If you’ve reached the unit name section of your unit creation process, you’ve already laid the foundations!  You’ve gone through the two mandatory fields, chosen an In Service or Out Of Service status for the specific vehicle, and provided a unit number. Now comes the best part - customizing your unit by including additional details that will help you quickly discover it in the system, track its condition, and create work orders.  One of the available customization options that you have for any unit is the unit name. Considering that you already have a unit number, you may wonder what the unit name is and what role it plays for your Fleetpal account.  Let’s find out.

The purpose of Flet Unit Name

The unit name is a non-mandatory customization field that provides an additional description of a truck or another vehicle that is part of your fleet. Unlike the mandatory unit number, it is not part of a broader nomenclature system. Instead, it’s simply an extra descriptive layer that can help users easily identify a vehicle in the fleet. What do we mean? Let’s say that the unit number for a Volvo truck is V2000. However, the service writer who created the unit in the Fleetpal account also added a unit name for the vehicle and labeled it “Volvo Jack Johnson''. The provided information includes the manufacturer and the name of the driver, who is specifically assigned to the truck. This is a popular scenario, especially in cases where the unit is an external vehicle given to a particular employee in the business.  A unit name like “Volvo Jack Johnson” tells the service writer and other employees in the business much more about the vehicle than a simple “V2000”. It describes the unit briefly and can be used for Fleetpals’ unit search filters or other features.

Tips for choosing a fleet unit name

Of course, the example we shared above is just one of many. There are various ways to approach unit name selection, and they all come down to individual preferences or existing systems within the business. Here are some of our recommendations when it comes to selecting unit names that are easy to understand and easy to remember:

• Use names of individuals who have been assigned the unit as part of their job responsibilities (just like in the example above).
• Use the names of manufacturers to make the unit easily discoverable in your fleet
• Consider using the model's name or the year of production if this will help you quickly remember the unit and its specifications. 
• If there are any specific details about the unit, don’t be afraid to turn them into a unit name (for example, “repurchased yellow Volvo” or “red cube truck 1998”.
• Use the color of the vehicle to describe the unit in more detail in the unit name section.
• Use the vehicle’s year of production as part of the unit name.

You may devise other, more creative ways to name your units. There are no limitations and restrictions - you have the complete freedom to choose any name that works best for you and your colleagues! Remember to click the “Save” button to keep the new changes if editing an existing unit or store the record if you’re creating a new one.