A good maintenance schedule keeps vehicles safe, keeps your operator licence in good standing and stops small problems turning into expensive breakdowns. Here's how to structure one.
Safety inspections (PMIs)
Preventive maintenance inspections, often called PMIs or safety inspections, are the backbone of HGV maintenance. Your inspection interval is set out in your operator licence undertakings. DVSA's guidance suggests intervals typically between 6 and 13 weeks for HGVs, depending on the age of the vehicle and how hard it's worked. Older vehicles and those on arduous work need shorter intervals.
Schedule PMIs by date, and also by distance for high-mileage vehicles, whichever comes first. Book them well ahead so the vehicle can be planned around.
Statutory dates
- MOT: HGVs and trailers need an annual test.
- Tachograph calibration: at least every two years where a tachograph is fitted.
- LOLER: lifting equipment such as tail lifts needs regular thorough examinations, commonly every six months for tail lifts.
- Tax and insurance: easy to overlook when every vehicle has a different date.
Servicing
Manufacturer services are separate from safety inspections, though many operators align them to reduce off-road time. Track them by date and mileage, along with tyres, brake tests and any items your manufacturer specifies.
Defects: the daily loop
Daily walkaround checks by drivers catch most problems between inspections. What matters is what happens next:
- The driver reports the defect with a photo.
- The workshop assesses it. A dangerous defect means the vehicle doesn't go out.
- The repair is recorded and signed off.
- The vehicle returns to service.
Every step should leave a record. Gaps between "defect reported" and "defect fixed" are exactly what examiners look for.
Keep the history
Inspection sheets, repair records, parts and costs should be kept against each vehicle. Beyond compliance, this history tells you when a vehicle is costing more to keep than to replace.
Make it automatic
A spreadsheet can hold dates, but it can't remind the right person or stop an off-road vehicle being planned. Fleetnyx maintenance schedules by days and kilometres, turns walkaround defects into workshop jobs, rolls schedules forward on sign-off and feeds service reminders every morning.