DOT & fleet compliance — without the telematics price tag.

DOT compliance software tracks every deadline the US Department of Transportation and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) require commercial fleets to meet. The main records are the Driver Qualification File (DQF), Commercial Driver License (CDL), medical examiner certificate, motor vehicle record (MVR) pulls, drug and alcohol testing, vehicle inspections, IFTA/IRP renewals, and UCR registration. Good software sends renewal reminders automatically, stores documents in driver and vehicle files, and produces audit-ready reports whenever you need them.

A Driver Qualification File (DQF) is a folder of paperwork for each driver, required by 49 CFR 391, that proves the driver meets FMCSA qualification standards. The file must include: the employment application (391.21), motor vehicle records from every state where the driver held a license in the past 3 years (391.23), an annual MVR review (391.25), the road test certificate or CDL waiver, the medical examiner certificate, and any required disclosures. Annual MVR reviews are required as long as the driver works for you. A missing or incomplete DQF is the most common DOT audit finding.

A standard medical examiner certificate is valid for up to 24 months. Drivers with certain conditions (high blood pressure, insulin-managed diabetes, sleep apnea) often get shorter certificates of 3, 6, or 12 months. The certificate must come from an examiner on the National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners. The driver also has to self-certify their medical status with their state DMV. If the certificate lapses, most states automatically downgrade the CDL.

There are two main tiers. Enterprise telematics suites (Samsara, Lytx, Verizon Connect) bundle DOT compliance with ELD, GPS, and dashcam services. They cost $30 to $60 or more per truck per month. For a 100-truck fleet, that is $36,000 to $72,000 per year. Standalone compliance software (Foley, Compliance Safety Manager, ExpiryEdge) charges a flat monthly fee no matter the fleet size, usually in the low thousands per year. The right choice depends on whether you already have ELD and GPS, or only need the documents and deadlines tracked.

Updated 2026 FMCSA civil penalties: record-keeping violations cost up to $16,131 each; CDL violations up to $31,353; out-of-service order violations up to $30,138 per offense for drivers and up to $39,378 for carriers. Falsified records or willful violations can be sent for criminal prosecution. Repeated violations also drag down your CSA BASIC scores, which raises insurance premiums and hurts your standing in customer audits.

IFTA (International Fuel Tax Agreement) licenses expire December 31 every year and must be renewed before that date. Renewal windows typically open October through November. New IFTA decals must be displayed on every qualified vehicle by March 1 of the new license year - until then, the prior year's decals are valid. Late renewal triggers fuel-tax interest, decal-replacement fees, and possible suspension of authority in member jurisdictions.

CSA (Compliance, Safety, Accountability) is the FMCSA's safety scoring system. Every inspection, violation, and crash feeds into seven categories called BASICs: Unsafe Driving, Hours of Service, Driver Fitness, Controlled Substances, Vehicle Maintenance, Hazmat, and Crash Indicator. Each one is scored against other carriers your size. High scores trigger audits, interventions, and lost contracts. Violations stay on the record for 24 months. Many shippers will not work with carriers that score above the 65th percentile in any BASIC.

Most TMS and ELD platforms handle dispatch, hours of service, and vehicle telemetry. They do not handle the per-driver document side (DQF, medical card, drug and alcohol pool, training records) or the per-vehicle annual inspection in a way that holds up in an audit. Compliance software fills that gap. ExpiryEdge connects to the major TMS platforms by CSV import or API. Driver and vehicle data flows in automatically, and all the document deadlines are tracked in one place.

Before a driver can operate a commercial vehicle, the carrier must: (1) verify the CDL and check its current status, (2) order a 3-year MVR from every state where the driver was licensed, (3) query the FMCSA Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse, (4) run a pre-employment drug test, (5) complete a previous-employer safety check under 49 CFR 391.23, and (6) complete a road test (or accept the CDL in place of a road test). ExpiryEdge stores each of these as required slots on the new driver's record. You cannot mark the driver active until the file is complete.

ExpiryEdge replaces the document and deadline-tracking layer. It does not provide ELDs, GPS, dashcams, or driver behaviour scoring. If you already have telematics from Samsara or Lytx, ExpiryEdge sits alongside it as the deadline-aware compliance brain. If you do not have telematics yet and want compliance discipline first, ExpiryEdge is the lighter-weight starting point - and you can add a separate ELD vendor later for a fraction of the bundled cost.