Merging duplicate vehicles

It happens in every busy shop: the same car gets entered twice. Someone typed the VIN by hand at the curb, a plate lookup created a fresh record, or two writers checked in the same regular on the same morning. Now that vehicle's history is split across two records — and split history is worse than no history, because it makes you look like you forgot the car. Merging puts it back into one clean record.

How duplicates usually happen

• A manual VIN entry that didn't match an existing decode (a transposed character).
• A plate lookup that created a new vehicle when the car was already on file under its VIN.
• The same vehicle added under two different customers (sold car, family member, fleet).

Tip: The cleanest fix is prevention. Always decode by VIN and confirm the match Pista offers before creating a new vehicle. If Pista shows "this VIN is already on file," use that record instead of making a new one.

Merge two vehicle records

1. Open the vehicle you want to keep — usually the one with the longer history or the confirmed VIN.
2. Choose Merge vehicle (in the vehicle's actions menu).
3. Select the duplicate record to merge into it.
4. Review the combined details — Pista keeps the surviving record's VIN, plate, and notes; confirm they're the correct ones.
5. Confirm the merge.

After merging, all repair orders, inspections, recalls, and history from both records live under the single surviving vehicle.

Before you merge

1. Confirm it's truly the same car. Match the full 17-character VIN, not just the make and model. Two similar trucks are not duplicates.
2. Pick the right survivor. Keep the record with the correct VIN and the richer history.
3. Check the customer link. If the duplicate sits under a different customer, make sure the merged vehicle ends up attached to the right owner.

Good to know

• Merging is about combining history, not deleting work. No repair orders are lost; they consolidate under one vehicle.
• If two records have conflicting details (different mileage, different plate), the surviving record's details win — edit them afterward if needed. See Editing vehicle details.
• Merge vehicles and merge customers are separate actions. If you also have two profiles for the same person, clean that up in Customers and CRM.