Inspections in Pistonlog are customisable checklists that attach to a jobcard. Garage admins design the form once as a template; technicians then fill in a submission every time they inspect a vehicle.
There are five inspection statuses that a technician can set on any item: Acceptable, Advisory, Rectified, Failure, and Not Applicable — each with its own colour and icon so the report reads at a glance.
Two halves of the system
Templates (admin-side)
Designed once and reused. Drag fields onto a canvas in the form builder — 22 field types from simple text to signature pads, tyre checks, and inspection matrices. Templates are scoped per garage.
Submissions (technician-side)
A live fill of a template on a specific jobcard. Submissions snapshot the template's schema at the time of creation, so editing a template later doesn't change what was previously recorded.
What's in the field palette
The palette is a single flat list of all 22 field types under a Field Types heading. There are no category tabs or headings to hunt through: you scroll the list, or hover a type for a preview. Described loosely by what they do, they cover:
- Automotive checks — inspection (status + notes + images), inspection matrix, battery health (state-of-health % gauge), tyres, registration (UK vehicle lookup), mileage
- Typed inputs — text, text box, number, percentage, measurement, phone, masked input
- Selection — dropdown, multi-select, multiple choice, checkbox
- Date — date picker
- Media — signature pad, image upload, video upload
- Layout — table matrix
How the tyres field decides a status
The tyres field is the one that grades itself. Enter tread depths per tyre (single, or inner / middle / outer) and tick any condition flags, and Pistonlog derives a status from the worst reading:
- Advisory: the worst tread is under 3.0mm, or a minor flag is ticked (perishing, wearing on edge, low pressure, and similar)
- Failure: the worst tread is under 1.6mm, or a severe flag is ticked, namely cords showing, lump / bulge, deep cut, perished, or punctured
The derived status is a starting point, not a verdict. The technician can tap any status to override it. The badge then reads "(manual)" and a reset button appears to hand it back to the automatic result.
Flagging a failure to the team
Marking any item Failure prompts Notify someone? Say yes and you can pick teammates who'll get an in-app notification naming the failed item, so the front desk hears about it before the customer rings. See Filling in an inspection.
Rectified → update parts
When a technician taps Rectified on a live jobcard inspection, Pistonlog asks Update parts? Tap Yes and the inspection item is marked Rectified, and a parts dialog opens so you can mark the relevant part fitted. Tap No and Rectified still applies — without the parts dialog. Dismiss the popover and Rectified doesn't apply at all. See Rectified + update parts.
Related
In this section
Templates vs submissions
Templates are the blueprint, submissions are the actual fills. Edits to a template don't change past submissions.
Building an inspection template
The drag-and-drop form builder — 22 field types, multi-column rows, configuration per field, and auto-save
Bundled inspection templates
Two pre-built service check sheets — Car and Motorbike — imported into your garage as your own editable copy
Starting an inspection
How to open a new inspection submission on a live jobcard
Filling in an inspection
How a technician works through a submission — the five statuses, notes, photos, and partial saves
Rectified + use a part
When a technician marks an item Rectified, Pistonlog asks 'use a part?' and links the inspection into the parts list
Linking inspections to jobs
Tie an inspection finding to a specific job on the same jobcard so the work and the assessment travel together
Completing an inspection
When every item is filled, mark complete — it joins vehicle history and becomes printable, and the fields stay editable
Previous inspections panel
The Inspector Panel surfaces previous submissions for the current vehicle, with a 13-month cutoff
Running an Inspection
Fill in an inspection on a jobcard and record the results