OptiCheck OptiCheck Driver Manager Guide
Driver Manager Guide

Keep every driver legal to drive

This guide walks through every part of your OptiCheck portal — adding drivers, capturing their consent, running DVLA licence checks on the schedule you choose, verifying licences with photos, tracking Right to Work and entitlements, and reading the results. Work through it once and you'll have driver compliance running on autopilot.

★ Welcome & the basics

OptiCheck is your driver compliance engine: every driver, their consent, their DVLA licence-check history, entitlements, endorsements and Right to Work — all in one secure portal, with checks running automatically on the cycle you set.

Getting in

You access the portal through a secure magic link. On the sign-in screen enter your email and OptiCheck sends a one-tap login link — there's no password to remember, and links expire automatically. If a link has expired, just request a fresh one.

Finding your way around

OptiCheck keeps things deliberately simple. The top navigation has three workspaces plus your billing area:

TabWhat it's for
DriversYour drivers, their consent status, licence-check results, entitlements and records. This is where you'll spend most of your time.
ComplianceOne consolidated view of what's coming due or overdue across all drivers.
SettingsBilling, your team, driver groups, alert email and notification preferences.
OptiCheck InvoicesEvery OptiCheck invoice for your account (top right).

There's a light/dark theme toggle in the corner — use whichever's easier on your eyes.

Best practice — set-up orderThe smoothest way to get started: 1) add your drivers (single, from licence photos, or bulk import), 2) request consent, 3) set each driver's check frequency, 4) run the first DVLA check. After that, OptiCheck runs the checks for you on schedule.

1 Starting your account & pricing

OptiCheck bills only for what you use. You set how many drivers you have and how often each should be checked, and your Stripe subscription adjusts automatically as your fleet of drivers grows or shrinks.

How sign-up works

  1. On the sign-in screen choose Sign up and enter your business name and email.
  2. Use the How many drivers? stepper and the Check how often? selector to model your cost — the live quote updates as you change them.
  3. Click Continue to payment →. Card details are handled securely by Stripe; OptiCheck never sees them.

How the pricing works

Pricing is per driver, per month, and the rate depends on how often that driver is checked. More frequent checking costs a little more because it runs more DVLA checks per year.

FrequencyChecks per yearPer driver / month
AnnualOnce a year£0.50
Twice a yearEvery 6 months£0.85
Quarterly recommendedEvery 3 months£1.50
Bi-monthlyEvery 2 months£2.10
MonthlyEvery month£4.00
The £5/month minimumEvery account starts at a £5/month minimum. You're not charged upfront for drivers you haven't added — your bill simply grows towards your calculated cost as you add drivers, and only passes £5 once your driver count makes it so. Quarterly is the default and matches the DVSA's recommended checking interval for most drivers.
Best practiceFrequency is set per driver, not account-wide — so put your high-mileage and higher-risk drivers on monthly and your occasional drivers on annual. The sign-up calculator just gives you a starting estimate; you fine-tune each driver later (section 4).

2 Adding drivers

There are three ways to add drivers, on the Drivers tab — pick whichever suits how many you're adding and what you have to hand.

The three ways in

MethodBest for
+ Add DriverAdding one driver by hand — type in name, date of birth, licence number and contact details.
From Licence PhotosAdd a driver by photographing the front and back of their licence — OptiCheck reads the details off the card for you.
Import DriversBulk-import many drivers at once from an Excel template (the same import pattern as the rest of the platform — download the blank template, fill one row per driver, drop it back in, review the preview, confirm).

Adding a single driver

  1. On the Drivers tab, click + Add Driver.
  2. Enter their name, date of birth and licence number, plus email and mobile (needed so electronic consent and reminders can reach them).
  3. Optionally assign a group and a check frequency (you can change both later).
  4. Save. The driver appears in your list with a consent status.

Finding drivers fast

Use the search box to filter by name or licence number, and the layout toggle to switch between grid and list views. There's also a handy shortcut: drop any driver document onto the page (a licence, a Right to Work share code letter, a consent form) and OptiCheck will read it and route it to the right place.

Best practiceFor a brand-new account, bulk-import gets everyone in fastest. Use From Licence Photos for one-off additions where you've got the card in front of you — it's quicker and more accurate than typing the licence number by hand.

4 DVLA checks & frequency

Once a driver has consented, OptiCheck checks their licence directly with the DVLA — automatically, on the frequency you've set for that driver. You can also run a check on demand at any time.

Setting a driver's frequency

Each driver has their own check frequency (Annual, Twice a year, Quarterly, Bi-monthly or Monthly — see section 1 for what each costs). Set it from the driver's record, or change it for several drivers at once with bulk Change frequency (section 9). OptiCheck then runs the DVLA check on that cycle without you having to remember.

Running a check on demand

Open a driver and click Run DVLA Check. The result comes straight back in a Check result view showing the full DVLA outcome — entitlements, categories, points/endorsements, and any disqualification — and it's saved to the driver's check history.

Direct DVLA integrationOptiCheck checks licences through OptiFleet's own DVLA ADD integration. Results are pulled directly from the DVLA, not a third-party reseller.
What a check does — and doesn't — captureA check confirms the licence status, the categories the driver holds with their valid-to (entitlement) dates, penalty points and any disqualification. It does not return the photocard renewal date (field 4b on the front of the card) — that's a property of the plastic card, not the DVLA entitlement record, so re-running a check will never fill it in. Capture that date separately (see section 5).
Best practiceMatch frequency to risk: high-mileage or higher-risk drivers on monthly or bi-monthly, occasional drivers quarterly or annually. Quarterly is the sensible default for most — it's the DVSA-recommended interval.

5 The driver record

Click any driver to open their full record — everything OptiCheck knows about them, in one place. View full record opens the detail; PDF exports a licence verification summary you can file or share.

What's in a driver record

SectionWhat it holds
Driver infoName, date of birth, licence number and core details.
ContactEmail and mobile — used for consent and reminders.
ConsentCurrent consent status and history; Send / Resend from here.
Check frequencyHow often this driver is checked — change it here.
EntitlementsThe licence categories the driver holds.
Photocard expiryThe renewal date on the front of the photocard (field 4b) — separate from licence validity. You capture this yourself; it's not part of the DVLA result.
Vocational complianceFor HGV/PCV drivers — vocational entitlements and related dates.
Right to WorkRight to Work status / record (section 7).
Check historyEvery DVLA check run for the driver, with results.
Activity logA timeline of everything that's happened on the record.
Best practiceAfter an important check or verification, export the PDF licence verification summary — it's a clean, dated record that's ideal for audits, insurers or your own compliance file.
Capturing the photocard dateBecause the DVLA check doesn't return it, the photocard expiry gets onto a record one of three ways: you type it in (edit the driver), it comes in on a bulk import, or you drop a photo of the card front and OptiCheck reads field 4b for you. Until it's captured, the driver shows an amber Photocard — not recorded flag on their card, on the Compliance page and on the fleet report. That's a data gap to close, not an expiry.

6 AI Licence Verification

A DVLA check confirms what the DVLA holds. AI Licence Verification confirms that the physical card in the driver's hand matches that — a powerful extra layer for proving you've actually seen a genuine licence.

How it works

  1. On a driver's record, open AI Licence Verification and provide photos of the licence (front and back).
  2. Click Run verification (or Analyse licence →). OptiCheck's AI reads the card and cross-checks it against the driver's details and DVLA data.
  3. The verification result is recorded on the driver. If you need to do it again later, the button becomes Re-verify.
Best practiceVerify at onboarding and re-verify whenever a driver renews or replaces their licence. The photo verification plus the DVLA check together give you the strongest possible evidence trail.

7 Right to Work & vocational

Beyond the licence itself, OptiCheck helps you hold the other compliance records that go with a driver — Right to Work and vocational entitlements.

Right to Work

Record a driver's Right to Work on their record and click Save Right to Work record. A short label on the record shows the current status so it's visible at a glance alongside everything else.

Vocational compliance & categories

For HGV and PCV drivers, the Vocational compliance and Entitlements sections capture the categories a driver holds. Use + Add categories / + Add category to record them and Save categories to store.

Best practiceKeep Right to Work and vocational categories current for every driver who needs them — they sit on the same record as the licence checks, so one driver view answers "is this person fully cleared to drive for us?"

8 Driver groups

Groups let you slice your drivers into the divisions you actually manage — by depot, contract, team or risk band — so filtering and bulk actions make sense for your operation.

HGV — North Depot
J. SmithA. BrownR. Patel
Occasional / Pool
L. MurrayK. Hughes

A driver sits in one group; anyone you don't assign shows under Ungrouped.

Creating and managing groups

  1. On the Settings tab, open Manage groups.
  2. Click + Add group, give it a clear name, then Create group.
  3. Assign a driver to a group from the driver's record, or move several at once with bulk Move to group (section 9).
Best practiceName groups after how you make decisions — "Glasgow Depot", "Tipper Contract", "Pool Drivers" — so filtering to a group answers a real question, and so you can apply the right check frequency to a whole group in one go.

9 Bulk actions

When you've got a lot of drivers, do things in batches. Tick drivers (or use Select all) and an action bar appears at the foot of the screen.

ActionWhat it does
Send consentEmails the consent request to every selected driver who doesn't yet have consent.
Run DVLA checkRuns a DVLA check on every selected driver who has consent (the rest are skipped).
Change frequencySets a new check frequency for all selected drivers at once.
Move to groupMoves the selected drivers into a group.
ArchiveArchives the selected drivers (for leavers — keeps the record without billing for them).

Bulk consent and bulk check show a live progress view as they work through the list.

Best practiceOnboarding a depot? Select all, Send consent, wait for the consents to come back, then select all again and Run DVLA check. Set the group's frequency in the same pass.

10 Compliance

The Compliance tab answers "is anything about to bite me?" It pulls together what's coming due across all your drivers into one prioritised view. The badge on the tab counts what needs attention.

What it shows

  • Action queues — one card per issue type, each listing the drivers affected: licence not verified, licence or photocard expiring/expired, photocard not recorded, vocational documents due (HGV/PCV), high penalty points, checks overdue, Right to Work issues and outstanding consent. Click any driver to jump straight to their record and fix it.
  • Upcoming expiries — next 90 days — a calendar and timeline of anything time-bound (licence checks due, entitlement, photocard and Right to Work expiries) falling in the window.
  • Everything is colour-coded: green (fine), amber (due soon or a gap to capture), red (overdue or expired), and the Compliance tab carries a count badge of drivers needing attention.
Photocard not recorded counts tooA driver with no photocard date on file appears in its own Photocard not recorded queue and counts towards the tab badge — it's treated as an action to close, not ignored. Capture the date (section 5) and it clears from the badge, the driver card and the report.
Best practiceAim to keep the Compliance badge at zero. Work it top-down — reds first (already overdue), then ambers (coming up or missing) — and clear them straight from the driver record.

11 Settings & team

Settings is where you handle billing, your team, groups, and what OptiCheck tells you.

Billing

The billing panel shows your current monthly total and per-driver rate. Manage billing opens the Stripe billing portal, where you can update your card, view invoices and manage the subscription. If a subscription is paused, you'll be prompted to Reactivate subscription → before you can use the dashboard again.

Your team

Manage team lets you Invite user by email so colleagues can access the account. Team members accept an invitation to join.

Groups & alerts

  • Manage groups — create and edit driver groups (section 8).
  • Alert email — set the address that should receive check outcomes and reminders.
  • Notification preferences — turn individual notification types on or off, or use Enable all / Disable all.

Your company details (OptiFleet Limited, registration and ICO numbers) and the Privacy Policy / Terms links sit on this page too.

Best practicePoint the alert email at a monitored mailbox (not one person's personal inbox) so check results and reminders are never missed when someone's on leave.

Reports & exports

The Reports & exports panel gives you four ways to take your data out of OptiCheck — two spreadsheets and two print-ready PDFs:

ExportWhat you get
Export driversYour full roster as an Excel file in the same layout as the import template — edit and re-upload to make changes in bulk.
Audit summaryAn Excel summary with every driver's check status, penalty points, last and next check dates, consent, and document expiries.
Compliance PDFA branded, one-page fleet compliance summary — headline figures plus a colour-coded table of every driver (status, points, checks, consent, photocard and vocational dates). It opens with an Action required panel that names the specific drivers behind each issue, so it's ready to print, file or hand to an auditor.
All certificatesBundles the latest DVLA licence-check certificate for every checked driver into a single PDF — one driver per page.
Best practiceRun the Compliance PDF at a regular interval (monthly works well) as a dated snapshot for your records — it mirrors exactly what the Compliance page shows at the moment you export it.

12 Invoices

The OptiCheck Invoices tab is your billing area — every OptiCheck invoice for your account.

  • Filter by status: All / Unpaid / Paid.
  • Each invoice shows its reference, dates, amount (inc. VAT) and status; open any to view it in full.
Good to knowThis view reflects what OptiCheck has billed. For card changes and receipts, use Manage billing in Settings to reach the Stripe portal. If anything looks wrong, raise it with OptiFleet rather than expecting to edit it here.

✓ Best-practice checklist

A quick reference to keep driver compliance clean. Skim this monthly.

When you set up

  • Add all your drivers first — bulk-import for many, From Licence Photos for one-offs.
  • Send consent to everyone, then chase the stragglers with Resend.
  • Set each driver's check frequency by risk (monthly for high-risk, quarterly for most, annual for occasional).
  • Run the first DVLA check once consent is in, and AI-verify licences at onboarding.
  • Record Right to Work and vocational categories where they apply.
  • Capture each driver's photocard expiry (type it in, include it in your import, or scan the card front) — the DVLA check won't fill this for you.
  • Create groups that match how you actually manage drivers, and point the alert email at a monitored mailbox.

Every day / week

  • Keep the Compliance badge at zero — reds first, then ambers.
  • Check for drivers still showing as pending consent and resend.
  • Glance at new check results for points, endorsements or disqualifications.

Every month / quarter

  • Confirm check frequencies still fit each driver's risk.
  • Re-verify licences for anyone who's renewed or replaced their card.
  • Archive leavers so you're not billed for them, and review the billing total in Settings.
  • Export the Compliance PDF as a dated snapshot for your records, and clear any Photocard not recorded gaps.
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