Vehicle Inspection Checklist and DVIR Rules for Small Fleets

A quick walk-around before each shift catches the flat tire, the dead brake light or the cracked mirror before it turns into a ticket, a breakdown or a crash. For commercial motor vehicles it's also part of federal rules. Here's a checklist you can use today, and a plain-English summary of the DVIR rule.

Pre-trip inspection checklist

Adapt this to your vehicles; a cargo van and a box truck with a liftgate need different items.

Outside, walking around

• Tires: pressure, tread depth, cuts or bulges, and lug nuts present
• Wheels and rims: cracks, damage
• Lights: headlights, brake lights, turn signals, hazards, reflectors
• Mirrors: present, clean, not cracked, adjusted
• Windshield and wipers: no cracks in the driver's view, wipers working
• Body: new damage, doors and cargo doors latch
• Leaks under the vehicle: oil, coolant, fuel
• Coupling devices, if you tow: hitch, safety chains, electrical and brake connections

In the cab

• Service brakes and parking brake hold
• Steering: no excess play
• Horn works
• Dashboard warning lights after start-up
• Fuel level, and the odometer reading for the log
• Emergency equipment: fire extinguisher, warning triangles, first aid kit
• Seat belts

Cargo

• Load secured, and within the vehicle's weight rating
• Liftgate or ramp working, if fitted

The DVIR rule in plain English

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's rules in 49 CFR 396.11 and 396.13 cover inspections of commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) in interstate commerce. Whether your vehicles count as CMVs depends mainly on their weight rating, passenger capacity and whether they carry hazardous materials, so check the definitions for your fleet. Many states apply similar rules to intrastate operations.

After the trip: the driver vehicle inspection report

• At the end of each day's work, the driver prepares a written report for each vehicle they drove.
• No-defect exemption: drivers don't have to prepare a report if no defect was found or reported. This exemption came in for property-carrying vehicles in 2014 and was extended to passenger-carrying vehicles in 2020.
• When there is a defect, the report must identify the vehicle and list any defect that would affect safe operation or cause a breakdown. The driver signs it.

Repairs

Before the vehicle is driven again, the motor carrier must repair any listed defect that affects safety, or decide the repair isn't needed, and certify on the report that it was repaired or that no repair was necessary.

Before the next trip

Under 396.13, before driving the driver must be satisfied the vehicle is in safe operating condition, review the last report where one was required, and sign it to acknowledge the carrier's certification of repairs.

Keeping the records

The carrier keeps the original report, the repair certification and the following driver's acknowledgment for three months from the date the report was prepared. Electronic reports are allowed.

Who's exempt from 396.11

Private carriers of passengers for non-business purposes, driveaway-towaway operations, and any motor carrier operating only one commercial motor vehicle.

Doing inspections on a phone

Paper inspection sheets go missing, get filled in from memory, and can't tell you which van has failed its brake check three times this quarter. A phone checklist fixes that:

• The driver taps through the items and adds a photo of any problem.
• The result is saved with the date, the vehicle and the driver's name.
• You see failed items right away, not at the end of the week.
• The history is searchable when you need it.

Milebook's Fleet plan includes inspection checklists: start from the built-in vehicle checklist or write your own, assign drivers to vehicles, and review every inspection, with failed items highlighted, from the fleet dashboard. Pair it with maintenance reminders so a failed item turns into a scheduled repair. Also see how to track fuel costs for a small fleet.