Hours, Logs & Compliance · Driver Training VideoPermit Book Organization

Nobody thinks about that book for months, and then a scale officer asks for it and you have a minute to look like a professional. The first thing an inspector grades is not your brakes. It is you. A glove box full of loose paper tells him the whole truck is run that way.

Start with the truck's papers

The registration, or cab card, showing the jurisdictions you are apportioned for. A copy of the IFTA license, with current decals on both sides of the cab.

Then the papers that come from the office. Proof of insurance. The stamped Schedule 1 from the heavy vehicle use tax filing, on a tax year that starts in July. And permits.

Now your papers

Your CDL. Your medical certificate, current, in the form your company requires. The last inspection report for that unit.

If you run hazmat, the shipping papers do not go in the book. They stay within your immediate reach while you drive, and when you step out of the cab, they go on the driver's seat or in the door pouch, with the emergency response information.

Your company standard: the book stays in the truck, tabbed, in the same order in every unit, so any driver can find any document fast. Expired pages come out. You replace them, you do not stack the new one on the old one.

At the scale, hand the officer the book and answer what he asks. When he hands you the inspection report, get it to safety right away. Your company has to certify the repairs and send it back within fifteen days, and that clock starts without you.