Logistics
Documentation for your own fleet
Vehicles expiring on their own schedules and drivers who rotate.
Your own fleet looks easier to control than a subcontracted one, and in one sense it is: they are yours. In another it is worse: nobody warns you from outside, and each vehicle's dates coincide with no other's.
What expires, and not together
| What | How often | Who renews it |
|---|---|---|
| Vehicle roadworthiness test | By age and type | You, by appointment |
| Insurance | Annually | Your broker |
| Transport authorisations | By regime | The authority |
| Driver licence and training | By type | The driver themselves |
| Specific training where applicable | By cargo | A course, with limited places |
Important
The last column decides the warning margin. What you renew yourselves tolerates fifteen days; what depends on an appointment, an authority or a course with limited places needs ninety. Setting the same warning for everything guarantees being late for whatever takes longest.
What always gets forgotten
Watch out
A vehicle on the road with an expired inspection is not an administrative problem: it is direct liability if there is an accident, and your insurer may have something to say about it.
What changes versus a calendar
A calendar warns; it does not report status. The difference shows when someone asks "can this lorry go out today?": on a calendar you check five separate entries, and with one case per vehicle it is a single answer.
Worth knowing
If you have both own and subcontracted fleet, build them the same way. Making the check identical for both is what avoids the blind spot of "we already know ours are fine".
›One case per vehicle or per fleet?
Per vehicle, by registration. That is what lets you check before departure.
›What about non-permanent drivers?
Same as permanent: their documentation goes with the person.
›Does it help at a roadside check?
What is shown there are the vehicle's papers; this is about never reaching that point with something expired.
A real case
The situation
A company with 14 vehicles tracks expiries in a shared calendar.
What you do
- One case per registration, with driver and equipment
- Different warnings depending on who renews each item
What you get
The transport manager answers whether a lorry can go out at a glance, instead of cross-checking five entries.
The situation
Each vehicle's papers sit in its glovebox.
What you do
- Captures and stores them in the vehicle's file
What you get
They are consulted without going to the yard.
The situation
A vehicle inspection falls due and nobody notices.
What you do
- Records expiries per vehicle
What you get
The warning arrives before the date.
The situation
A vehicle with something expired is assigned.
What you do
- Checks the status before assigning it
What you get
The job does not go out with a gap.
The situation
A vehicle changes driver and the papers do not.
What you do
- Separates vehicle records from person records
What you get
Each file follows what it belongs to.
The situation
A client asks for the fleet's documentation.
What you do
- Checks each vehicle's file
What you get
It is handed over without reassembling anything.
This article answers
- own fleet document control
- vehicle inspection and insurance expiries
- company driver documentation
- managing vehicle and driver paperwork