Fleet maintenance & DOT compliance guides
Keep every vehicle safe, legal and on the road
A truck that breaks down costs a tow, a repair and a missed load. A truck that fails a roadside inspection costs all of that plus a mark on your safety record. Most of both start the same way: a check that was skipped, a defect that was written down and never fixed, or a service that slipped past its interval because nobody was watching the odometer. These guides are for the people who keep fleets running and want the rules, the records and the habits in one place.
Driver vehicle inspection reports
Who must complete a DVIR, what it covers, who certifies the repair, and how long to keep it.
Read the guide →The annual DOT inspection
What the periodic inspection checks, who is qualified to do it, and the records it leaves.
Read the guide →Preventive maintenance schedules
Service by mileage, engine hours or date, whichever comes first, and what to do when one is missed.
Read the guide →Tire tread depth rules
The federal minimums for steer and other tires, how to measure, and the defects inspectors look for.
Read the guide →All guides
Inspections and compliance
- Driver vehicle inspection reports (DVIR) — the daily report, the items it covers, the repair certification and the retention period.
- The annual DOT inspection — the minimum standards, inspector qualifications, the report and the proof carried on the vehicle.
- Roadside inspections — the inspection levels, what an out-of-service order means, and how violations reach your safety record.
- Fleet maintenance records — the vehicle file the regulations require, what goes in it, and how long each record is kept.
Maintenance practice
- Preventive maintenance schedules — service levels, intervals, due-soon windows and missed services.
- Tire tread depth and condition — the federal rules for trucks and buses and a tire check you can hand to a driver.
- Fleet warranty claims — tracking coverage on vehicles and fitted parts, and filing claims that get paid.
Costs and fuel
- Maintenance cost per mile — calculating it per vehicle and per engine hour, comparing fairly, and reading it as a replacement signal.
- Fuel economy and IFTA records — miles per gallon per vehicle, fuel waste, and the distance and fuel records fuel-tax reporting needs.
Reference
- Fleet maintenance glossary — CMV, CVSA, DVIR, IFTA, OOS, PM and the rest, in plain English.
- About Fleetier — who publishes these guides and how they are checked.
Who this is for
Small and mid-size fleets in the United States: an owner-operator adding a second truck, a maintenance manager with a few dozen units, a safety manager getting ready for an audit, or an office manager who has inherited the vehicle files. The guides explain what the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations require, link to the official text so you can check it yourself, and separate the legal minimum from good practice.
One habit that covers most of it
Almost every rule in these guides comes back to the same idea: inspect on a schedule, fix what you find, and keep a record that proves both. A defect written on a driver's report and never signed off is a violation; a repair that was done but never recorded looks, to an auditor, exactly like one that was not. Start with the maintenance records guide if you are setting up a file from scratch.