Move company car requests out of phone calls and email: requests with or without a driver, approval chains, mileage and fuel at handover and a shared vehicle calendar.
In many organisations, getting a company car still starts with a phone call, an email or a knock on the facilities office door. The request is made verbally, approval is given in a hallway, and nobody thinks about the mileage when the keys change hands. When the car comes back, nobody can say why the tank is empty, why it was a day late or who actually had it that week.
That costs time even with a small fleet, and it becomes unmanageable as the number of vehicles and requesters grows. This article walks through the steps of a company vehicle request and approval process, what to watch for when you digitise it, and how to bring it all into one system.
Why a scattered request process causes problems
A vehicle request looks simple: someone needs a car, someone approves, the car is handed over. The trouble is that each step happens in a different channel, off the record. Typical symptoms:
- Nobody knows who has the car: the vehicle list lives in a spreadsheet that is never quite up to date, so finding a free car means calling around.
- Approvals leave no trace: you can’t later confirm who approved what, for which dates, and why.
- Clashes surface late: the same car is promised to two people for the same day.
- Handovers go unrecorded: without mileage and fuel, there is nothing to go on when questions about usage, fuel or damage come up.
- Delays go unnoticed: a car that misses its return date is only noticed when the next person turns up for it.
The steps of a well-designed request process
Before digitising anything, agree the steps — even on paper. Details vary, but a process that works usually looks like this:
- Request: the employee states the dates and times, the purpose, and whether a driver is needed.
- Approval: the request goes through the approval chain your organisation defines — a single manager, or extra steps such as facilities or the fleet coordinator.
- Notification: the requester hears the outcome without chasing it, and approved requests are scheduled.
- Handover: mileage and fuel level are recorded as the car goes out.
- Return: the same details are recorded on return; the difference is the actual usage.
- Follow-up: a reminder goes out when a vehicle isn’t returned on time.
Separate requests with and without a driver
A request with a driver ties up a person’s time as well as a vehicle, so letting the requester choose this up front makes scheduling far easier. For self-drive requests, your policy should cover who may drive and under what conditions.
Design the approval chain around your organisation
No single approval chain fits everyone. Some organisations only need the line manager; others add a fleet coordinator who checks vehicle availability. What matters is that each decision-maker is clear and the approval history is kept. Our article on task approval workflows covers the general design principles, and they apply equally to vehicle requests.
What to record at handover and return
Handover and return are the most neglected part of the process, yet they hold the answers to most later questions. At a minimum, record:
| Moment | What to record | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Handover | Mileage, fuel level, date | Sets the starting point of the usage. |
| Return | Mileage, fuel level, date | Shows distance driven and fuel used. |
| Delay | Planned vs actual return date | Shows whether the next booking was affected. |
Kept consistently, these records end the debate about who had the car and how much it was used — and decisions such as maintenance planning or fuel policy rest on data rather than guesswork.
A vehicle calendar: everyone looks at the same picture
However good the approval flow, clashes continue if nobody can see vehicle availability at a glance. A vehicle calendar shows which car is in use and when. Requesters pick a free slot, and approvers can check for other bookings before saying yes.
A practical checklist for the switch
- Put every vehicle in one complete, current list.
- Write down who can request a vehicle and the conditions for self-drive use.
- Define the approval chain: which step, which role, in which situations.
- Make mileage and fuel entry a mandatory part of handover and return.
- Decide who gets notified about late returns, and when.
- After a few weeks, review requests and approval times and simplify where you can.
Practical tip: rather than shutting down phone requests overnight, have them entered into the system as they arrive. Within a few weeks, people start using it directly.
How HibritİK supports the process
HibritİK Vehicle Requests & Fleet Management brings this whole flow into one place:
- Vehicle requests: employees request a vehicle with or without a driver, with dates and a driver preference.
- Approval chain: requests go through a multi-step chain; each approver is notified, the requester hears the outcome and the approval history is kept.
- Handover and return: mileage and fuel are logged every time.
- Vehicle calendar: see which vehicle is in use and when.
- Automatic reminders: late returns trigger a reminder.
- Reports: report on vehicle use and fleet records and export to Excel.
Pending vehicle requests are part of HibritİK’s wider approval workflows. For the fleet side — insurance and inspection dates — see our guide to fleet maintenance, inspection and insurance tracking.
Conclusion: always know who has which car
Digitising vehicle requests doesn’t have to be a major transformation project. Once the request, approval, handover and return live in the same record, “who has the car and when is it back?” answers itself. To try HibritİK vehicle management with your own fleet, start your 14-day free trial.