When you focus on compliance, you’re protecting your business from expensive fines and downtime. While missing a few inspection logs and vehicle health records may not seem like a big deal in the moment, these lapses can come back to haunt you. Let’s look at five of the most common fleet compliance mistakes and what you can do to prevent them from happening in the first place.
1. Neglecting Preventive Maintenance
Missed an oil change or a brake inspection? It’s fine…until your vehicle breaks down. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) requires fleets to maintain all commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) to safely operate. Sometimes companies wait until something goes wrong to do something, which is a costly mistake. In addition to breakdowns, neglecting regular maintenance can lead to violations for issues like defective brakes, tires, and lights. Then – you’re facing fines and out-of-service orders.
What can you do? Make sure it doesn’t turn into a problem in the first place. With automated reminders and maintenance tracking tools, you can schedule and track based on mileage or engine hours. This way, you can make sure your vehicles are always maintained to federal standards…and your driver doesn’t find himself left on the side of the road.
2. Incomplete or Outdated Driver Qualification Files
Your fleet drivers need to have current licenses, medical certificates, and performance records. To make sure this happens, the FMCSA mandates that every driver has a complete and current Driver Qualification (DQ) file that includes their application, motor vehicle record (MVR), and a medical examiner’s certificate.
Disorganized or outdated files can lead to disqualification or failed audits, which then result in fines and delays. Manually tracking these documents for a large fleet is difficult…but automating document tracking and setting up alerts for renewals can prevent this issue. A management system can notify you when a driver’s license or medical card is about to expire, so your company can have correct files at all times – ready for any audits that come your way.
3. Ignoring Pre-trip Inspections
Even though everyone agrees they’re important, drivers often skip DOT-required, pre-trip inspections. These inspections, which are mandated by the FMCSA, require drivers to check the vehicle’s tire tread, lights, fluid levels, and brakes.
Skipping this step puts your drivers and others on the road at risk…plus your business. You can be fined just for failing to conduct pre-trip inspections, and serious violations can lead to out-of-service orders.
Using a digital checklist and a mobile app improves this entire process. This way, drivers can complete and submit inspections from their phones, with the data automatically logged and stored. This keeps vehicles safe and provides a clear record for any audits.
4. No Real-time Fleet Visibility
We talk about it all the time. Without GPS tracking, you don’t have a clear picture of your fleet’s location, or whether drivers are meeting company deadlines, or even if they’re following the right routes.
This blind spot can lead to inefficiencies, yes. But it can also cause DOT violations related to hours of service (HOS) or unauthorized use of vehicles. A fleet tracking system gives you the real-time data on vehicle location, speed, and status. To verify driver activity, it has features like geofencing to make sure drivers stay within designated areas, trip logging for record-keeping, and time-on-site reporting. This data helps companies monitor and manage driver behavior, plus help them follow regulations.
5. Not Aligning Internal Policies with FMCSA Requirements
Your company handbook may have strong policies, but if they don’t align with DOT rules, you’re still at risk.
The FMCSA has specific regulations regarding drug and alcohol testing, HOS, and vehicle maintenance, and these need to be addressed in your internal policies, too. If they aren’t, you can expose your business to legal and financial risks. For example, if your policy allows a driver to work more hours than the HOS rules permit, you could be fined – even if the driver was following company policy.
Using compliance management tools can help you enforce policies based on data and behavior, which brings your company’s rules and federal mandates together. With this tool, your operations are not only efficient, but they’re also fully compliant.
Want to learn more about how compliance tools can protect your business?
Register now for our webinar “How to Improve Your CSA Score” – Oct. 16 @ 1 p.m. EDT.