Safety is the most important and obvious reason to inspect your vehicle. A vehicle defect found during an inspection could save you problems later. You could have a breakdown on the road that will cost time and money, or even worse, a crash or death. For best fleet management practices, vehicle inspection is inevitable, so why risk your life, or the life of another in an unsafe vehicle?

Pre-Trip Inspection: The first thing a driver should do when beginning a tour of duty is to review the Driver Vehicle Inspection Report from the previous day. If there were defects noted, you should verify that the DVIR has been signed by a mechanic certifying that either the defect was repaired, or the defect does not affect the safety of the vehicle and the repair was unnecessary. If the previous day’s DVIR did contain a defect, you must sign the report to indicate that you have reviewed it, and that the required certification and signature are present.