How to track inspections, compulsory motor insurance, comprehensive cover, servicing and tyres per vehicle — the risks of missed dates and how reminders keep the fleet in order.
In a company fleet, the most expensive mistakes rarely come from big decisions. They come from small dates that slip: an accident in a car whose insurance lapsed the day before, a vehicle stopped on the road with an overdue inspection, winter tyres that never got fitted. Each story starts with “it was in someone’s diary”.
Once a fleet grows beyond a handful of vehicles, keeping every car’s insurance, inspection, servicing and tyre details in your head or in one spreadsheet gets harder and harder. This article covers the main dates to track, what can happen when they’re missed, and how to set up tracking that actually holds.
Which dates does a fleet need to track?
Every vehicle has its own calendar. Even two cars bought on the same day drift apart over time on renewals, servicing and tyre changes. The main items are:
| Item | Nature | If missed |
|---|---|---|
| Vehicle inspection | Legal requirement | Administrative penalties and the vehicle being taken off the road |
| Compulsory motor insurance | Legal requirement | Driving uninsured, penalties, and third-party damage left with the company |
| Comprehensive cover (kasko) | Optional; company policy in most fleets | Damage to your own vehicle goes uncovered |
| Scheduled servicing | Manufacturer guidance and warranty terms | Breakdowns, warranty issues, downtime |
| Tyres | Season and wear | Safety risk; seasonal requirements for commercial vehicles |
Vehicle inspection: tie the legal duty to a date
In Türkiye, Highway Traffic Law No. 2918 requires motor vehicles on the road to pass a technical inspection at set intervals. The interval depends on the vehicle type, age and use, as defined in the relevant regulations, so the safest approach is to keep each vehicle’s next inspection date in its own record. Missing an inspection can lead to an administrative fine, and a vehicle with an expired inspection can be taken off the road.
There’s a practical side too: booking an appointment, finding someone to take the car in and fixing anything that fails all take time. Noticing on the last day leaves room for none of it.
Compulsory insurance vs comprehensive cover
Compulsory motor third-party liability insurance — commonly called traffic insurance in Türkiye — is required by law to cover damage a vehicle may cause to others, and uninsured vehicles can be taken off the road. Comprehensive cover (kasko) is optional and covers damage to the vehicle itself; many organisations require it as fleet policy.
The two policies usually have different start and end dates, and purchases, leases and transfers scatter them further. Tracking each policy’s expiry per vehicle also leaves time for renewal negotiations.
Servicing and tyres: not legal duties, just as important
Scheduled servicing
Service intervals vary by manufacturer and model and usually depend on both mileage and time. That makes servicing more than a date: the mileage recorded at each handover and return is the best indicator that the next service is approaching. Recording the date, mileage and work done for every service helps with warranty terms and resale value.
Tyres
Tyre tracking answers two questions: which tyres are on the vehicle now, and when is the next change due? In Türkiye, winter tyres are mandatory for commercial vehicles during the winter months, with the date range set by the relevant regulations and potentially varying by region. Private cars have no such requirement, but many organisations switch seasonally as a safety policy. Without a record of which set is on which car and which are in storage, every seasonal change means checking the whole fleet by hand.
Why spreadsheets aren’t enough
Most fleet tracking starts in a spreadsheet, and it works for a while. But spreadsheets have built-in limits:
- They don’t remind you: someone has to open the file and look.
- They depend on one person: when that person is on leave or leaves, tracking stops.
- History disappears: the new expiry date overwrites the old one, and service and tyre history fades away.
- They’re disconnected from usage: who has the car and how far it’s been driven live somewhere else.
A step-by-step method
- Create vehicle records: plate, model and key details for each vehicle in one place.
- Enter current dates: inspection, compulsory insurance and comprehensive cover expiry, checked against the actual documents.
- Add service and tyre history: at least the last service and current tyres; fill in the rest over time.
- Assign owners: make it clear who acts when a reminder arrives.
- Set reminders early enough: leave time for appointments and renewals.
- Review periodically: go through fleet records monthly and fix gaps or stale data.
Practical tip: make updating the dates the final step for whoever completes a renewal or inspection. A date that someone will “enter later” usually resurfaces at the next renewal.
Fleet records and reminders in HibritİK
HibritİK Vehicle Requests & Fleet Management keeps fleet tracking alongside vehicle usage:
- Fleet records: insurance, traffic fines, tyres, maintenance, inspections and accidents are kept per vehicle, and history stays on record.
- Automatic reminders: reminders go out as insurance and inspection expiry dates approach.
- Handover and return logs: the mileage entered every time gives you a current basis for service planning.
- Vehicle calendar: see when a car is free to go in for servicing or inspection.
- Reports: fleet records can be reported on and exported to Excel.
See our articles on vehicle request approvals and on making fleet costs visible with accident and fine records.
Conclusion: move dates from memory into the system
The goal of fleet tracking is that no date depends on one person’s memory or a corner of a spreadsheet. With records kept per vehicle and reminders arriving before critical dates, fleet managers can plan instead of scrambling. To try HibritİK with your own fleet records, start your 14-day free trial.
Note: this article is for general information. Inspection intervals, insurance obligations and tyre rules can change, so please confirm the current rules and your own situation with the relevant authorities or your insurance adviser.