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Vehicle maintenance & repairs

As the owner or user of a commercial vehicle, you must always make sure that your vehicles are roadworthy and safe. Aside from the road safety benefits and it being your legal obligation, well maintained vehicles reduce the likelihood of your vehicles encountering delays from unscheduled downtime, unsafe vehicles being impounded and additional delays at roadside inspections. Here you will find summary information as regards your obligations in relation to vehicle maintenance & repairs, the benefits and the legislation.

Your vehicle maintenance & repair requirements

To maintain a commercial vehicle in a safe & roadworthy condition over its lifetime requires ongoing maintenance. Commercial vehicle owners and users are required by law to:

develop and put in place systems for the regular inspection and maintenance of vehicles; there are two types of inspection which must be undertaken :-
- Pre-planned preventative maintenance checks
- Daily Walk around checks
ensure that the frequency of inspections and maintenance takes into account factors including age, mileage and condition, wear and tear and manufacturer’s guidelines;
arrange that inspections, maintenance and repairs are carried out by a person who is a suitably qualified person;
retain documentation concerning the repair and maintenance of vehicles for two years for inspection by an authorised officer.

Benefits of maintaining your vehicles

For your Business

An effective preventative vehicle maintenance system consists of scheduled maintenance, component repairs and vehicle inspections to prevent breakdowns. The benefits of an effective preventative maintenance system are:
reduced overall maintenance and operating costs;

reduced operating costs due to fewer vehicle breakdowns;
improved vehicle fuel consumption;
increased customer satisfaction due to consistent on- time deliveries;
enhanced vehicle residual value and protects your assets;
lower insurance costs;
reduced risk of vehicle downtime at roadside checks;

For Road Safety

Ensures the safety and roadworthiness of your vehicles:

increased driver safety and improves their working environment;
increased passenger safety;
increased road safety for other road users; and
ensures your vehicles meet the minimum standards defined by law.

Private use of Heavy Commercial Vehicles

The legal maintenance requirements of a vehicle are based on the vehicle type (for example, bus, HGV truck , rigids , van) rather than the use of a vehicle ( private or commercial).

So, even if you have a horse lorry which is used purely for social and leisure purposes you are still required to have an appropriate vehicle maintenance regime in place so as to ensure the roadworthiness of your vehicle while it is being used on a public road.

Have concerns about the condition of a Commercial Vehicle in use on Public Roads?

If you have any concerns about the roadworthiness condition of a commercial vehicle for e.g. School Bus, Truck, Trailer or indeed any other type of commercial vehicle you can report your concerns in confidence to the RSA. Visit our complaints page to find out more.

The legislation

Vehicle maintenance and repair requirements are prescribed in SI No 348 of 2013 - Road Safety Authority (Commercial Vehicle Roadworthiness) (Vehicle Repair and Maintenance) Regulations 2013 (PDF)

These regulations apply to the following vehicles

vehicles used for the carriage of passengers, with more than 8 seats, excluding the driver’s seat - categories M2 (small PSV's) and M3 (large PSV's);
goods vehicles - categories N1 (LGV), N2 (HGV > 3.5t <12t) and N3 (HGV > 12t);
goods trailers - categories O3 (Trailer > 3.5t< 10t) and O4 (Trailer > 10t); and
ambulances (special purpose vehicles in category M)

The regulations place obligations on the owners of commercial vehicles in relation to the following matters :

maintenance and repair of commercial vehicles;
decisions concerning the frequency of maintenance;
daily walk around checks;
carrying out of repairs by suitably qualified persons;
record keeping;
making an annual declaration about maintenance of vehiclesto the Road Safety Authority (not applicable to vehicles of category N1, light goods vehicles)

If you are not the owner the regulations still apply if you are the user of the vehicle, that is: in charge of; controlling and or directing the operation of the vehicle.

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