Fleet Vehicle Inspection DVIR Insights

It’s a scenario that every fleet manager faces sooner or later: the case of the missing DVIR report. Whether it’s because you need to check on a vehicle's maintenance history, or because of something more stressful, like a lawsuit or a DOT audit, it’s easy to tear your office, your mind, and maybe your team apart when you can’t find these legally mandated reports.

Driver vehicle inspection reports (DVIR) are already an integral part of managing your fleet. So, when it comes to how best to coordinate this critical task, the question isn’t so much whether DVIR is worth the effort — it absolutely is — but how best to go about satisfying this requirement and maintaining the protection it affords you and your business.

Fleet managers have a wide and seemingly endless array of responsibilities -- assigning drivers to cars, managing supply chain issues, promoting, hiring, firing and so much more. Staying on top of pre-trip vehicle inspections can feel like little more than another headache, and a meaningless hassle.

Pre-trip inspections are more than just cursory searches for mechanical defects. They’re required by law, and failing to do them can cost your company dearly. Perhaps equally important, these inspections can save lives, help your vehicles last longer, and ultimately help you make more money -- and keep more of what you earn rather than paying fines or lawsuits.

Let’s be honest. The level of inherent risk involved means that you need to do your due diligence before sending a fleet of vehicles out there. Should disaster strike on the road or elsewhere during a job, it’s your business and your reputation that is bound to suffer. This is precisely why pre-trip vehicle inspections are such an essential part of your day-to-day operation.

Picture this -- the boss is breathing down your neck. He wants you to get your production numbers up, and diminish the amount of time your drivers spend off road. Basically, he wants you to whip your team in shape, and ensure every vehicle is on the road in tip-top shape as quickly as possible. Sound familiar?