DVIR Requirements: When to File, What to Sign, How Long to Keep It

The driver vehicle inspection report is a short piece of paper with a long trail of bad advice behind it. Search for the requirements and you’ll find vendor pages telling you a report is due every day no matter what, others saying passenger carriers must always file, and a few that quote retention periods from Canadian rules. Some of that was true once. Most of it isn’t now.

This guide works from the current text of 49 CFR 396.11 and 49 CFR 396.13, including the amendments made in 2014, 2020, and 2026, and focuses on what a small fleet actually has to do: who files, what goes on the report, who signs it, and what you keep.

Who the DVIR rule applies to

Section 396.11 applies to motor carriers and drivers operating commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) in interstate commerce. In short, a CMV under 49 CFR 390.5 is a vehicle or combination with a weight rating or actual weight of 10,001 pounds or more, one designed or used to carry more than 8 passengers for pay or more than 15 not for pay, or one hauling placarded hazardous materials. Our guide to DOT annual inspection requirements walks through how a pickup and trailer can add up to a CMV without anyone noticing.

Paragraph (a)(5) lists three exceptions. The rule does not apply to:

• A carrier operating only one CMV. The single-truck owner-operator running under their own authority is out of 396.11 entirely.
• A driveaway-towaway operation, where the vehicle being delivered is itself the cargo.
• A private motor carrier of passengers (nonbusiness), such as a church or club bus run without a business purpose.

Intermodal equipment, such as a container chassis tendered by an intermodal equipment provider, has its own reporting process in paragraph (b): the driver or carrier reports known damage or defects to the provider when the equipment is returned, and the provider handles the repair and certification.

One more boundary: the exemptions above cover the report, not the inspection. Under 49 CFR 392.7, no CMV may be driven unless the driver is satisfied that the same 11 parts and accessories are in good working order. That applies to the one-truck operator too.

When a written DVIR is required, and when it isn’t

The rule used to require a report at the end of every day, defects or not. Two final rules changed that. The December 2014 final rule dropped the no-defect report for property-carrying vehicles, with FMCSA estimating it would save drivers about 46.7 million hours a year. It kept the requirement for passenger carriers until a second final rule, effective September 17, 2020, removed it for them as well. Today the text reads: “Drivers are not required to prepare a report if no defect or deficiency is discovered by or reported to the driver.”

Here is how that plays out in the situations a small fleet actually runs into:

“Reported to the driver” matters. A defect a mechanic, dispatcher, or roadside inspector points out counts the same as one the driver spots. And the 2014 rule was explicit that carriers can keep requiring daily reports if they want them; plenty do, because a signed “no defects” sheet is a cheap way to know the walk-around happened.

What goes on the report

The report has to cover at least these 11 parts and accessories, the same list the driver checks before driving under 392.7. The middle column is general guidance on what drivers typically look for, not regulatory text:

Beyond the item list, paragraph (a)(2) sets the content of the report itself:

• Identify the vehicle. Unit number, plate, or VIN, enough that nobody wonders which truck it was.
• List every defect or deficiency that would affect safe operation or result in a mechanical breakdown. “Brakes bad” is not a description; “right rear brake drags, smells hot after 10 miles” is.
• One report per vehicle. A driver who swapped trucks at lunch writes up the truck that had the problem, not the day.
• The driver’s signature. On a two-driver team, one signature is enough as long as both drivers agree on the defects listed.

Inspection is work time. The hours-of-service definition of on-duty time in 49 CFR 395.2 includes “all time inspecting, servicing, or conditioning any commercial motor vehicle,” so the walk-around belongs on the log.

The three signatures: report, repair, review

A DVIR with a defect on it is not finished when the driver signs it. It closes in three steps, and an auditor looks for all three:

1. The driver reports and signs at the end of the day’s work, listing each defect on that vehicle.
2. The carrier repairs and certifies. Under 396.11(a)(3), before the vehicle is operated again, the carrier or its agent must repair any listed defect likely to affect safe operation, and certify on the report that each defect was repaired or that repair is unnecessary. Every listed item gets an answer, including the ones you decide not to fix.
3. The next driver reviews and signs. Under 396.13, before driving, the driver must be satisfied the vehicle is safe, review the last DVIR if one was required, and sign it to acknowledge both the report and the repair certification. The signature isn’t required for defects on a towed unit that is no longer part of the combination.

“Repair is unnecessary” is a legitimate answer, not a loophole. If the mechanic tests the horn the driver called intermittent and it works every time, the certification should say so, ideally with a short note on what was checked. What doesn’t work is a certification signed with no repair and no explanation, or a truck dispatched before anyone signed it.

How long to keep DVIRs, and in what form

Paragraph (a)(4) is short: keep the DVIR, the certification of repairs, and the certification of the driver’s review for three months from the date the written report was prepared. That is the DVIR’s own clock. The repair it triggered also belongs in the vehicle’s maintenance file, which runs on a longer one:

The practical upshot: the signed DVIR can go after three months, but the fact that the right rear brake line was replaced on a given date at a given mileage should live in the vehicle’s maintenance history for at least a year. Most fleets just keep both together for the life of the truck, which costs nothing and helps at resale.

Paper or electronic both work. 49 CFR 390.32 has allowed electronic records and signatures for FMCSA documents since 2018, provided the record holds the same information, can be retained, and can be reproduced when an official asks. A final rule effective March 23, 2026 added a line to both 396.11 and 396.13 saying so explicitly. FMCSA described it as a clarification, not a new permission, so paper DVIRs remain fine too.

Worked example: one defect, from report to file

A landscaping contractor runs five trucks across a state line, so 396.11 applies. Here is one ordinary DVIR cycle on Truck 3, a 16,000-pound dump truck:

1. Monday, 5:40 p.m. At the end of the day, the driver writes a DVIR for Truck 3: left rear clearance lamp out; brake pedal sinks slowly at a stop; horn works only sometimes. Odometer 84,210. Signs it. The other four trucks had no defects, so there are no reports for them (the company doesn’t require no-defect reports).
2. Monday, 6:15 p.m. The shop lead tags Truck 3 out of service for the morning and opens three repair items, with the brake marked urgent.
3. Tuesday, 7:00 a.m. The mechanic finds a weeping brake line at the rear axle, replaces it, and bleeds the system; swaps the lamp bulb; tests the horn ten times and finds no fault. On the DVIR, they certify: brake line replaced, lamp replaced, horn tested OK and repair unnecessary. Signed and dated.
4. Tuesday, 9:30 a.m. The driver taking Truck 3 out does the pre-trip, reads Monday’s DVIR and the certification, and signs to acknowledge them. Truck 3 goes back to work.
5. Filing. The DVIR goes in the 3-month file. The brake line, bulb, parts cost, labor, and mileage go into Truck 3’s maintenance record, which is kept for at least a year. The horn gets a note in the record too: if it comes back on next week’s DVIR, that is a pattern, and the second report gets a real repair.

On paper, the weak point is step 5. The DVIR gets filed, the repair never makes it into the truck’s history, and six months later nobody can say when the brake line was done or that the horn was flagged twice. A free DOT vehicle inspection checklist spreadsheet with one row per defect, its status, and the repair date fixes most of that, as long as somebody updates it every day.

Common DVIR mistakes

• Dispatching before the certification. The repair, or the “repair is unnecessary” note, has to be on the report before the vehicle runs again. A fixed truck with an unsigned DVIR still looks unrepaired on paper.
• Skipping the next driver’s signature. The review under 396.13 is the step most often missing, because it happens at 5 a.m. in the yard and nobody owns it. Put the last DVIR where the driver picks up the keys.
• Following outdated advice. Some pages still say passenger carriers must file a no-defect DVIR every day. That changed on September 17, 2020. Check the date on whatever you are reading against the current rule text.
• Mixing up US and Canadian rules. Canada’s daily trip inspection rules (National Safety Code Standard 13) are provincial and different, including a 6-month retention period. If your trucks cross the northern border, follow both.
• Thinking “no DVIR” means “no inspection.” One-truck carriers and defect-free days skip the paperwork, not the walk-around required by 392.7.
• Losing the repair history. Throwing out DVIRs at three months is fine. Throwing out the only record of the repair is not, because 396.3 wants inspection and repair records for each vehicle for a year. Our guide to setting up a fleet preventive maintenance program covers the rest of those records.

A simple DVIR routine for a small fleet

1. Decide your policy. Defect-only reports meet the federal minimum. Daily reports from every driver cost a few minutes and prove the inspection happened. Pick one and write it down.
2. Give drivers one place to put reports at the end of the day: a box by the time clock, a shared inbox, or an electronic form.
3. Check for new reports before the first truck leaves in the morning, and hold any vehicle with an uncertified safety defect.
4. Certify every line: repaired, or repair unnecessary with a reason.
5. Have the next driver sign before they drive.
6. Log the repair in the vehicle’s maintenance record and file the DVIR for 3 months.

If you are unsure whether 396.11 applies to your operation, for example a mix of interstate and intrastate work or a lease arrangement with another carrier, ask your FMCSA division office or your state’s motor carrier enforcement office. Many states adopt the federal rules for intrastate carriers, sometimes with changes.