Every Rentman trial starts with a sample database of vehicles. You can quickly add your own vehicles by importing a vehicle file. In this article, we walk you through the steps of getting your vehicles list into Rentman.

You can also add a single (or small number) of vehicles in the Vehicles module, instead of importing a file.

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Before you start

Here's what you need before importing your vehicles list:

• An Excel or .csv file with your vehicles' information. If you don't have a file available yet, you can download a sample file during the importing process; see step 4 on how to import your vehicles. 
• A logical folder structure in the Vehicles module, so you can stay organized and find your vehicles faster. You can follow the link to create your folders ahead of time, or let Rentman automatically create the folder paths of your choosing. You choose the right folder path in the Folder column of your file (read the next section).

Import your vehicle file

1. Go to the local_shipping Vehicles module.
2. Click on more actions more_vert in the right corner, and click on import. 
3. Select here which type of import you want to do: 
   
   
   
   Import all rows as new item:  Rentman creates a new item for every row. 
   
   Update existing items with new data: If you want to update the items in your database (example: list price), read how to do it in our article about updating data.
   
   Add new items and skip duplicate rows: Rentman does not import items that are already in your database.
4. Drag a file or click  to upload a file. 
   If you do not have a file with your vehicle available yet, you can download our sample file above the upload button "Download a sample file here" 
   
   
   
   
5. Select if your file contains a header, or not. If you select yes, the first row of your file will not be imported. 
6. For each column, the system matches the header names with the column names in Rentman. Check if all matches have all been made, and adjust/add where necessary. 
   
   
   
   

   This is necessary, because your own columns might have a (slightly) different name. In this example, the second column from the right is Registration number but may also be called License plate by some users

7.  Click "Next step" when you've done this for all columns.
8. Select a Root folder for your import. The root folder is the folder at the top, and it contains your folder structure. New vehicles will be placed under this folder. If you have defined folders in your import file, these vehicles will be placed under the chosen Root folder. 
   Warning: If your vehicle file doesn't contain a Folder column, all items will be placed in the same root folder. This means that your vehicles will not be organized, and it may be difficult to find the right vehicle. We recommend creating your own folder structure, and specify the correct folder path for your items in the Folder column.
   
   
   
   
9. Optional when you selected: Skip duplicate rows. When you choose this option, you need to select which columns in your file Rentman can use to match the items in your import file with. 
   Warning: These columns may not contain double values in the import file, as they are used during the import to identify which item or serial number should be skipped. 
10. Choose Next step.
11. Check your data in the preview. 
    
    
    
    Note: Only the first 10 rows will be shown in the preview. 
    
    
12. Choose Import 
13. After the import has finished, a window will pop up with the results. If your data has been imported successfully, you can Close the window, or choose to "View imported vehicles". If the import failed, please read the Insight into your import result below.
    
    

Insight into your import result

Sometimes it happens that the import might fail (partially or totally). If this happens you can find all your answers in the import result like: 

• Which rows (vehicles) failed. 
• Why these rows (vehicles) failed. 
• Which rows (vehicles) have been imported successfully.

At the bottom of the import result, you can download a file that contains all rows that failed, accompanied by the reason of failure. This gives you direct insight per item what the reason of failure is. 

Prepare your vehicle file

A lot of Rentman users already keep a list of their vehicles. The list that you import in Rentman needs to be an .xlsx (Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets) or .csv file.

• Create clear headers (titles) in the first row of your file.
• Some of the columns in your file are necessary for Rentman, whilst others are optional.
• The folder path of a vehicle should be specified in the Folder column, like this:
  trucks/pickup or trucks/cab