# Understanding & Controlling Active Vehicles

<p class="callout info">Active vehicles in OPS-COM are license plates registered and marked as eligible for parking permits. This article helps administrators understand how vehicle status functions, how it interacts with permit renewals, and how to manage potential discrepancies between active vehicle counts and active permit counts.</p>

## Understanding Active Vehicle Status

An **Active Vehicle** is defined as any license plate the system recognizes as ready to be assigned to a parking permit.

- **Ready Status:** This status indicates the vehicle is registered and eligible; it does not confirm that the vehicle is currently assigned to a valid, active permit.
- **System Limits:** The maximum number of vehicles a user can have marked as **Active** is determined by their assigned **User Type**. Learn more about [Limiting Active Vehicles](https://opscom.wiki/books/setup-configuration-for-admins/page/limiting-active-vehicles) in this article.
- **Sticky Status:** Vehicle status is considered "sticky," meaning it persists from year to year. During permit rollovers, the system does not automatically deactivate vehicles even if a user's permit count decreases. This can lead to a mismatch where a user has more **Active Vehicles** than active permits.

## Managing Vehicle and Permit Mismatches

Administrators are responsible for monitoring user accounts to ensure vehicle counts remain consistent with permit requirements.

1. Access the **Reports** module.
2. Select the **[Active Vehicle Report](https://opscom.wiki/books/the-opscom-admin-portal/page/active-vehicle-report)**.
3. Use this report to identify all customers who have a higher number of **Active Vehicles** than active permits.
4. Contact the affected users to request they deactivate any excess vehicles, or manually deactivate the extra vehicles through the user's [User - Vehicles Tab](https://opscom.wiki/books/the-opscom-admin-portal/page/user-vehicles-tab) if organizational policy allows.

<table border="1" id="bkmrk-feature-active-vehic" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;"><colgroup><col style="width: 33.3731%;"></col><col style="width: 33.3731%;"></col><col style="width: 33.3731%;"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr><td>**Feature**</td><td>**Active Vehicle Count**</td><td>**Active Permit Count**</td></tr><tr><td><span data-path-to-node="12,1,0,0">**Definition**</span></td><td><span data-path-to-node="12,1,1,0">Number of license plates marked as Ready.</span></td><td><span data-path-to-node="12,1,2,0">Number of valid permits purchased for the current period.</span></td></tr><tr><td><span data-path-to-node="12,2,0,0">**Rollover Status**</span></td><td><span data-path-to-node="12,2,1,0">Sticky (Carries over year to year).</span></td><td><span data-path-to-node="12,2,2,0">Reset (Only current permits count).</span></td></tr></tbody></table>

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## <span style="color: rgb(22, 145, 121);">Best Practices and Considerations</span>

- <span style="color: rgb(22, 145, 121);">**Proactive Auditing:** Regularly run the **Active Vehicle Report** to identify and resolve discrepancies, especially following permit renewal or rollover periods.</span>
- <span style="color: rgb(22, 145, 121);">**User Communication:** **If a user has more active vehicles than permits, reach out to the user to have them clean up their account.** Maintaining an accurate vehicle list ensures that your enforcement and permit allocation data remains precise.</span>
- <span style="color: rgb(22, 145, 121);">**Permit Rules:** Organizations requiring one permit per active vehicle should establish a business rule for managing these discrepancies during the annual rollover process.</span>

<p class="callout success">Ensure that your **User Type** settings are correctly configured to limit the maximum number of vehicles, as this is the primary control mechanism for preventing excessive vehicle registrations.</p>