sign off on annual truck inspection yourself?

Discussion in 'Trucking Industry Regulations' started by roadgypsie, Feb 29, 2012.

  1. roadgypsie

    roadgypsie Light Load Member

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    I've seen forms at some of the truckstops for the annual dot inspection, am I allowed to just crawl under the truck and go through the checklist myself, or does it have to be done through a credentialed shop? I'd think small companies with a staff mechanic probably do it that way?
     
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  3. RickG

    RickG Road Train Member

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    http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/safety-security/eta/part396.htm
     
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  4. roadgypsie

    roadgypsie Light Load Member

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    Oh.....yeah.......there's always that green book thingy in the filing cabinet 2 ft away........I blame being the google generation! ###### programming tells me if it doesn't come up in 2 pages of searching it isn't there..... I thought I was probably able to do it myself as a single truck owner. Then again with 7 years and running my own company for 2 you'd think I'd have had the sense to pick up the book....
     
  5. RickG

    RickG Road Train Member

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    I don't worry about FMCSA . I worry about lawyers . Have an accident and here comes the microscope . They'll check every record on you and your truck for the past ten years .
     
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  6. roadgypsie

    roadgypsie Light Load Member

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    Fairbury,NE
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    Aye, that too. I still wanna get it in cause I have some non-essential stuff like broken exhaust I need to get fixed and will throw an extra $75 at shop for CYA inusurance, but i can crawl under there and check my brakes and suspension/steering and sign off for now, current sticker expires today.
     
  7. rbht

    rbht Heavy Load Member

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    You can do it yourself if you are the owner of the truck or company and meet the minimum requirements defined by the fmca. In Ct thats how i register all my truck. Self certify yourself with the certification form, keep it on file do the dot and done. Bin doing it this way since we needed an annual inspection.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Mar 1, 2012
  8. SHO-TYME

    SHO-TYME Road Train Member

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    Broken exhaust ISN'T non essential, if you sign off on it yourself and get pulled in a scale and they see you did it yourself, all I can say is I hope you wiped really good, cause they're gonna look there too.

    I just had a DOT inspection done and the one thing I watched the guy check was the entire exhaust system.
     
  9. MNdriver

    MNdriver Road Train Member

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    I was talking to a shop today about doing some post-purchase repairs to a truck since it's due an Annual come June.

    Almost like it would be "piece of mind" to spend the $800 just before an annual and just replace the thing from the manifold back. What's the down time/OOS, CAS points going to cost a guy?
     
  10. snowwy

    snowwy Road Train Member

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    so what's the annual inspection?

    is it the cvsa sticker in the window? or the state inspection sticker? in utah we have state inspections which mine is due in april,. haven't figured that one out cuz generally the inspection and emissions are required at the time of licensing.

    plates are due in december but state uinspection sticker is april.

    my cvsa sticker says 1 and it ISN'T green.

    p.s. i just took over the truck but i've never seen these stickers when i was local dump truck
     
  11. MNdriver

    MNdriver Road Train Member

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    Should be in the lower left corner of the windshield.

    you need to be certified to do both the annual DOT inspection and the brake work.

    There's examples of the certification on page 107 and 108 here. Gives the regs too.
    http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/safety-security/eta/index.htm
     
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