For the purposes of a New Entrant Safety Audit and/or a MCSAP Safety Investigation, the time periods required to keep records retained under Federal Motor Carrier Regulations are listed below.
- Accidents - must maintain an accident register for 3 years and all copies of crash reports/investigations for 3 years.
- DQ file - entire time the driver is employed and for 3 additional years. The annual DMV check, annual list of violations, annual review, and medical certification info must be maintained for 3 years from the date it was done.
- Logs and supporting documents - 6 months
- Vehicle Maintenance files - 1 year's info and retain for 6 months after vehicle leaves carrier's control
- Annual periodic inspections - 14 months
- Driver/Vehicle inspection report - 90 days, only required if defect is found by driver or somebody else that day.
- Drug and Alcohol Testing - this is testing done by the company
- Positive alcohol or drug tests, refusals, Driver evaluations and referrals, Calibration documentation, records related to the administering of tests, copy of annual summary - 5 years
- Records related to drug and alcohol collection process - 2 years
- Records of negative or cancelled tests -1 year
- Records of education and training (includes drivers, managers, everyone). Maintained entire time that person is involved with that activity and for 2 years after ceasing that duty - Indefinite
Time frames for the International Registration Plan (IRP), International Fuel Tax Agreement (IFTA) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) are different than those listed above. Contact the NDDOT Motor Carrier Services for specific questions on IRP and IFTA. Contact the Internal Revenue Service or the ND Tax Department for questions on income tax related record retention.
IRP: 3-year retention period, click to view the ND International Registration Plan(IRP) Manual.
IFTA: 4-year retention period, click to view the International Fuel Tax Agreement (IFTA) Instruction Manual.