlog's CSV importer takes a single combined CSV and creates both customers and their vehicles in one go.
What columns to include
| Column | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|
firstName | yes | Customer first name |
lastName | yes | Customer last name |
email | no | Optional; needed for email reminders |
phone | no | UK format |
address | no | Single field; not split by street/city |
registration | no | Vehicle registration. If present, a vehicle row is created and linked |
make | no | Vehicle make |
model | no | Vehicle model |
year | no | Year of manufacture |
colour | no | Vehicle colour |
fuelType | no | "Petrol" / "Diesel" / etc. |
engineSize | no | Engine size in litres |
motDueDate | no | ISO date (yyyy-MM-dd) |
mileage | no | Recorded mileage |
Header row in the first line, exact column names as listed.
How to import
Open the Import page
Sidebar → Import. The page accepts a single combined CSV.
Upload the CSV
Pistonlog reads the first line as headers, validates every row, and shows you a preview of what'll be imported.
Review the preview
Rows with missing required fields are flagged. You can skip them, or cancel, fix the CSV, and re-upload.
Import
Customers and (when present) vehicles are created in bulk. Duplicate customers are detected by email OR by the triple of firstName + lastName + phone — matches are merged with the existing record rather than creating doubles.
What it doesn't import
Jobcards, payments, invoices, comments, inspections — none of these come across. The CSV is the starting point for customer + vehicle records; everything else accrues as you work.
Test with a small batch first
Imports are reversible but messy to undo at scale. Try a 20-row sample first to make sure your column names and data format are right.