After launching the signature for initial vehicle conditions, our customers asked for “Signature-on-Return”. On March 11, we’ve released Android version 3.5, includes the ability to capture a signature of a driver on either or both going out and return!
With the Corona-virus pandemic this Spring, large companies like Amazon are scrambling to meet the needs of consumers with limited mobility. These companies are hiring as fast as possible through DSPs (Delivery Service Partners) or similar models, which are low-investment business who own vehicles or rent vehicles from Leasing Companies.
Both DSPs and Leasing Companies want protection and are using DAMAGE iD for accurate history of vehicle conditions.
Today, we are developing new features within DAMAGE iD which are specific to DSPs (Delivery Service Partners) and Leasing Companies to protect them from negligent drivers and to provide documentation for insurance claims.
Here’s how it works.To enable this feature, log in to the Review Portal.
Check the checkbox, one or both to enable signature pad on the app!
Now, when the driver returns the vehicle (and captures vehicle photos and video), the signature will be captured and stored in the cloud.
The signature pad will appear after the walk-around and before submission of photo and video to the cloud.
The signature for both before and after will appear within the Review Portal on the Case Details window.
If you click “Export Photos”, you will also see both signatures (if you have both enabled) on the downloaded PDF.
We hope you make use of the new signature options. Look for the signature pad to appear in future IOS versions as well (currently Android has the signature feature).
We wish you and your family good health in these difficult times of the pandemic.
Thank you delivery companies, and DSPs for everything you are doing for us!
Recently some of our delivery customers have told us that some of their drivers are not entirely trusted. Delivery companies often switch drivers, and drivers should not be able to access all videos and photos taken by other drivers in the Review Portal. These delivery companies suggested that DAMAGE iD should include a limited access account.
Today, we just added a new type of user to the DAMAGE iD Review Portal. The role is called “App Only”.
Just like it sounds, this type of user only has access to the mobile app – they can’t log into the Review Portal. It is a restricted use account.
Here is a quick review of the different roles within DAMAGE iD.
Where to find the new “App Only” User
You can find the App Only user role in the pick-list you select when inviting a new user.
You will also find this user type when editing an existing user. Yes, existing users can be converted to “App Only” users at any time.
Todays update is a “backend” change – so both IOS/Apple and Android users will get this update. There is no reason to check the app store for an update. (e.g. We didn’t launch a corresponding app update with this update).
We hope you find this feature helpful. A big shout out to our friends at Reliance Delivery for suggesting this feature!
Are renters taking care of your daily rental or leased vehicles?
Have them sign off on the condition of the vehicle.
A signature ensures drivers are responsible for the vehicle condition when the vehicle leaves.
Today we released version 3.3 on Android. This version adds a new setting within the Review Portal. When you enable this setting, a Signature Pad will appear on DAMAGE iD. The signature appears when the vehicle is outgoing.
How to Enable
What You’ll See on the App
When you have finished your walk-around, customer will be prompted to accept vehicle condition. In the Review Portal, you will see the signature in the Case Info section.
Summary
Our new Signature Pad is a great way to get “sign off” from your drivers.
and… who knows, this could be the one thing that makes drivers change their bad habits!
For this feature – and suggestions, comments or support needs contact us at support@damageid.com.
Today we released version 3.2 on Android. This version combines changes to the “Review Portal” to enable photo positions to be labeled you, our customer.
Background
In DAMAGE iD, each of the photo and video “positions” is labeled. “Passenger Front”, “Rear” etc. These are the “standard positions” (7 or 5 pictures, depending on your settings). Besides the “standard positions”, we also have “additional photos”, labeled “Other 1”, “Other 2”, etc.
Suppose you’d like to have your agents take a photo of the tire jack, the roof and the wheels, without having them remember the photo numbers of each.
…. Or if you are a UK or Ireland driver, perhaps you would to reverse then names of “Driver” and “Passenger” sides of the vehicle.
Use Custom Photo Positions
To use Custom Photo Positions, login to the Review Portal. Next, visit “Settings” in the top Navigation.
Now log into the app (currently this only works on Android. Be sure to upgrade to version 3.2). Your labels will appear in the app.
You will see the Custom Labels during photo and video taking.
(Note that DAMAGE iD only allows a few words in the labels, because it breaks the layout of this page if the text gets too long).
Finally, in the Review Portal, you will see the new Custom Positions when you review your cases.
Recommendations
We strongly recommend that customers don’t change the actual meaning of the photo position. For example, we don’t recommend changing “Passenger Front” position to “Left Wheel” – use the “Other” positions for that. (Our upcoming Artificial Intelligence features will make use of the photo positions, so we recommend you do not completely change what the positions means.).
Summary
Best of luck with the new feature. Contact us at support@damageid.com if you have suggestions, comments or need support!
p.s. We hope to have IOS/iPhone version ready soon.
Thanks to a suggestion from our wonderful friends (and customers) at Renta Autos Guatemala (Guatemala Auto Rental) and Ivan for encouraging us to develop this feature!
Christmas Season … what a wonderful time to be in New York City!
On Thursday, Paula (president) and Jack (founder) met with the UNITED MileFleet team at the Classic Car Club in the Big Apple. The event promotes the DAMAGE iD products as well as offering steep discounts to members of the UNITED MileFleet Partner program.
Members of the program receive up to 20% discount on products for the rental and leasing industry, such as DAMAGE iD.
At the Classic Car Club, members network and share experiences relevant to rental and leasing companies. The venue was filled with classic vehicles, setting the perfect stage for networking, Christmas cheer, and also some serious marketing and promotion of DAMAGE iD.
Andy Wilson, president of UNITED MileFleet discussing the origins of the company. Paula at Grand Central Station.
Some very hot cars at the Classic Car Club in New York.
We are happy to announce a new version – 3.1 r38 is now available on the Google Play Store.
Immediate upload notification and sync.
Enhanced notification tray messages about uploads.
Enhanced debugging tools allowing user to retry uploads in case of a bad connection.
Direct link to the web portal from the app.
In the past, “Syncing” or uploading of movies and photos happened in the background – and could take up to 5 minutes.
The upload is now immediate.
As you may know, some customers have had problems with photos not uploading. This is especially noticeable where Wifi or mobile-data connections are not strong.
This release addresses that problem. Uploads are more reliable, and when they do fail, it will be much clearer what went wrong. A new “Try Again” button will appear, prompting the user to synchronize again, when they have a better data connection.
A new screen shows the user the status of the upload. The REVIEW PORTAL button takes the user directly to the case that just uploaded. No login is required – the user is securely authenticated from the app to the web REVIEW PORTAL. If an upload does fail, a new button will appear on the main screen. For advanced troubleshooting, a new button has been added to the “Debug Tools” screen A new screen shows all details of the case, and allows you to re-sync the case when your connection is stronger.
As always, please share your feedback with support@damageid.com. We look forward to hearing your feedback!
Fresh of the Press! We are happy to announce Today’s new features on the Review Portal.
View Case – improved support for medium-sized and very large devices (HD Screens on Desktop). After updating for smaller devices and tablets, this completes a major round of updates across all device sizes.
The Review Portal as-seen on a 1200px wide screen. Formerly, the user would be forced to scroll to the right. This will make things more convenient. On very large screens, we now “grow” the pictures to the full width of the screen.
2. In the “Case List”, we added a new filter (Additional Filters) for User
“Filter By User” can be found in “Additional Filters”. Use this to segment your fleet. (Note: The user is the inspector or user who took photos).
DAMAGE iD is one of your most useful (and profit-making) Apps.
But does ALL of your team know how to automatically update their device for the newest version. They might be missing out on all the cool benefits of new features!
It’s really simple. Here are the directions:
Auto-Update ALL Apps
Open the āSettingsā app on the iPhone or iPad.
Click Settings
2. Go to āiTunes & App Storeā
Go to iTunes & App STore
3. Under the ‘Automatic Downloads’ section, look for āUpdatesā and toggle that switch to the ON position.
Toggle the “Apps”
4. Exit out of Settings as usual.
Sorry, no Auto-Update Only DAMAGE iD
You cannot auto-update DAMAGE iD only on iPhone or IPad. You need to manually check for an update.
DAMAGE iD is one of your most useful (and profit-making) Apps.Ā
But does ALL of your team know how to automatically update their device for the newest version. They might be missing out on all the cool benefits of new features!
It’s really simple. Here are the directions:
Auto-Update ALL Apps
Open the Google Play Store app.
2. Tap Menu Settings
3. Tap Auto–update apps.
4. Select an option: Over any network to update apps using either Wi-Fi or mobile data. Over Wi-Fi only to update apps only when connected to Wi-Fi.
Auto-Update Only DAMAGE iD
Note: Enabling Auto-Update on only this app is time-consuming on Android, unfortunately, because you have to disable auto-update on all other apps, and then enable it on DAMAGE iD only.
Open the Google Play Store, go to Menu -> Settings.
Tap on the “Auto-update apps” and disable auto-updates.
Go back, then go to “My apps” section, search to locate DAMAGE iD and tap on it once.
Now tap the Menu button and the first option should be the “Auto-update.” Ensure the checkbox is selected for DAMAGE iD.
We’ve optimized it for smaller devices and tablets.
The old version was suited for larger display sizes on desktops – full screen. However, we knew you wanted to access the portal with your mobile devices as well.
So we added additional mobile navigation, removed a few table columns and added over-under images/video so that you can see it with devices as small as an iPhone 5.
(The old, desktop version hasn’t changed at all.)
Check out the mobile-optimized version below (shown on a Galaxy S9)!
If you are using the new mobile version, let us know how it’s going at support@damageid.com. Enjoy the new update!
Today, we released our version 1.0 API for the DAMAGE iD API.
The release of the damage identification API is important because it opens up the functionality of DAMAGE iD to developers and IT integrators. Developers can use the API, or “application programming interface” to integrate more closely with DAMAGE iD – exposing it’s core services to software applications outside of the DAMAGE iD app and web portal. For example, the API could be used to pull damage tracking features into a conventional rental software application. Or the API could be used to bring Case statistics data into an analytics (reporting) package or database.
The documentation is a work-in-progress and will be updated as new features are added. The documentation can be found at https://www.damageid.com/api.
What is an API? According to Google, an API is a set of functions and procedures allowing the creation of applications that access the features or data of an operating system, application, or other service.
To gain access to the API, developers must have a typical username and password as well as an “API Key” which is available upon request at support@damageid.com.
Many of our current and potential customers have asked for the ability to mark specific damaged areas and add comments. We call this “Annotation”.
This video below shows how Annotation works.
“Annotation” is the ability to add new damage directly to the photo position.
This is a work in progress and there are some open questions.
That’s where you come in. We’d love to hear your reactions and thoughts on:
What if a user of the app circles damage twice? We will have a unique identifier which comes up when damage is found. However, we’re not yet sure how we will make sure the circles identify damage uniquely. We don’t want to re-issue a new damage identifier in this case, rather we want to associate multiple “circles” with the same damaged area.
Where should we insert this feature into DAMAGE iD? Our current approach is to add this screen after a photo is taken. However, we don’t want to slow down the (highly optimized) walk-around experience which our users really love about our app. Of course, most of the time, new damage isn’t found, so we’ll want to provide the ability to quickly dismiss the annotation screen or prevent it from appearing if no damage is found.
Should we add Annotation to the Review Portal – or is annotation in the app sufficient? This all depends on whether customers want to change the annotations on the Review Portal. (There’s probably some benefits to approaches).
How to annotate videos? Our new video feature (launched this Spring) makes annotation slightly more complex. Should we just annotation photos, or would you be interested in annotation of videos as well? (Videos would require a timeline slider and would be a bit more complicated than with photos).
Customers (current and future) – Please send your feedback to the comments section or send an email to support@damageid.com.
Still doing paper and pen walkaround?Ā Why not a digital walkaround?Ā Your savvy customers do!!Ā Digital integrity gives you the confidence to be able to show customers exactly what damage occurred during their rental contract,Ā and charge them accordingly. It also means that customers are reassured that they will NOT be charged for previous damage.Ā Uncollected damage adds up.Ā Ā Consider this Cost Calculator: Windshield crack: start at $ 350; paintable scratch, which could require panel refinishing, $250 per panel.Ā Ā Tire/ hub cap damage, hundreds.Ā Cigarette burns, stained interior. Your company could be able to charge to the customer but only if they had digital documentation DATE and TIME-stamped as to when the damage occurred.Ā How could you save money on Uncollected Damages? Use DAMAGE iD as your damage software. It allows you to do a digital walk-around and the portal to compare the pictures and send to customers as proof. This gives your company the integrity to charge accordingly and your customers with be more satisfied with your company.Ā
Last week we added iPad support for DAMAGE iD. iPad is a really great platform. We just love it. There is so much room on the screen. It feels like a clipboard in your hand – it just fits your hands better than a tiny phone. Feels like the right tool for a walk-around.
Although iPad is very different from the iPhone in terms of capabilities, the iPad version of DAMAGE iD is mostly the same as the iPhone version – with a few differences.
One difference is that you can rotate the iPad in any direction when taking photos. Another is that the icons and buttons are larger and easier to click.
In the future, we hope to make even better use of the special capabilities of iPad. One potential future application of iPad, given it’s larger size, is the ability to mark damage directly on the photo dragging your finger across the screen. Imagine red boxes or circles…. right to your photo or video! We think that feature would work really well on iPad and are looking forward to working on such a feature soon.
But for now, we just wanted to get it out on the Apple Store because we love new customers! (iPad support opens up DAMAGE iD to a whole new category of users.)
If Your Customers are taking photos and Videos, shouldn’t YOU do the same??? All Rental companies for Cars, trucks, SUVs, Campers, golfcarts, snowmobiles, boats, airplanes, etc, should have a foolproof, digital documentation of their Fleet.
On May 3, 2019 we launched major version 3.0 for Android, which includes support for video! (The iPad/iPhone version was released on May 22, 2019).
What are the benefits of video?
Tough spots to photograph. For certain vehicle areas, such as interiors, tires, trunk area, roof, it can be difficult to capture with a few photos. Rather, a (video) “sweep” is preferred.
Capture more. For example multiple items, multiple regions, underside of vehicle) using video. Video is alot like taking many pictures in sequence.
Shiny surfaces. Ability to capture small dents and dings within a reflected, shiny surface. By altering the direction of the camera slightly, light will reflect off the surface, revealing surface damage within the contours of the reflection.
Stronger evidence. Video is more difficult to tamper and modify than photographs. Video provides even stronger evidence for proving damage.
Multiple focus points. Video allows you to focus on deep, or 3D objects, while changing focus throughout. This can capture damage better than static photos.
How does Video work in DAMAGE iD?
The simple interface of DAMAGE iD stays almost exactly the same.
However, you will now see a red button beneath the camera shutter button. (See below).
Find a shiny, new, red button beneath the normal camera shutter button.
After clicking the red button, the camera will start recording video, and a clock timer will start.
DAMAGE iD video recording this hot vehicle! Be sure to move the device to capture the surface details.
DAMAGE iD also records AUDIO with the VIDEO. This means you can use your finger to point out damage, while explaining what you see.
Click “STOP” when done. Note that there is a 10-second limit on each of the videos.*
*Why did we decide to limit videos to 10 seconds? We wanted to keep upload sizes small. We also want to keep the walk-around focused on a position for later comparison. (If a rental agent takes a 3 minute video, it becomes really difficult to find damage or compare 2 videos.) Plus, if you take 24, 10 second, videos per case, that gives FOUR MINUTES OF VIDEO PER CASE.
Click the icon to review the movie or photo. This works the same as the previous version.
Once the video has been uploaded, visit the “Backend” to compare your videos and photos.
The following video shows how video clips will appear in the Backend.
FAQ
Question: Does video mean I will pay more for my DAMAGE iD Account? Answer: No, video is offered as part of your DAMAGE iD account – entirely free for existing users. (We don’t charge by storage space used)
Question: What quality video is used? Answer: We choose the best quality available on the device
Question: Is any compression or resizing performed on the video? Answer: No, we do not compress or resize the video
Question: How are videos stored? Answer: We use MP4 format. Videos are stored in the Cloud, just like the photos.
Question: Do you apply a timestamp to the video, as with photos? Answer: No, at this time we are not applying the red timestamp to the videos. We are considering this in a future, release, however.
Question: Will uploads take longer than with photos? Answer: Generally, yes uploads are larger than photos and will take longer than with photos. However, we’ve modified the uploading to start faster to accommodate this.
Dinner with our wonderful customer from Turks and Caicos (Rent-a-Buggy) at Martorano’s, the Italian Restaurant at the Paris. We were invited to a party in the Bellagio across the street. Here we are with another customer, Cameron from Carl’s Vans.
Added today – The ability to find a case by number.
From the Case List (on the backend), choose “Additional Filters”. Next enter a case or partial case number and click “Go”. The cases will be filtered by that number. See the video below.
The case number is matched using “wildcard” matches, you only have to remember a few digits of the case number to find it.
We hope this helps speed up your process! Thanks to the feedback from our wonderful customers from France, we are continuing to improve DAMAGE iD!
