Vehicle Credentials

Vehicle Credentials

A vehicle credential — such as a windshield tag or barcode, where your community issues them — is a credential tied to a registered vehicle so gates open for that vehicle automatically. This guide covers how one gets requested and issued, and how to keep it working. For vehicle registration itself, see "How to Add and Manage Vehicles in MyWatchtower"; for the credential lifecycle, see "Managing Access Credentials".

Who does what

• Residents register their vehicles from the property's Vehicles tab and ask the management office to have a credential issued. Registering the vehicle first makes that quick.
• Community staff issue the credential through the credential wizard — vehicle credentials are not something residents create themselves.

Issue a vehicle credential (staff)

Vehicle credentials go through the same three-step New credential wizard as any other credential — see "Create a Credential" for the full walkthrough. The vehicle part happens in Step 1:

1. Select the Property and the holder — Guest, Vendor, or Resident. 2. Select the Vehicle to tie the credential to. A holder's registered vehicle is suggested automatically. 3. Continue through format, groups or access levels, and validity as usual, then review and create.

If the vehicle isn't registered yet, register it first — every field (year, make, model, color, plate state, and license plate) is required, and the plate can be up to 20 characters.

Spotting vehicle credentials in the list

In Access > Credentials, a vehicle credential's row shows the vehicle's make, model, and plate in place of a format name, and carries a Vehicle badge.

Keep the plate accurate

Enter the plate exactly as issued, and update it promptly when it changes. Accurate plates are essential for automated license plate readers — where your community uses them — to recognize the vehicle, and they help gate staff identify the vehicle at a glance. Entry records can include the vehicle and plate that came through, so accuracy pays off in the entry log too.

When the vehicle goes away

If a vehicle is sold or a credential should stop working, staff can suspend, unassign, or delete the credential like any other — see "Suspend or Unsuspend a Credential" and "Delete a Credential Safely".

Need Help?

If your community doesn't appear to offer vehicle credentials, availability depends on your hardware — ask your community management, or submit a help desk ticket.