How auto-assignment chooses a vehicle
In the auto-assign booking mode, a driver requests a time window and the system automatically picks the best available vehicle. This article explains how the vehicle is chosen, which strategies exist, and what can prevent an assignment.
How a driver triggers auto-assign
The driver asks for a vehicle by supplying a start time, an end time, and optional notes — but no specific vehicle. The system finds a candidate and creates the booking in one step. Times are normalized to UTC, the end must be after the start, and the start cannot be in the past.
Which vehicles are considered
The candidate set is narrowed in this order:
- Vehicles in pools the driver can access.
- Of those, vehicles that are not already occupied for the requested window.
- Of those, vehicles that are active.
If no vehicle survives these filters, the driver is told no vehicles are available for the selected time.
The two selection strategies
Your organization has one auto-assign strategy, applied to every auto-assign request. The default is LeastUtilized.
| Strategy | Primary sort | Tie-breaker |
|---|---|---|
| LeastUtilized (default) | Lowest utilization percentage — current odometer against allowed annual mileage — so wear is spread evenly across the fleet. | Lowest cost per kilometre. |
| LowestCost | Lowest rate per kilometre (€/km), to minimize running cost. | Least utilized. |
Note: Utilization and the €/km rate come from each vehicle's own record (the Fahrzeugakte, vehicle file). Keeping odometer readings, allowed annual mileage, and the per-kilometre rate up to date directly improves auto-assign decisions.
Final checks before the vehicle is claimed
- Licence enforcement: if the driver does not hold the required driver's licence for the chosen vehicle and the organization runs licence enforcement in hard-block mode, the assignment is blocked (Führerscheinkontrolle, driver's licence check).
- Approval gate: if approval is required for auto-assigned bookings, the booking starts as PendingApproval instead of Confirmed. Otherwise it is confirmed immediately.
Handling simultaneous requests
Two drivers can target the same free vehicle at the same instant. The booking is committed under a strict transaction with a final overlap re-check; if the slot was just taken, the system automatically retries (up to three attempts) and selects the next best vehicle. Only if nothing remains does the driver see "No vehicles available, please try again".
Related
- Require approval for auto-assigned bookings
- Reassign or override a vehicle assignment
- Notifications sent on booking events
- The manager-assign booking workflow explained
