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Vehicle inspection checklist
Make a printable vehicle inspection checklist for company cars, vans, pickups and trucks with trailers. Start from a ready-made list, change any line, and print one inspection per page or a week of daily checks on one sheet, with a named copy for each vehicle. Letter or A4, or download it for Excel.
In the print dialog, set the scale to 100% or Actual size. Choose Save as PDF as the printer to keep a copy.
What a vehicle inspection checklist covers
A walk-around takes about five minutes and follows the same order every time: around the outside, under the hood, then the driver’s seat. These are the checks the generator starts with. Remove what your vehicles don’t have and add what they do, such as a liftgate, ladder rack or refrigeration unit.
Car, van or pickup
Outside
- Tires: tread, pressure and damage
- Wheels and lug nuts
- Headlights, high and low beam
- Brake lights and tail lights
- Turn signals and hazard lights
- Windshield and windows: no cracks
- Wiper blades and washer fluid
- Mirrors: clean and adjusted
- New body damage
- Leaks under the vehicle
- License plates and registration sticker
Under the hood
- Engine oil level
- Coolant level
- Brake fluid level
- Battery and terminals
- Belts and hoses
Inside
- Seat belts
- Horn
- Brakes and parking brake
- Steering
- Gauges and warning lights
- Heater, defroster and air conditioning
- Fuel level
- Interior clean, nothing loose
Documents and equipment
- Registration and insurance card
- First aid kit and fire extinguisher
- Spare tire, jack and warning triangles
Truck and trailer
Cab
- Gauges and warning lights
- Horn
- Windshield wipers and washers
- Rear vision mirrors
- Steering mechanism
- Service brakes
- Parking brake
- Seat belt
- Emergency equipment and warning triangles
Outside
- Headlights, tail lights and brake lights
- Signals, clearance lights and reflectors
- Tires: tread, pressure and damage
- Wheels, rims and lug nuts
- Fluid leaks under the vehicle
- Fuel tank and cap
- Exhaust system
- Suspension and springs
- Air lines and brake connections
Engine
- Oil, coolant and power steering fluid
- Belts and hoses
Trailer and load
- Coupling devices: fifth wheel or hitch
- Safety chains and breakaway cable
- Trailer brake connections
- Trailer lights and reflectors
- Trailer tires, wheels and rims
- Landing gear
- Doors, tarp and load securement
Running inspections that find problems
- Inspect before the vehicle leaves. A flat tire or a dead brake light is cheap to fix in the yard and expensive on the road. For pool vehicles, the first driver of the day does the check.
- Make every box a decision. Each check gets OK, Defect or N/A. A sheet with one long tick down the page was filled in from the driver’s seat.
- Write the defect down, then say who fixes it. The space at the bottom is for what was found and what was done. A defect nobody owns will be on next week’s sheet too.
- Take unsafe vehicles out of service. Decide in advance which defects ground a vehicle, such as brakes, steering, tires and lights, and who can release it again.
- Record the odometer. The reading on each sheet tells you when the next oil change or tire rotation is due without a separate log.
- Keep the sheets. A run of dated, signed inspections shows the vehicle was looked after, which matters after a collision or an insurance claim.
Daily sheets suit vehicles with many drivers; the weekly sheet suits a vehicle with one driver, who initials each day’s column. Pair either with a vehicle maintenance log for the repairs that follow, and a vehicle sign-out sheet if drivers share the fleet. Lift trucks have their own forklift inspection checklist.
Commercial vehicles and the DOT
Trucks and buses that count as commercial motor vehicles in the United States come under federal rules. 49 CFR 396.11 describes the driver vehicle inspection report, which must cover at least the service brakes including trailer brake connections, parking brake, steering mechanism, lighting devices and reflectors, tires, horn, windshield wipers, rear vision mirrors, coupling devices, wheels and rims, and emergency equipment. The truck and trailer list above includes each of them.
Under the same section, a driver need not prepare a report when no defect or deficiency is found, and carriers keep reports for three months. Many fleets still complete a sheet for every trip because a blank day and a clean inspection look the same without one. This is general information, not legal advice: check the rules for your vehicles and state, which differ for passenger carriers and for the annual inspection.
Vehicle inspection checklist FAQ
Tires and wheels, lights and signals, windshield, wipers and mirrors, fluid levels, brakes, steering, horn, seat belts, warning lights and any new body damage, with the date, odometer reading and the driver’s signature. Add the equipment your vehicles carry, such as a liftgate, ladder rack or trailer hitch.
A short walk-around before the first trip of each day is the usual practice for work vehicles, with a fuller check weekly or monthly. Commercial motor vehicles have their own federal rules in the United States, and your insurer or fleet policy may set a schedule.
The truck and trailer list includes every part that 49 CFR 396.11 says a driver vehicle inspection report must cover, and the sheet has space for defects and signatures. Check the rest of the rule and your carrier’s procedures before relying on it; this is not legal advice.
The daily layout is one inspection to a page, with OK, Defect and N/A boxes for each check and a signature. The weekly layout has a column for each day, so one sheet stays with the vehicle all week and the driver marks and initials each day.
Yes. The list is plain text: add, remove or reword any line, and start a line with # to make a section heading. Your list is remembered on this device.
No. The checklist and the spreadsheet are made in your browser, and your settings are remembered on this device only.
Keep every inspection with the vehicle
AssetCenter keeps each vehicle’s inspections, repairs, costs and documents on one timeline. Attach a photo of the completed checklist, and add a to-do for each defect with who will fix it and by when. Free for up to 25 assets.