How long a trucking company must keep its logs, inspection reports and driver files

After a crash with a commercial truck, the evidence of what happened is mostly in the trucking company’s files. Federal rules require the company to create those files, and they also say how long it has to keep them. Some of the periods are short. This article lists them, rule by rule, as published in the electronic Code of Federal Regulations in October 2026, and explains what happens when someone asks the company to keep them longer.

The retention periods

Record	Minimum period	Rule
Driver vehicle inspection reports, with repair certifications	3 months from the date of the report	49 CFR 396.11(a)(4)
Records of duty status (electronic logs) and supporting documents	6 months from receipt	49 CFR 395.8(k)(1)
Inspection, repair and maintenance records for each vehicle	1 year where the vehicle is housed or maintained, and 6 months after it leaves the carrier’s control	49 CFR 396.3(c)
Driver qualification file	While the driver is employed and 3 years after	49 CFR 391.51(c)
Accident register and copies of crash reports	3 years after the date of each crash	49 CFR 390.15(b)

Inspection reports: three months

At the end of each day’s work, a driver must write a report on each vehicle driven, covering brakes, steering, lights, tires, horn, wipers, mirrors, coupling devices, wheels and emergency equipment, and listing any defect found or reported. The carrier must repair defects likely to affect safety before the vehicle runs again, and certify the repair on the report. Under 49 CFR 396.11, the carrier keeps the report, the repair certification and the driver’s review for three months. A report that shows a defect, and no repair before the next trip, is direct evidence. It is also the first record to reach the end of its federal period.

Logs and the documents behind them: six months

Most carriers record drivers’ hours on an electronic logging device. Under 49 CFR 395.8(k), the carrier keeps the records of duty status and the supporting documents for at least six months. Section 395.11 lists the supporting documents: bills of lading and itineraries showing where each trip began and ended, dispatch and trip records, expense receipts for on-duty time, messages sent through fleet management systems, and payroll or settlement records. The supporting documents are how a log is checked. A fuel receipt in El Paso and a delivery in San Antonio a few hours later tell their own story about the hours in between.

The logging device keeps more than the final log. Under 49 CFR 395.30, each change to a record must be annotated, and the carrier must not alter or erase the original hours of service information. A request for the logs should therefore ask for the edit history as well.

Maintenance records: a year and more

Under 49 CFR 396.3, every carrier must systematically inspect, repair and maintain the vehicles under its control and keep records identifying each vehicle, the inspections and maintenance due, and the repairs done. Those records stay where the vehicle is housed or maintained for one year, and for six months after the vehicle leaves the carrier’s control. If the truck in a crash is sold or returned to a leasing company, that second clock starts.

Driver files and the accident register: three years

The driver qualification file holds the driver’s application, motor vehicle records, road test certificate, medical examiner’s certificate and annual reviews. Under 49 CFR 391.51 it is kept while the driver works for the carrier and for three years after, although some items can be removed three years after they were made. The accident register required by 49 CFR 390.15 lists each crash with its date, place, driver, injuries and fatalities, with copies of the crash reports, and is kept for three years.

Records with no federal period at all

Some of the most useful evidence has no retention rule. Dashcam and driver-facing video, engine control module data on speed and braking, GPS and telematics, phone records and the damaged truck itself are kept only as long as the company chooses. Video systems often record over themselves on a loop. A truck can be repaired and back in service within days.

What changes the clock: a duty to preserve

The federal periods are minimums for ordinary business. A different duty arises when a claim is likely. In Brookshire Brothers, Ltd. v. Aldridge (July 3, 2014), the Texas Supreme Court held that a party has a duty to preserve evidence when it knows or reasonably should know that there is a substantial chance a claim will be filed and that evidence in its possession or control will be material and relevant to it. The Court also said a substantial chance of litigation arises when litigation is more than an abstract possibility or unwarranted fear.

A preservation letter from the injured person’s lawyer removes any doubt about that. It names the crash, says a claim is coming, and lists every record and item to be kept, including the ones with no federal period. When evidence is lost after a duty to preserve arose, a Texas court can impose a remedy. Under Brookshire Brothers, the strongest one, an instruction that the jury may presume the lost evidence was harmful, is reserved for evidence destroyed intentionally, or lost negligently in a way that leaves the other side with no meaningful way to present its claim.

What this means after a crash

Waiting has a cost. By the time an injured person is out of the hospital, the three-month inspection reports may be gone, and the six-month logs may be next. That is why a preservation letter is the first thing we send on a truck case. Our truck accident lawyer San Antonio page lists what ours covers, and our trucking accident lawyer San Antonio page explains the federal rules that create each record.