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Prime Fleet Management Prime Fleet Management gives companies operating commercial motor vehicles a full DOT Safety & Compliance Team without the cost of hiring full time staff.

Compliance management, back office support, and operational consulting for fleets of 1 to 100 CMVs.

10/19/2026

Your safety director handles OSHA. Who handles DOT?

At most construction companies, nobody does. DOT has its own rulebook and its own daily work: every driver's logs, every speeding and hard-braking event, every expiration date, every new driver file.

Done by hand, a 12-truck fleet carries about 129 hours of that work a month. That is time away from bidding jobs, running crews, and being home.

Your dump trucks and service trucks are commercial motor vehicles, and the rules apply.

We broke it down on the blog this week: https://primefleetmanagement.com/?p=3478

Who owns DOT at your company?

Book your free DOT Compliance Assessment: https://vvjvuzblmzsvvghlxerc.supabase.co/functions/v1/go/fb-osha-who-handles-dot-78ae

10/16/2026

Running dump trucks or pulling equipment trailers? You may be a motor carrier and not know it.

Any vehicle used in interstate commerce at 10,001 pounds or more counts as a commercial motor vehicle. That is the Plan phase of our framework: figuring out exactly which rules apply to your trucks and your drivers, then writing it down so your team can follow it.

Do you know which of your vehicles cross the 10,001 pound line?

Book your free DOT Compliance Assessment: https://vvjvuzblmzsvvghlxerc.supabase.co/functions/v1/go/fb-plan-construction-applic-1565

10/15/2026

Big change from FMCSA: emergency relief after a regional emergency declaration now lasts up to 30 days instead of 14.

But it only covers hours of service, and only while your trucks are directly helping with the emergency. Drug testing, CDL rules, and maintenance still apply, and the relief ends as soon as a truck hauls cargo that is not part of the relief effort.

If your trucks were called in to help after a storm, would your drivers know where the exemption ends?

Book your free DOT Compliance Assessment: https://vvjvuzblmzsvvghlxerc.supabase.co/functions/v1/go/fb-emergency-relief-30-days-d7b3

09/30/2026

When did you last check your drivers' medical card dates? An expired card means a driver can't legally operate a CMV. After that, the state has 60 days to downgrade their CDL. Keeping every date on track is the Manage phase of the PFM Framework.

How does your team track renewals today?

Book your free DOT Compliance Assessment at primefleetmanagement.com.

Thinking about adding a second truck? Most owners run the numbers on the payment and the insurance. Fewer run the number...
09/29/2026

Thinking about adding a second truck? Most owners run the numbers on the payment and the insurance. Fewer run the numbers on the management.

The day your first driver starts, you're responsible for their compliance, not just yours. Before they ever drive under your DOT number, you need a background check with their past DOT employers, a Clearinghouse query, a pre-employment drug test, a road test, and a full qualification file. After that, every driver comes with their own set of renewal dates.

We broke down exactly what changes when an owner-operator becomes a fleet owner, and where most people get caught off guard.

What would you want to know before hiring your first driver?

Read the full article on the blog at primefleetmanagement.com.

09/25/2026

When FMCSA shuts a carrier down, the way back is a build list.

In May 2024, an FMCSA imminent hazard out-of-service order shut down a one-truck carrier in New Jersey. The findings: random alcohol testing not conducted at the required rate, a driver who refused a test and kept operating, and eight false logs in one month.

The order lists seven steps to reopen. Five start with the same words: establish safety management controls and procedures.

That is the Build phase of the PFM Framework, written by the regulator. Build installs the testing program, driver files, vehicle files, training, and documentation as real systems. Orders like this are rare. The lesson is not: build it before someone orders you to.

Could you hand someone your written testing procedure today?

Book your free DOT Compliance Assessment at the link in our bio. 15 minutes, 22 questions, and a 12-page report.

09/24/2026

A waiver is not a free pass.

On September 16, FMCSA waived the hours-of-service limits for carriers hauling gasoline and diesel through December 16. It comes with 14 conditions, and they matter.

Driving caps at 16 hours in any 24. Drivers still need six straight hours in the sleeper, or eight off duty without one. Carriers with a conditional safety rating are not eligible. Neither is anyone under an out-of-service order. A copy of the waiver rides in the cab. Crashes get reported to FMCSA within two business days. And a driver who asks for rest gets ten hours off, immediately.

Drug testing, CDL rules, insurance, and hazmat requirements all still apply.

If you haul fuel, has anyone on your team read the actual document?

Book your free DOT Compliance Assessment at the link in our bio. 15 minutes, 22 questions, and a 12-page report.

09/23/2026

Most compliance failures are not decisions. They are dates nobody owned.

Nobody chooses to let a medical card lapse. The date passes because it lived in someone's head. The Plan phase of the PFM Framework puts every dated requirement on a calendar: the 12-month MVR review, the annual Clearinghouse query, the periodic inspection on every unit, the medical certificates that run 24 months or less. Each one gets a date, an owner, and a backup.

Try this today: pick one driver and one truck, list every dated requirement, and write a name next to each one. The blanks tell you where to start.

How many blanks did you find?

Book your free DOT Compliance Assessment at the link in our bio and find out which phase your operation is stuck in.

09/22/2026

Farm plates are not a free pass.

It's National Farm Safety and Health Week, and harvest season is when the covered farm vehicle exemption gets tested. Under 49 CFR 390.39, a covered farm vehicle is exempt from CDL rules, drug and alcohol testing, medical cards, hours of service, and inspection and maintenance requirements.

Here is the line. At 26,001 pounds or less, the exemption travels anywhere in the U.S. Over 26,001 pounds, it only works in your state of registration, or within 150 air miles of the farm across state lines.

It also disappears the moment the truck hauls for hire or carries placarded hazmat. When it goes, all five exemptions go together.

Do you know where your exemption stops?

Book your free DOT Compliance Assessment at the link in our bio. 15 minutes, 22 questions, and a 12-page report.

09/21/2026

"How much is a DOT fine?" is the wrong question, because there isn't one number. There's a schedule, and it stacks.

Every driver and every record counts as its own violation. Paperwork violations run up to $1,584 a day until they cap at $15,846, which takes about ten days. Violations that aren't paperwork, like putting a new hire on the road before the drug test result is back, carry up to $19,246 each.

We ran the math on a five-driver fleet with two common gaps. The maximum penalty exposure came to $98,476. Those are ceilings, not predictions, and our new blog explains what brings the number down.

What number did you have in your head before reading this?

Read the full post at primefleetmanagement.com/blog.

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