A rental business runs on availability, and availability is easiest to understand when you can see it. The Fleet Calendar gives you a single, visual view of your entire fleet, so you can see which vehicles are booked, which are free, and where reservations overlap or conflict at a glance, without opening bookings one by one.
What the Fleet Calendar shows
The calendar is a working picture of the fleet. Each vehicle occupies a row, each day occupies a column, and reservations appear as bars that span the days they cover. That layout makes it possible to spot a gap, a double-booking, or a period when too much of one category is off the road by scanning the grid.
Because the view is visual, it supports fast decisions. When a customer asks for a vehicle at short notice, the calendar answers the question in seconds instead of a series of searches.
Where to access it
Open the left menu and choose Fleet Calendar, which is a top-level item. The page shows a scrolling grid with a 30-day window across the top and one row per vehicle. The window is long enough to plan ahead and short enough to keep each row readable.
How the calendar is organised
- Vehicles are listed as rows and grouped under their category headings, for example Economy or SUV.
- The columns across the top are the days of the chosen 30-day window, with the current day highlighted.
- Each vehicle row shows a small colour swatch, the License Plate (or its reference number), and the vehicle name. An Inactive badge appears next to vehicles that are not active.
- A colour legend above the grid explains the reservation statuses: New, Not confirmed, Confirmed, and Completed.
The grouping by category makes the view practical for mixed fleets: look at the category a customer wants and see whether anything is free. The status colours add a second layer, showing whether a bar is a firm booking, a tentative one, or a completed rental.
Filtering and navigation
Use the Category dropdown to show only All categories or a single category; the number of vehicles in each category is shown next to its name. Move the window back and forward 30 days with the Previous 30 days and Next 30 days arrow buttons, or jump to the current date with Today. You can also pick a specific start date with the date field, which re-centres the window from that day. The heading above the grid shows the exact range being displayed, for example "from 1 Jan to 30 Jan".
Reading reservations and blocked periods
Each reservation appears as a coloured bar spanning the days it covers, showing the pick-up time, the customer name, and the return time. Its colour reflects the reservation status from the legend. Clicking a reservation bar opens that reservation in the reservation editor, which is the fastest route from seeing a booking to changing it.
Click the i (info) button on a reservation to open the Reservation Details window. It shows the customer, phone, email, reservation number, status, vehicle, category, pickup and return locations, dates, and total price. From there you can choose Open Reservation if you need to work on the booking itself.
Blocked periods appear as grey bars with their times; hover over one to see its description. The grey treatment separates maintenance from customer bookings, so the grid stays readable when several vehicles are off the road.
Reservations not yet assigned to a vehicle are grouped under a Vehicle not allocated row at the top of their category, so work that still needs a car is visible rather than hidden inside individual bookings.
Changing, unassigning, and blocking vehicles
Several actions are available directly from the calendar, so routine adjustments do not require leaving the page.
- Change vehicle (car icon) – for a reservation that is still open (status New, Not confirmed, or Confirmed) and whose vehicle has not yet been picked up. This opens a window where you pick a replacement vehicle from the same category.
- Unassign vehicle (car-off icon) – removes the vehicle from an open reservation that has not been picked up, leaving the reservation without a specific vehicle.
- Block vehicle (ban icon next to a vehicle) – opens the Block Vehicle window where you set a From and To date and time and an optional Description, then choose Save Block. This marks the vehicle as unavailable for that period.
Edit or delete an existing blocked period with the pencil and trash buttons on its bar. Meaningful descriptions, such as a service type or a cleaning slot, help colleagues understand why a vehicle is unavailable.
How to use it
- Open Fleet Calendar from the left menu.
- Optionally choose a Category and adjust the date window to focus on the period you care about.
- Scan the rows to spot free vehicles, double-bookings, or gaps.
- Click a reservation bar to open it, or use the info button to review its details.
- Use Change vehicle, Unassign vehicle, or Block vehicle as needed to resolve conflicts.
What happens next
Changes made in the windows, such as reassigning a vehicle or adding a block, are saved to the reservation or vehicle and reflected on the calendar immediately. When you block a vehicle, it is no longer offered for reservations during the blocked period. Reassigning a vehicle updates which vehicle is attached to that reservation.
Important behaviour and special cases
- Reservations with the status Cancelled or No show do not appear on the calendar.
- The Change vehicle and Unassign vehicle actions are only offered for reservations whose status is still open and whose vehicle has not yet been picked up.
- Vehicles with no valid location are still listed; the calendar is about bookings and blocks, not live position.
- Vehicles that are inactive appear in the list with an Inactive badge so you can still see their past or future bookings.
The calendar is not a tracking map and not a list of every reservation ever made; it is a forward-looking view of bookings and blocks, and understanding that scope keeps expectations realistic.
Business benefits
Faster availability checks
A single grid answers the most common counter question without searching individual reservations.
Fewer conflicts
Overlaps and double-bookings are visible before they become a problem at pick-up.
Better maintenance planning
Blocking a vehicle makes servicing and cleaning visible to everyone who allocates cars.
Shared operational picture
Teams work from the same view, so changes are reflected immediately for colleagues.
Practical use cases
The daily availability check
Start the morning with the calendar filtered to the categories you expect to move that day. Gaps show where a walk-in can be accommodated, and the legend shows which bars are confirmed.
Resolving a double-booking
If two reservations overlap on the same vehicle, open one and use Change vehicle to move it to another car in the same category, provided it is open and not yet picked up.
Planning maintenance
Use Block vehicle with a clear description and the exact dates and times so the car is not offered while it is in the workshop or being cleaned.
Handling unallocated work
Review the Vehicle not allocated row at the start and end of each shift. It shows reservations that still need a vehicle, which is exactly the work that can otherwise slip through.
Best practices
- Use the Category filter when checking availability for a specific car class rather than scanning the whole fleet.
- Block vehicles for maintenance and cleaning as soon as the need is known, not when the car is already due in.
- Write block descriptions that explain the reason, since colleagues rely on them when reading the bar.
- Check the Vehicle not allocated row before closing a shift.
- Use the date field and the range heading to confirm you are looking at the period you intend to review.
Conclusion
The Fleet Calendar turns a list of reservations into a picture of your operation. Categories, days, statuses, blocks, and unallocated work appear in one place, and the actions on the page resolve most conflicts without leaving the view. For managers it is a planning tool; for front-line staff it answers the question that matters most: is this vehicle free, and if not, what else can I offer?