---
title: Track Inventory on Service Vehicles
description: Set up a service vehicle, link it to a stock location, assign a technician, and receive parts onto the truck so on-board inventory stays accurate.
---
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2. [Parts, Inventory & Vendors](https://support.metafleet.ai/parts-inventory-vendors?hsLang=en)
3. [Service Vehicles](https://support.metafleet.ai/parts-inventory-vendors?hsLang=en#service-vehicles)
# Track Inventory on Service Vehicles
## Set up your service trucks as service vehicles so the parts on board are counted, assigned to a technician, and deducted as they're used.
**For:** Inventory managers and admins · **Permission:** Manage inventory (cycle counts need the cycle-count permission) · **Time:** ~5 minutes
### Quick summary
1. Go to **Parts & Inventory › Service Vehicles** and click **+ New Vehicle**.
2. Enter a name and choose the technician under **Assign to**.
3. Go to **Parts & Inventory › Inventory Locations** and add a **Service vehicle** location for the truck.
4. Click the ⋮ menu on the truck's page and choose **Receive Stock** to put parts on board.
### Before you start
- You need inventory-management access.
- A service vehicle has two parts. The vehicle record holds the name, plate and technician. The **Service vehicle** location holds the stock. You create both.
### Add the service vehicle
Go to **Parts & Inventory › Service Vehicles**. The list shows each truck's **Description**, **Assigned to**, **Inventory** and **Status**. Click **+ New Vehicle**.
1. **Name:** required. For example *Truck 12*.
2. **Description**, **License Plate** (with its state) and **Unit Number**: optional.
3. **Assign to:** the technician who is responsible for the truck's stock. This is the custodian. It's optional; leave it blank if nobody holds the truck yet.
4. Click **Save**.
*The New Service Vehicle window.*
> The new truck shows **No Location** in the **Inventory** column until you add its stock location in the next step.
### Add the truck's stock location
1. Go to **Parts & Inventory › Inventory Locations** and click **+ New Location**.
2. Set **Type** to **Service vehicle**.
3. Pick the truck under **Vehicle**. Only active trucks that don't have a location yet are listed.
4. Keep the **Name** that fills in, or change it. Click **Save**.
### Receive parts onto the truck
Open the truck from the **Inventory Locations** list, or click its count in the **Inventory** column on **Service Vehicles**. Its page shows the custodian and the date they took over, with a **Cycle Count** button and tabs for **Stock**, **History** and **Settings**.
1. Click the ⋮ menu and choose **Receive Stock**.
2. Search for a part and click **Add**.
3. Enter the **Quantity**. Add a note if you want one.
4. Click **Add** again to confirm the line, then click **Receive 1 Item** (the button counts your lines).
The part now shows on the **Stock** tab with its **Available** and **On Hand** counts. You can also set thresholds, issue, adjust, transfer out and run cycle counts here, the same as for a warehouse.
Back on **Service Vehicles**, the **Inventory** column now shows the item count. It reads **No stock** when the truck is empty and adds a badge with the number of low parts, for example **2 Low**, when parts fall below their threshold.
### Change the custodian or other details
On **Service Vehicles**, click the pencil on the truck's row. You can also open the ⋮ menu on the truck's page and choose **Edit Vehicle**. Change the **Assign to** technician, the plate or the unit number, then click **Save**. Assignment changes are recorded in the assignment history.
Turn off the **Active** switch to retire a truck. The list then shows it as **Inactive**.
> **Parts used on the road are deducted automatically.** When a technician uses a part from the truck on a service order, it's taken from that truck's stock when the job completes. When the office hands a part to a technician and the technician accepts it, the part moves onto their truck. See [Source & Hand Off Parts to a Technician](https://support.metafleet.ai/source-and-hand-off-parts-to-a-technician?hsLang=en).
### Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
| --- | --- | --- |
| The **Inventory** column says **No Location** | The truck has no **Service vehicle** stock location yet. | Add the location under **Inventory Locations** (see "Add the truck's stock location"). |
| The truck isn't in the **Vehicle** list on **New Location** | It already has a location, or it's inactive. | Open that location from **Inventory Locations** instead. |
| The truck's parts aren't deducting | The parts were never received onto that truck. | Open the truck's page, click the ⋮ menu and choose **Receive Stock**. |
| The person I want isn't in the **Assign to** list | The list offers active users who work on vehicles. Dispatcher-only accounts don't appear. | Ask an admin to check the user's role and that the user is active, then reopen the picker. |
### FAQs
**Is a service vehicle different from a regular inventory location?**
The stock features are the same. A service vehicle location is tied to a truck record and a custodian, and it travels to jobs.
**Who is the custodian?**
The technician under **Assign to**. They're accountable for the parts on board.
**Can I move parts between a truck and the warehouse?**
Yes. Open the ⋮ menu on the truck's page and choose **Transfer Out**. See [Inventory Transactions & Transfers](https://support.metafleet.ai/inventory-transactions-and-transfers?hsLang=en).
### Related articles
- [Receive, Issue & Adjust Stock](https://support.metafleet.ai/receive-issue-and-adjust-stock?hsLang=en)
- [Source & Hand Off Parts to a Technician](https://support.metafleet.ai/source-and-hand-off-parts-to-a-technician?hsLang=en)
- [Understanding Available, Allocated & Consumed](https://support.metafleet.ai/understanding-available-allocated-and-consumed?hsLang=en)
- [Run a Cycle Count](https://support.metafleet.ai/run-a-cycle-count?hsLang=en)
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