Guide · checked against the NHVR's documents on 3 September 2026

What the NHVR actually requires in your maintenance records

The law does not hand you a form. It hands you a duty, and then, if you are accredited, a set of standards that say what an auditor will want to see. Here is both halves in plain words, what changed on 1 August 2026, and the six numbers you will be asked to count.

The short version

Every party in the chain has a primary duty under the Heavy Vehicle National Law to ensure the safety of their transport activities so far as is reasonably practicable. That includes how vehicles are maintained, and it applies whether or not you hold any accreditation. Reasonably practicable is a test you pass with evidence: you have to be able to show what you checked, what you found, what you did about it and when.

If you are accredited under the NHVAS Maintenance Management module, or moving into Heavy Vehicle Accreditation, the records are spelled out. There are eight standards, they are listed below, and the ones that generate paper every day are the daily check, the fault report, the repair record and the service schedule. Everything is kept for three years. Once a quarter the responsible person signs a statement with six numbers on it.

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The duty everybody has

Section 26C of the HVNL puts the primary duty on ten kinds of party: the employer of a driver, the prime contractor, the operator, the scheduler, the consignor, the consignee, the packer, the loading manager, the loader and the unloader. The regulator's own advice on that duty says each of them must consider how heavy vehicle procurement and maintenance is undertaken and managed. Section 26D adds a duty on executives to exercise due diligence to make sure the business complies.

In its regulatory advice on maintenance the NHVR describes what reasonable control measures look like: a systematic service schedule that follows the manufacturer's specifications, a daily checklist, a recording and reporting system for faults, defects and maintenance history, faults responded to and fixed in a timely manner, and grounding an unsafe vehicle until the defect is rectified. Read that list twice. It is the accreditation standards in everyday clothes, and it is what a reasonable operator is expected to be able to show whether they carry a label on the truck or not.

What changed on 1 August 2026

The amended Heavy Vehicle National Law commenced on 1 August 2026. With it came Heavy Vehicle Accreditation, which progressively replaces NHVAS. It has two tiers: General Safety Accreditation, and Alternative Compliance Accreditation for mass, maintenance and fatigue. The Maintenance Assurance Program under General Safety Accreditation carries on the exemption from annual vehicle inspections in Queensland and New South Wales.

The bigger change is in how an audit works. Instead of ticking through one module, the auditor assesses a whole of business safety management system with five connected parts: leadership and commitment, risk management, people, assurance and improvement, and safety systems. The National Audit Standard and the Safety Management System Standard 2026 were released ahead of commencement and are linked below.

If you hold NHVAS accreditation today, nothing stopped on the day. It runs to its expiry, and the NHVR has said operators have up to three years to move across. And the record keeping requirements themselves did not change: the daily check, the fault report, the repair record and the three years are the same as they were.

The eight standards, as the records they produce

The NHVAS Maintenance Management module has eight standards. Auditors read them as requirements; it is more useful to read them as the pieces of paper (or rows) each one expects to exist.

Standard 1: Daily check
A daily check for each vehicle on the days it is in use. The record shows when it was done, who did it and how it was recorded. Any fault found goes onto the fault report, not into somebody's head.
Standard 2: Fault recording and reporting
A way for a driver to record a fault during a journey and report it to whoever does the maintenance, as soon as reasonably practicable. It covers the trailer as well as the prime mover.
Standard 3: Fault repair
Each reported fault is identified, assessed and acted on, with a repair priority. If a fault is deferred or monitored rather than fixed, the record names the person who made that decision. When the repair is done, the record shows it was rectified and, where appropriate, tested.
Standard 4: Maintenance schedules and methods
Periodic maintenance schedules with identified service periods that describe the tasks to be completed. Nominated vehicles have an annual mechanical inspection recorded on an approved checklist.
Standard 5: Records and documentation
Documented evidence that the system is actually operating, kept for a minimum of three years. This is the standard everything else reports to: if it is not written down with a date and a name, it did not happen.
Standard 6: Responsibilities
The authorities, responsibilities and duties of everyone involved in running, administering and checking the system, current, clearly defined and documented.
Standard 7: Internal review
A quarterly review and an annual review that the system is doing what the procedures say. The quarterly one produces a compliance statement, accepted and signed by the responsible person, with six counts in it.
Standard 8: Training and education
The people who hold a position under the system are trained in, and familiar with, the procedures they are meant to carry out, and there is a record of that too.

What the daily check covers

The standard lists what the daily check inspects. It is short on purpose: it is a walk around the vehicle before it moves, not a service.

The record has to show when it was done, who did it and how it was recorded, and any fault found goes straight onto the fault report. A tick sheet in the cab with no name and no date meets none of that.

Faults, deferrals and repairs

A driver has to be able to record a fault when it happens and report it to whoever does the maintenance as soon as reasonably practicable, for the trailer as well as the truck. On the workshop side, each fault is assessed and given a priority. Two details catch people out. If a fault is deferred or put on watch instead of fixed, the record must name the person who made that call. And when the repair is done, the record shows the fault was rectified and tested, not just closed.

The quarterly compliance statement

Once a quarter the responsible person produces, accepts and signs a statement of how the module went. The standard says what has to be in it, and it is six counts:

  1. 1Vehicles in the nominated group
  2. 2Daily checks undertaken, and the number missed
  3. 3Services completed, and the number missed
  4. 4Fault repair requests lodged, and the number not actioned or rectified
  5. 5Notices issued for vehicles not complying with vehicle standards
  6. 6Infringement notices received relating to vehicle standards

Four of those six are counts of things that were done, and any system that records the doing can produce them. The awkward one is daily checks missed, because to count a miss you have to know which vehicles worked on which days. Be wary of any software that prints that number without knowing that. A guess on a signed statement is worse than a blank.

Keep it for three years

All documents and records associated with an NHVAS accreditation must be retained for a minimum of three years. Outside accreditation the law does not name a period, but three years is the regulator's own standard and there is no good reason to keep less.

What an auditor will ask to see

Put plainly, and in roughly the order they ask: the daily checks for a vehicle they pick, with dates and names. The faults raised from those checks and from the road, and what happened to each one. Any deferral, and who signed it. The repair records, closed out. The service schedule for that vehicle, with intervals and tasks, and the evidence each service happened when it was due. Who is responsible for what, written down. The last quarterly statement, signed. And then the same again for a vehicle you did not expect.

Where a spreadsheet stops being enough

A spreadsheet holds a service schedule well. It does not hold a daily check done by a driver at six in the morning, a fault reported from the road with a photo, or the name of the person who deferred a repair, and it cannot count the quarter for you. Most operators who fail a maintenance audit have done the maintenance. What they cannot do is show it.

What AssetPass keeps

Every prestart is filed with the date, the person and photos on the items that failed. Every fault is a record with who raised it and when, and it stays open until somebody closes it on a jobcard that shows what was done, by whom, and what it cost. Service schedules run on kilometres, hours or days and turn red when they slip. Crew licences, medicals and tickets carry their own expiry. And the compliance statement for any period counts prestarts filed, faults raised, unresolved and resolved, jobcards completed and services overdue, exactly, and says on its own face that it does not estimate daily checks missed.

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Questions people ask

Does the NHVR say exactly what maintenance records I have to keep?
Not in one list, unless you are accredited. The Heavy Vehicle National Law puts a primary duty on everyone in the chain to ensure safety so far as is reasonably practicable, and leaves it to you to show how. The NHVAS Maintenance Management standards are the one place the regulator spells the records out: a daily check, fault recording and reporting, fault repair, maintenance schedules, records kept for three years, documented responsibilities, a quarterly internal review and training. If you are not accredited they are still the clearest description of what a reasonable operator keeps.
What changed on 1 August 2026?
The amended Heavy Vehicle National Law commenced, and with it Heavy Vehicle Accreditation, which progressively replaces NHVAS. It has two tiers: General Safety Accreditation, and Alternative Compliance Accreditation for mass, maintenance and fatigue. Audits look at a whole of business safety management system rather than one module at a time. Existing NHVAS accreditation keeps running, with up to three years to move across. The record keeping itself did not change.
How long do I have to keep maintenance records?
Under NHVAS, every document and record associated with the accreditation must be kept for a minimum of three years. Outside accreditation the law does not name a period, but three years is what the regulator's own standard asks for and it is the safe answer.
What does an auditor actually want to see?
Daily checks with a date and a name on them. Faults recorded as they were found, with who reported them and when. Repairs closed out with the fault rectified and, where appropriate, tested. Where a fault was deferred, the name of the person who decided that. A service schedule with the intervals and the tasks, and evidence the services happened. Who is responsible for what, in writing. And the quarterly compliance statement, signed, with its six numbers.
What are the six numbers in the quarterly compliance statement?
The number of vehicles in the nominated group; daily checks undertaken and the number missed; services completed and the number missed; fault repair requests lodged and the number not actioned or rectified; notices issued for vehicles not complying with vehicle standards; and infringement notices received for vehicle standards. AssetPass counts prestarts filed, faults raised, unresolved and resolved, jobcards completed and services overdue exactly. It does not estimate daily checks missed, because it does not know which vehicles worked on which days, and it says so on the statement rather than printing a guess.

Sources

Everything above was read off these documents on 3 September 2026. If the NHVR changes them, this page is wrong until it is checked again, and the date at the top will tell you.

This is a guide, not legal advice. If your operation is accredited, your auditor and the NHVR's own guidance material are the final word.