> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.loadmate.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Set up your pre-trip checks
> Choose the walk-around checks loadmate puts on every trip's pre-trip checklist - pick from the common list or add your own, and tick them off per trip.
Most caravanners run the same ritual before every tow: coupling, chains, breakaway, lights, gas, steps. Your pre-trip checks put that ritual in the app, so every planned trip's checklist carries your list ready to tick off at the rig — and nothing gets skipped on a distracted morning.
These checks are deliberately different from maintenance tasks. They have **no due dates and never go overdue**. They do not nag you between trips. They simply appear on each trip's checklist, you tick them as you physically confirm each one, and they come back fresh for the next trip.
## Find the setup screen
There are two ways in, and they land in the same place:
Open a planned trip and scroll to the readiness section. If you have no checks set up yet, the **Your pre-trip checks** group shows a "Set up your pre-trip checks" card — tap it.
Open **More → Maintenance** and tap the **Pre-trip checks** row. It shows how many checks you have set up for the selected vehicle or trailer.
## Add checks from the common list
Tap **Add checks** to open the picker: a dozen of the most common walk-around checks — coupling secured, safety chains crossed, breakaway cable and battery, lights and indicators, tyre pressures looked over, gas bottles off, aerial down, steps and stabilisers up, hatches latched, load secured, mirrors adjusted, jockey wheel stowed.
Tick the ones that match your rig and confirm. Each becomes a pre-trip check for this vehicle or trailer. Checks you have already added show pre-ticked and cannot be added twice.
## Add your own
Your rig has its own quirks — the bike rack strap, the fridge latch, the padlock on the toolbox. Tap **Add your own**, type a short name, and it joins the list. Keep the wording the way you would say it out loud at the rig; you are the one reading it at 7am.
## How they behave on a trip
On every planned trip's checklist, your checks appear as their own group with a simple "3 of 8 done" label. One tap ticks a check for that trip; tap again to undo. Ticks are saved with the trip, and the whole list resets for the next one — because you will do the walk-around again then.
They also stay honest in the counts: outstanding checks are included in the trip's "checks pending" tally on the Trips list and the Rig page, so ticking them calms those surfaces too. For the full checklist behaviour, see [The pre-trip checklist](/pre-trip/checklist).
Pre-trip checks live alongside your maintenance tasks. In **All Tasks** they appear under their own **Pre-trip checks** filter with a small badge, so they never muddle your due-date work. In the task form, the **Check before every tow** toggle is what makes a task behave this way — you can turn it on for an existing task too, and its due dates become optional while it is on.
## Remove or change a check
On the Pre-trip checks screen, each row has a remove control. Removing a check you added here takes it off future trip checklists entirely. Removing the flag from a task you created yourself in Maintenance simply returns it to being a normal task — its due dates and history stay put.
Removing a check never touches trips you have already completed, and it is not a safety sign-off — it just means you no longer want the app keeping count of that one.
The list keeps count; **your eyes do the checking**. A ticked walk-around is a record that you looked, not a substitute for looking. Nothing on this screen inspects your rig.
Where your checks appear before each trip, alongside anything the app found for your dates.
Due-date and odometer-based jobs live here — the other half of keeping the rig ready.
**Try it now.** Open More → Maintenance → Pre-trip checks, add the five checks you already do from the common list, then open your next planned trip. Your ritual is now on the checklist, ready to tick at the drawbar.
loadmate helps you work from the numbers you enter. Keep your source documents handy, and use a weighbridge, truck scale, or local authority when you need official evidence.