How often does the dot like to see preventive maintence performed . I have a audit comming up and am trying to prepare for it . Thnks
I have 2 folders for each piece of equipment. First one contains any annual safety inspections, bill of sale, any emissions testing required if your state needs it, copy of current cab card, original ownership. All the administrative stuff. Folder two on the inside stapled has a paper documenting when annual inspections will be done, at what intervals the oil will be changed/brakes adjusted/greased/have a mechanic have a quick look over. Then I print off a page for each month that has the make of equipment, year, model, date in service, tire size, who the owner is (if leased) ... think that is all. When I get work done at the mechanic I put an entry onto this monthly page says what was done, on what day, by who, and what mileage the truck odometer says. Put a copy with this monthly page, at the end of the month, staple it all together, repeat.
Have two separate lists one for tractors one for trailers. Mine says oil change / etc maximum 30,000 km. Trailers greased, brakes adjusted, etc maximum once every 90 days. In reality it gets done much more often than that. They want to see you have a plan, and are following that plan with a decent effort.
It's not preventative maintenance they care about. It's your federal annual inspections, your DVIRs(if you have more than one driver). The regs state you must inspect, maintain and repair, but there is nothing I recall about keep maintenance records of when you change your oil. One thing they may look for is certification for your brake inspector. The only time they would be concerned, is if they inspected your truck and found worn tie rods, leaking wheel seals, brakes out of adjustment, etc. WIth out any vehicle inspection violations, there is not much they can go on and accuse you of any wrong doing. Keeping paper or logs of what you've done, IE greasing, PM, routine inspections, etc. It wouldn't hurt. I haven't read the regs in awhile, there is a whole sub chapter on this.
i just have a running log on a paper spread sheet and write everything that i do to the truck on it. with a date and millage on things like tires breaks and oil changes most things just a date, normally make my entry's when i file my receipts for the week, if i bought a part it or have a repair receipt it goes on the log. could be a simple as 6-10-14, replaced right rear side marker light. or 6-11-15 inspection and grease. each piece of equipment has its own log sheet. im pretty anal about pm's but if im late or early on a oil change i just record it as is. if i ran a extra 2k miles on a oil change that's what my log shows. it doesn't really matter they just want to see that you are keeping track and maintaining your equipment. i also have a outline of my pm scheduled that i set for myself it doesn't really matter if your log follows it exactly or not. they just want to see that you have a plan so how often you show that you do maintenance is how often you do it according to your plan that you set for yourself.
Why not just be honest and show them that you are willing to learn and you do have a corrective course of action. Instead of trying to find ways to deceive the DOT, why not look for a solution that is focused more on safety than on deception?
