DVIR Explained: The End-of-Day Report, Who Must Write It, and What Happens to It Next

A DVIR, or driver vehicle inspection report, is the written report a commercial driver in the US makes at the end of each day's work, for each vehicle they drove. It names the vehicle and lists any defect or deficiency the driver found or was told about that would affect safe operation or could lead to a breakdown. The rule is FMCSA's 49 CFR 396.11. If a defect is listed, the carrier must repair it (or certify that repair isn't needed) before the vehicle goes out again, and the next driver must review the report before driving. The carrier keeps the paperwork for three months.

That's the paragraph. The rest of this page is who has to produce one, when you can skip it, what happens to it after it's written, and what goes wrong. If you want the walk itself, check by check, that's the pre-trip inspection checklist. This page is about the document and the rule.

What the rule actually says

Section 396.11 puts the duty on both sides. The motor carrier must require its drivers to report, and the driver must prepare the report in writing at the completion of each day's work on each vehicle operated. Drive three trucks in a day and that's three reports.

The report has to cover at least these parts and accessories:

The list is a floor, not a ceiling. A cracked frame, a fuel leak or an exhaust leak into the cab isn't on it, but the test in the rule is broader than the list: any defect or deficiency that would affect safe operation or result in a mechanical breakdown belongs on the report. The driver signs it.

Separately, 49 CFR 392.7 says a driver may not drive a CMV unless satisfied that much the same list of parts is in good working order. That's the legal root of the pre-trip. The DVIR is the written end of the day.

Who has to produce one

In broad terms, 396.11 applies to drivers and carriers operating a commercial motor vehicle (CMV) in interstate commerce. FMCSA's definition in 49 CFR 390.5 covers, among other things, a vehicle or combination with a gross vehicle weight rating or gross combination weight rating (or actual weight) of 10,001 lb or more; a vehicle designed or used to carry 9 to 15 passengers, including the driver, for compensation; one designed or used to carry 16 or more passengers, including the driver, not for compensation; and any vehicle carrying hazardous materials in a quantity that requires placards. The exact wording matters at the edges, so check your vehicles against 390.5 itself rather than this summary.

In practice, a 26,000 lb box truck doesn't need a CDL to drive, but it's still a CMV under 390.5 when used in interstate commerce. Plenty of contractors and delivery fleets are inside the rule without knowing it.

Intrastate operations are governed by the state. Most states adopt the federal rules for intrastate carriers, but some adjust thresholds and exemptions. If your trucks never cross a state line, check your state's rules, not just FMCSA's.

Exceptions. The section lists some. For example, 396.11 does not apply to a private motor carrier of passengers (nonbusiness), to driveaway-towaway operations, or to a motor carrier operating only one CMV. An owner-operator running a single truck under their own authority is outside the written DVIR duty. They're not outside the duty to drive a safe vehicle, and other inspection rules still apply.

How often: every day, unless there's nothing to report

The cadence is the end of each day's work. What changed in December 2014 is whether a clean report has to be written at all.

• Property-carrying CMVs. FMCSA removed the requirement to prepare a DVIR when no defect or deficiency is discovered by or reported to the driver. No defect, no report required.
• Passenger-carrying CMVs. The exception doesn't apply. A bus or motorcoach driver still prepares a DVIR at the end of each day, including a "no defects" report.

Two cautions about the 2014 change. First, it didn't remove the inspection, only the clean paperwork. The driver still has to look. Second, many carriers still require a DVIR every day from every driver, defect or not, because a signed "no defects" report is the only evidence the vehicle was checked. That's company policy, not federal law, but it's a reasonable one.

When a defect is reported: repair, certify, review

This is the part of the rule that makes the DVIR a chain rather than a form. There are three signatures in it.

1. The driver lists the defect and signs. Specific is better: "right steer tire, sidewall cut" rather than "tire".
2. The carrier repairs it, or certifies repair is unnecessary. Before a driver is required or permitted to operate the vehicle again, the carrier must repair any listed defect likely to affect safe operation. The carrier, or its agent, then certifies on the original DVIR that the defect has been repaired or that repair is unnecessary. In practice, a mechanic signs the bottom of the report.
3. The next driver reviews it and signs. Under 49 CFR 396.13, before driving, a driver must be satisfied the vehicle is in safe operating condition and must review the last DVIR. Where that report listed defects, the driver signs it to acknowledge the review and that there's a certification the required repairs were done. (The rule carves out defects listed on a towed unit that's no longer part of the combination.)

If any link is missing, the chain fails. A defect with no certification means the truck went out with a known, unresolved fault, or it was fixed and nobody can prove it. A certification nobody signed for means the next driver never looked.

How long to keep it

The motor carrier keeps the original DVIR, the certification of repairs, and the certification of the driver's review for three months from the date the report was prepared.

Three months is the legal minimum. A DVIR is also the best evidence a carrier has of what it knew and when, which matters after a crash or a claim, so many fleets keep them longer, with the vehicle's maintenance file.

Don't confuse this with the annual inspection under 49 CFR 396.17. That's a periodic inspection by a qualified inspector, with its own report and its own retention rule. The DVIR is the driver's daily record and doesn't replace it.

Paper or electronic

FMCSA allows DVIRs to be kept electronically. An electronic DVIR (eDVIR) is fine as long as it captures the same content as the paper one: the vehicle, the defects, the driver's signature, the repair certification and the reviewing driver's signature. It also has to be retrievable for the three months. FMCSA's rules on electronic documents and signatures (49 CFR 390.32) cover how electronic signatures work.

The format is your choice. The chain is not. An app that records the defect but has nowhere for the mechanic to certify the repair or for the next driver to sign is only doing a third of the job.

What happens if you don't

The DVIR gets checked in three places.

• At the roadside. State enforcement officers inspect trucks using the CVSA North American Standard inspection procedures. If they find a defect that meets the CVSA out-of-service criteria, the vehicle doesn't move until it's fixed. If that defect plainly existed yesterday and no DVIR mentions it, the question is no longer about the brake but about the paperwork.
• On the carrier's record. Roadside inspection violations feed FMCSA's safety measurement data (the CSA program), where vehicle maintenance problems count against the carrier. A pattern of maintenance violations draws attention.
• In an audit or investigation. In a safety audit or compliance review, investigators ask for DVIRs and repair records. Missing reports, uncertified repairs and unsigned reviews are recordkeeping violations in their own right, and they can carry civil penalties under FMCSA's enforcement rules. The amounts are set by regulation and adjusted over time, so check the current figures rather than trusting an old article.

Pre-trip, post-trip and the DVIR

These three get confused constantly.

• The pre-trip is the driver's inspection before driving. Under 392.7 and 396.13 the driver must be satisfied the vehicle is safe and must review the last DVIR. There's no federal requirement to write the pre-trip down, although many carriers require it.
• The post-trip is the inspection at the end of the day.
• The DVIR is the written report that comes out of the post-trip. It's the document the rule requires, and it's what connects today's driver to tonight's mechanic and tomorrow's driver.

Many fleets put all three on one form, which is fine. The walk itself, with the checks in the order you move round the truck, is in our pre-trip inspection checklist.

Outside the US

Canada has a similar duty under National Safety Code Standard 13 (trip inspections), which the provinces and territories adopt into their own law. Broadly, it requires a trip inspection before the vehicle is driven, with a report generally valid for 24 hours, a schedule of items for each vehicle type, and defects sorted into minor and major. A major defect means the vehicle can't be driven until it's repaired. The details vary by province, so check the local version. The document is different, but the discipline is the same.

What the document needs to say

A DVIR that would stand up in an audit shows:

1. Vehicle identification: the unit number, and the trailer number separately if there is one
2. Date, and ideally the odometer reading
3. Carrier and driver name
4. Each defect, specific enough for a mechanic to find: which axle, which side, inner or outer
5. The driver's signature
6. The repair certification: repaired or repair unnecessary, with who signed and when
7. The next driver's review signature where defects were listed

A photo isn't required by the rule, but it's the cheapest thing you can add to a DVIR. It shows the mechanic what to look for and settles any argument later about whether the cut was there yesterday.

What most DVIRs get wrong

"No defects", every day, forever. A pencil-whipped report, ticked in the cab without anyone walking round the truck, is worse than none, because it's a signed statement that someone looked. Trucks wear. A fleet whose DVIRs never find anything has a process problem, not a perfect fleet.

A defect with no certification. The driver writes "air leak, trailer gladhand", the truck goes out the next morning, and the bottom of the report is blank. Either the repair wasn't made or it was made and can't be proved. Both are a violation.

The next driver never signs. The review under 396.13 is the step most often skipped, because it happens at 5am and nobody asks for it.

Illegible or vague. "Brakes — bad" in pencil on a carbon copy tells the mechanic nothing. "Left rear drive axle, outer brake chamber, audible leak at the hose fitting" gets fixed.

Kept nowhere. Reports end up in a door pocket, on the shop floor or in a shoebox. If you can't produce three months of them on request, they might as well not exist.

No photos. A defect described in words is a defect someone will argue about.

Doing it at the truck

The DVIR gets written at the worst point in a driver's day: the end of a shift, in a yard, often in the dark and often in the cold. So it gets written in the cab from memory. "Marker light out somewhere on the left" is what survives, and the mechanic spends twenty minutes finding which one.

Speak while you walk, and the document the law or the client wants writes itself.

Walk round the truck and say what you see, where you see it: "Unit 214, trailer 5308, post-trip, odometer 412,880. Trailer left side, third marker light from the front is out, photo. Right steer tire, sidewall cut about an inch long, no cord showing, photo. Gladhand seal on the service line is cracked, audible leak, photo. Everything else on the list, no defects." The report has the unit, the trailer, the defects with their exact positions and a photo of each before you've climbed back in. The mechanic reads the same words and sees the same pictures.

ReportWalk isn't an ELD, and it doesn't replace your carrier's DVIR process or decide what counts as a defect. It writes the report from what you said and photographed, so the defect that reaches the shop is the one you actually saw.

Related

• Daily vehicle inspection report: the free DVIR template, fillable on a phone
• Pre-trip inspection checklist: the walk itself, 41 checks in the order you move round the truck
• Truck inspection: the fuller maintenance-side check
• DOT inspection: a compliance inspection of a commercial vehicle, the way an inspector looks at it
• Best vehicle inspection apps in 2026: DVIR and walkaround apps graded on what they do without signal

Frequently asked questions

What is a DVIR? A driver vehicle inspection report: the written report a US commercial driver prepares at the end of each day's work on each vehicle operated, listing any defect that would affect safe operation or cause a breakdown. The rule is FMCSA's 49 CFR 396.11.

Is a DVIR required every day? For passenger-carrying CMVs, yes, including a "no defects" report. For property-carrying CMVs, since December 2014 a report isn't required when no defect or deficiency is found or reported to the driver. Many carriers still require one every day as company policy.

Who has to sign a DVIR? The driver who prepares it. If defects are listed, the carrier or its agent (usually a mechanic) certifies they were repaired or that repair is unnecessary, and the next driver signs to acknowledge reviewing the report and the certification.

How long must DVIRs be kept? The motor carrier keeps the original DVIR, the certification of repairs and the certification of the driver's review for three months from the date the report was prepared.

Is an electronic DVIR allowed? Yes. FMCSA allows DVIRs to be prepared and kept electronically, provided the record has the same content, including the signatures and repair certification, and can be produced when asked.

Does the DVIR rule apply to owner-operators? A motor carrier operating only one CMV is exempt from 396.11, so a single-truck owner-operator running under their own authority doesn't owe a written DVIR. They must still be satisfied the vehicle is safe before driving, and other inspection rules still apply. An owner-operator leased to a larger carrier follows that carrier's rules.

What happens if a driver doesn't do a DVIR? It can show up at a roadside inspection, in the carrier's safety record, or in an audit. Missing or incomplete DVIRs and uncertified repairs are violations that can carry civil penalties, and a defect left unreported can put the vehicle out of service at the roadside.