Every commercial vehicle in the province needs to pass the Alberta CVIP (Commercial Vehicle Inspection Program). If your company owns a vehicle that weighs more than 11,794 kilograms (or 4,500 kilograms if you plan on taking it out of the province) and is used for business operations—criteria that apply to most heavy duty and automotive trucks—then they are required to get an inspection performed annually.
So what do you need to know about the Alberta CVIP program?
You Need To Keep Your Papers In Order
Section 19 of the Vehicle Inspection Regulation states that all commercial vehicles need to have a valid inspection certificate and decal and the driver of a commercial vehicle must be able to produce the inspection certificate on the request of an investigator or peace officer. That means having copies of the inspection records in the vehicle at all times, as well as having copies at your office. If they’re lost or destroyed then you should get reprints from your inspector or another inspection performed. Your company faces a hefty fine if you can’t produce certificates, so treat them as seriously as you would your driver’s licence and insurance.
They’re Always Changing
Updated rules and regulations are added all the time, hence the need for annual inspections. In 2017, brake inspections were tightened up considerably, as were rules about leaks- any leak, even the tiniest, could cause you to fail an inspection, so it’s hugely important to make sure that the underside of your truck is free of leaks. That’s just the tip of the iceberg- there are dozens of updated regulations in the latest revision to the rules, and in a few months there could be more. It’s on you to keep up with the changes and make sure that you shape up. At Overdrive we provide our customers with an annual notice that it’s time for their CVIP- just one of the things that make Overdrive Heavy Duty different.
There Are A Lot Of Rules
The full commercial vehicle inspection manual for 2017 clocks in at a stately 262 pages. Not everyone is going to be relevant to your particular vehicles- there are plenty that just apply to school buses for example. However, there will be enough of them that you’ll have to do a lot of work to both determine which you need to pay attention to and how you’re going to ensure that you’re compliant.
You Need A Certified Technician & Facility To Do The Inspection
Even if you have your own on-staff maintenance crew, you still need to have a certified technician perform any and all inspections on your vehicles. That’s where we come in: Overdrive HD is an Alberta CVIP-certified facility, with certified techs on staff, and a big part of our workload is making sure that heavy and light trucks, motor coaches, semi-trailers and commercial buses can pass the inspection. Let us do the work of keeping up with changing regulations so you can concentrate on running a great company.
Learn more about our Alberta CVIP Inspections here.