Two Vans, One Schedule: Dispatching Two Mobile Grooming Vans
One van can live in the owner's head. Two vans cannot. The moment a second van is on the road, there are two routes, two sets of appointment times and two groomers who each need to know their own day — and an office that needs to see both. Running both from one schedule is what keeps that manageable.
One Schedule, Two Vans
Filtering the schedule quickly is covered in Saved Views: Opening the Grooming Schedule the Way You Actually Use It. With two vans, those views become part of every day.
In PetGroomBossPro every job has a van. The Scheduled list shows every appointment for a day, and the van filter shows just one van's stops in its own order. Each groomer's phone shows only their van's day. The office sees both vans on the GPS map. Nothing is copied between two systems; there is one set of appointments with a van on each.
How to Split the Work
There is no single right way to divide a book between two vans. Most businesses use one of these, or a mix:
- By area. Van 1 works the north side, Van 2 the south. Drives stay short and each groomer gets to know their neighborhoods.
- By work type. One van takes the big full grooms; the other takes cats, puppies, bath and brush and nail trims. This suits businesses where one groomer specializes.
- By day. Both vans work everywhere, but each has fixed area days, so Van 1 is east on Tuesdays and Van 2 is east on Thursdays.
Whatever split you pick, repeat clients make it stick. Add Recurring Grooming books each client on the same weekday, time and van, so a client placed on Van 2's Thursday stays on Van 2's Thursday.
Routing Two Vans
Route each van separately. Filter the Scheduled list to Van 1, auto-route Closest First or Furthest First from the shop, and move the fixed-time stops into place by hand. Then do the same for Van 2.
The two vans do not have to use the same routing choice. If Van 1's early clients are near the shop and Van 2's are at the far end of the area, route Van 1 Closest First and Van 2 Furthest First. The groomers' phones each show their own order with their own times.
Moving Stops Between Vans
Two vans give you room to move. When one van's day runs heavy, a stop can go to the other van, and it shows up on that groomer's phone with its time, pets and van notes. Common reasons to move a stop:
- One groomer is out sick and the other van can take the fixed-time appointments.
- A long groom ran over and the other van is nearby with a gap.
- A same-day request is closer to the other van on the GPS map.
For a one-off move, change the van on that visit. For a permanent move — a client who should always be on Van 2 now — change it on the Recurring Clients list, so every upcoming visit moves together.
Confirming Tomorrow for Two Vans
The day-before routine is the same as with one van, just done twice. Open the tomorrow tab on Pending Jobs and confirm; each visit keeps its planned day, time and van. Place new requests from the No Day tab on whichever van will be nearby. Then route each van and print route sheets if your groomers use them.
The Pending Jobs map is especially useful with two vans. Seeing both vans' planned visits on one map shows quickly when a new request fits one van better than the other.
Who Is in Each Van
A van is not always one person. A groomer and a bather can share a van as a team, and both sign in to the groomer app with the company login and their own PIN. Each clocks in on the time clock. The van's day is the same for both of them. Two-person vans are covered in Groomer and Bather in One Van: Scheduling a Two-Person Grooming Team.
Two people in one van and two vans on one schedule can be mixed, too. Some businesses run a two-person van on the heavy days and a solo van on the lighter route. The schedule handles both, because each job carries its van, each van carries its team, and each person signs in with their own PIN to see their own van's day.
Keeping Both Vans Fair
Groomers notice when one van always gets the long days or the far drives. Looking at both vans side by side on the Scheduled list makes it easy to keep the load reasonable. If one van keeps ending up with all the giant breeds, consider moving a few repeat clients between vans on Recurring Clients. For the full set of scheduling tools behind a multi-van business, see the mobile grooming scheduling software page.
Two Vans, One Schedule
PetGroomBossPro puts every van on one schedule with its own route, its own times and its own groomer's phone.
Start Free Trial