We used to do our own Fed Annual inspections. Is this still legal or does it come down to more of what the company you are leasing to wants? We operated under our own authority. The old man would do the inspections.
We had ours done by our local FLD Authorized shop. I don't know if its legal anymore to do it yourself, so we paid the $100 and he put a sticker on the drivers door.
The way I look at it is; four eyes are better than two. I wouldn't want to do it myself for that reason. Someone else with a fresh perspective may pick up something you missed. Not to mention, it will only cost you about $50 or so. Not like it's a $1000 ordeal or anything. If you are leasing to a company, most companies do the annuals at their shop free of charge.
If you read the law at FMCSA, it has no restrictions on who does the inspections. The safety director at one company I drove for did the inspections. He was not even a qualified mechanic.
that's what I thught. Our fleet manager did them at my last job. He did all th maintenance and small repairs too but he technically was less qualified than I am. I don't really know why they bother. I got pulled over not too long ago and the dot guy was like "lets see how your truck checks out" I told him It will be okay it was just inspected. He laughed and said that doesn't mean much..... So why bother? well I know why but still
