What records does a trucking company have to keep after a crash, and for how long?

Last updated October 7, 2026.

Federal rules require an interstate trucking company to keep an accident register for 3 years, the driver's hours-of-service logs for at least 6 months, maintenance records for 1 year, and the driver's daily inspection reports for only 3 months. Drug and alcohol test records are kept from 1 to 5 years depending on the result. These are minimums, so the clock on the most useful evidence often starts running the day of the crash.

That is why the paperwork side of a Las Vegas truck accident claim starts early. The trucking company controls most of these files, and nothing in the federal rules makes it keep them longer just because someone was hurt.

How do trucking records get created and kept after a Las Vegas crash?

Most records exist before anyone asks for them, because the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations require them. Here is the usual order of events after a crash on I-15, the Beltway or a valley surface street involving a commercial truck.

The crash becomes a federal "accident." For these rules, an accident is a crash involving a commercial motor vehicle that causes a death, an injury treated right away away from the scene, or a vehicle so damaged it has to be towed (49 CFR 390.5T). A crash that meets this definition must go into the company's accident register (49 CFR 390.15).
The truck's electronic logging device has already recorded the driver's day. Most carriers must install an electronic logging device (ELD) and make each driver use it to record duty status: off duty, sleeper berth, driving, or on duty not driving (49 CFR 395.8). The driver has to submit each day's record to the company within 13 days.
Post-accident testing may be required within hours. After a fatal crash, and after some injury or tow-away crashes where the truck driver is cited, the company must test the driver for alcohol and drugs (49 CFR 382.303). Our page on when a truck driver must be drug and alcohol tested after a crash covers the 8-hour and 32-hour windows.
The driver's end-of-day inspection report is written, or not. At the end of each day's work, the driver must prepare a written report on each vehicle listing any defect found or reported, covering items such as brakes, steering, lights, tires, mirrors and coupling devices (49 CFR 396.11). If no defect was found or reported, no report is required.
The police report is filed. The investigating agency writes its own report, and the company must keep copies of accident reports required by the state or by insurers in its register (49 CFR 390.15). How to get your copy is explained in our guide to getting a crash report in Las Vegas.
Retention clocks run. Each record type has its own minimum period, shown in the table below. Some of the shortest clocks run out before an injured person has finished medical treatment.
A lawsuit opens formal access. If a case is filed in Clark County district court, each side must make early disclosures, and you can serve written requests for documents that the other side must answer in writing within 30 days (NRCP 16.1, NRCP 34). An injury lawsuit in Nevada generally must be filed within 2 years (NRS 11.190).

How long must each record be kept?

The table lists the federal minimum for each record, counted from the date shown in the rule. A company may keep records longer, but these are the only periods the rules require.

Record	What it can show	Federal minimum	Rule
Driver vehicle inspection report	Defects the driver found or was told about, and whether the company certified a repair	3 months from the date the report was prepared	49 CFR 396.11
Hours-of-service records (ELD or paper log) and supporting documents	When the driver drove, rested and worked, and where duty status changed	6 months from the date the company received them	49 CFR 395.8
Inspection, repair and maintenance records	What was inspected or repaired, when, and what was due	1 year where the truck is housed or maintained, and 6 months after the truck leaves the company's control	49 CFR 396.3
Negative drug results and alcohol results below 0.02	That a test was given and what it found	1 year	49 CFR 382.401
Testing collection records, including decisions on post-accident tests	Whether and why a test was or was not given	2 years	49 CFR 382.401
Accident register and accident reports	Date, place, driver, injuries, deaths and any hazmat release for each crash	3 years after each accident	49 CFR 390.15
Driver qualification file	Job application, driving records, road test, annual reviews, medical certificate	While the driver works there, plus 3 years (some items may be removed 3 years after they were made)	49 CFR 391.51
Alcohol results of 0.02 or more, positive drug results, refusals	Impairment, or a refusal to test	5 years	49 CFR 382.401

What do these records actually prove?

Hours-of-service logs show whether the driver was over the federal driving limits. Each change in duty status must note the city or town and state, or a highway and milepost (49 CFR 395.8). Comparing the log with fuel receipts, toll records or delivery papers can show a log that does not add up, and false logs are banned. How these records prove fatigue is the subject of our page on truck driver hours-of-service limits and fatigue.

Inspection and maintenance records show whether a known problem was fixed. Carriers must systematically inspect, repair and maintain every vehicle they control, and parts and accessories must be in safe and proper operating condition at all times (49 CFR 396.3). If a driver reported a brake problem and no repair was certified before the truck went back out, that gap matters (49 CFR 396.11). Our guide to brake failure and truck maintenance rules goes further.

The driver qualification file shows what the company knew when it hired and kept the driver: the employment application, driving records from each state that licensed the driver, the road test certificate, the yearly review of the driving record, and the medical examiner's certificate (49 CFR 391.51). A pattern of violations the company reviewed and ignored can support a claim against the company itself, which is part of who can be held responsible for a truck accident in Nevada.

The accident register lists the company's other recent crashes. Each entry has the date, the city or town and state, the driver's name, the number of injuries and deaths, and whether hazardous materials other than spilled fuel were released (49 CFR 390.15). Part of a company's crash history is public through the federal SAFER lookup, which you can use the way our page on checking a trucking company's safety record describes.

What changes the answer

Whether the federal rules apply at all. The rules apply to employers, drivers and commercial motor vehicles carrying property or passengers in interstate commerce (49 CFR 390.3T). A commercial motor vehicle generally means one rated or weighing 10,001 pounds or more, or one hauling placarded hazardous materials, among other categories (49 CFR 390.5T). Nevada has adopted the federal safety rules by regulation for many carriers that never leave the state, with a 26,001-pound line for some intrastate property haulers (NAC 706.297). Our page on federal rules for Nevada companies that never leave the state explains the difference.

Paper logs instead of an ELD. A carrier may let a driver keep a paper log if the driver needs logs on no more than 8 days in any 30-day period, in some driveaway-towaway work, or in a truck made before model year 2000 (49 CFR 395.8). The 6-month retention rule still applies.

A one-truck operation. The daily inspection report rule does not apply to a carrier operating only one commercial motor vehicle (49 CFR 396.11). Maintenance records under 49 CFR 396.3 still apply to vehicles the carrier controls for 30 days in a row.

What the test showed. A clean post-accident test record may be gone after 1 year, while a positive result or a refusal must be kept for 5 (49 CFR 382.401). Records explaining why a post-accident test was or was not given are kept for 2 years.

Who is asking. The carrier must make accident records available to federal investigators, authorized state or local enforcement, and authorized third-party representatives within the time their request sets (49 CFR 390.15). Those rules do not give an injured person a direct right to demand the files. In a lawsuit, the court rules do (NRCP 34).

Electronic data that is lost. If electronically stored information that should have been kept in anticipation of a lawsuit is lost because a party did not take reasonable steps to keep it, a Nevada court may order measures to cure the harm. If the party meant to deprive the other side of it, the court may tell the jury to presume the information was unfavorable, or in serious cases dismiss the case or enter a default (NRCP 37(e)). A written request to preserve evidence helps show the company knew a claim was coming.

For example: a rear-end crash on I-15

Imagine a hypothetical driver named Marisol whose car is hit from behind by a tractor-trailer in slowing traffic on I-15 near the Blue Diamond Road exit on March 3. She is taken to a hospital by ambulance, and her car is towed. Under the federal definition, that is an "accident," so the trucking company must log it in its accident register and keep that entry until at least March 3, three years later.

Marisol spends the spring in treatment and does nothing about the truck. Look at what the federal minimums allow in that time. The driver's inspection report from that day, if one was written, only has to be kept 3 months from when it was prepared, so it could be gone in early June. The driver's logs for the week of the crash only have to be kept 6 months from when the company received them, so they could be gone by September. Maintenance records for the truck must stay for a year, unless the company sells the truck, in which case the 6-month tail starts then.

Now change one fact. A week after the crash, a letter goes to the carrier and its insurer naming the crash, the truck and trailer numbers from the police report, and each record type: logs and supporting documents, ELD data, inspection reports, maintenance files, test records, the driver's qualification file, dash camera footage and engine data. The rules have not changed, but the company now knows a claim is coming, and that knowledge matters if electronic records later go missing (NRCP 37(e)). In this hypothetical, the evidence that could show a tired or distracted driver is still there when the case is filed.

Common mistakes that let truck records disappear

Waiting until treatment ends. The 3-month and 6-month clocks do not pause for medical care. Evidence decisions belong in the first weeks.
Sending a vague request. "Please keep all evidence" is easy to read narrowly. Name each record type, the truck and trailer numbers, the driver and the date range.
Writing only to the insurance adjuster. The records sit with the motor carrier, and sometimes with a separate trailer owner or maintenance shop. Each one that may hold records should get notice.
Forgetting data outside the federal rules. Dash cameras, engine computer data and dispatch messages are not on the federal retention list above, and they may be overwritten in the normal course of business.
Asking only for the crash day. Fatigue and maintenance problems build up over days. Logs for the 7 days before the crash and the truck's repair history show the pattern.
Giving the company's insurer a recorded statement before the facts are collected. Talk about what you need to, but you do not have to guess about speeds or distances.

What to do this week

Get the crash report number and write down the trucking company's name, any USDOT number you saw on the truck, and the truck and trailer numbers.
Photograph or save anything you already have: scene photos, the tow slip, ambulance and hospital paperwork, and names of witnesses. Our post on evidence needed for an auto accident claim lists the basics.
Send a written preservation request to the motor carrier, listing each record in the table above plus camera footage, engine data and dispatch messages. Keep proof of delivery.
Mark the dates on a calendar: 3 months, 6 months and 1 year from the crash, and the 2-year lawsuit deadline (NRS 11.190).
Look up the carrier on the federal SAFER site to confirm its legal name and USDOT number.
Read our overview of what happens after a truck accident in Las Vegas so you know which steps come next.

Frequently asked questions

Can I just call the trucking company and ask for the driver's logs?

You can ask, but the federal rules do not require the company to give them to you. They require access for federal investigators, authorized state or local enforcement and authorized third-party representatives (49 CFR 390.15). In a lawsuit, you can serve a formal request, and the company must answer in writing within 30 days (NRCP 34).

What is an ELD, and does it record speed?

An electronic logging device records the driver's duty status for each 24-hour period, and carriers must make drivers use one unless an exception applies (49 CFR 395.8). The rules quoted on this page are about duty status and location; speed and braking data more often come from the truck's own engine computer, which should be named separately in a preservation request.

Does the driver have to carry records in the truck?

Yes. The driver must keep a copy of each record of duty status for the previous 7 days and have it available for inspection while on duty (49 CFR 395.8). So right after a crash, the past week's logs should be with the driver.

What if the company says the records were already destroyed?

Ask when and why, and get the answer in writing. If the records were past the federal minimum and the company had no notice of a claim, it may have done nothing wrong. If electronic records were lost after the company should have kept them for a lawsuit, a Nevada court can respond under NRCP 37(e).

Do these rules apply to a delivery van or box truck?

They can, if the vehicle meets the federal definition of a commercial motor vehicle, such as a weight rating of 10,001 pounds or more, and is used in interstate commerce (49 CFR 390.5T). See whether federal trucking law applies to a crash with a box truck or van.

Are the trucking company's records the same as the police report?

No. The police report is the investigating agency's record. The company must keep copies of accident reports required by the state or by insurers in its own register, along with its own entry for the crash (49 CFR 390.15).

Does it matter that the trucking company is based in another state?

Not for the federal record rules, which apply to interstate carriers wherever they are based. It can matter for where and how a lawsuit is filed, which our page on suing an out-of-state trucking company in Nevada covers.

If a commercial truck hit you in Las Vegas and you are worried the evidence will be gone before you are back on your feet, you can talk with attorney Maysoun Fletcher about what to preserve and when. Call 702-333-6339 for a free consultation.