Common Cab Card Mistakes Truckers Make and How to Avoid Them
Big vehicles and trucks are very popular for inter-country and cross-border transportation nowadays. As such ,there are a lot of technical errors that may occur and sometimes can cause delays in the deliveries. Another reason can also be some of the common mistakes that truckers make while registering and using their cab cards. These mistakes may seem usual and harmless in the beginning, but if repeated constantly, they can cause huge troubles for the truckers. According to research, surface modes of transportation (truck + rail) lead North American commerce, together accounting for 77.1% of all freight flows by dollar value.
List of Common Cab Card Mistakes Made by Truckers & Ways to Avoid Them
Being the owner of a vehicle is surely not an easy thing. However, when you hire a driver to handle the trucking and delivery services of your vehicles, they may sometimes become irresponsible or make innocent mistakes.
Some of the innocent mistakes that truckers can usually make while handling their cab cards are mentioned briefly below:
- Absence of Necessary and Supporting Documents
It is very common that trucking inspections can occur anytime, and truckers on the road should always be ready for them. One common mistake that truckers make is not carrying all the necessary and supporting documents for their vehicle’s cab cards.
Without the presence of necessary documents, the acceptance of a cab card may become difficult, and that is why being alert in this context is very important for the truckers.
- Incorrect Estimation and Payment of Cab Card Fees
There is no fixed amount of cab card fees that can be paid repeatedly. It is observed that the estimated cost of the cab card keeps changing with the cab card compliance.
That is why truckers may make mistakes in estimating the cab card fees and make incorrect payments. This may cause further trouble to them after the stipulated fees are deducted, before completing the required route. A solution to this can be to train your truckers to always be updated with the changing cab card fees.
- Failure of Renewal of IRP on Time
Every cab card has a particular IRP (International Registration Plan), which is important to keep active and effective. This plan also has a specific date of expiry, and constant renewal of the IRP is important to keep your vehicles and your cab card working smoothly.
Not renewing the IRP of their cards from time to time is a critical mistake that new truckers may make and should definitely avoid.
- Complete Reliable on Digital Copies Instead of Manual Ones
In this digital generation, it is usually presumed by the truckers that keeping digital copies of all the documents is enough. However, this is where they are mistaken. Digital copies may not always provide 100% support to truckers, especially during inspections.
Therefore, keeping at least one manual copy of all the documents with them will prove to be helpful always.
- Ignore Timely Replacement of Cab Card in Case of Damage
Truckers may usually ignore the timely replacement of their cab cards, unintentionally, after any damage is caused to them. They may keep avoiding the replacement of the cab cards for some reason or the other and miss out on their replacement date in the end.
Keeping a yearly or half-yearly note of cab card replacement and not avoiding it will be beneficial for truckers in this case.
- Mismatch Error of Vehicle Information
If truckers are not keeping regular cab card compliance and providing the correct vehicle information, then they may get stuck in legal complications. This may be a very small mistake, but it may get truckers into huge legal troubles.
Therefore, providing proper and error-free vehicle information while registering your cab cards is important and unavoidable.
- Failing to Update the Cab Card Before its Expiry
Updating cab cards regularly, and especially before they expire, is very important. Most truckers may miss out on this point and fail to update their cab cards at times. This may make their cards useless after expiry and get them into trouble during inspections.
Therefore, keeping a proper schedule for updating your cab cards is important so that you don’t forget it and fall into trouble, even by mistake.
Additional Tips for Truckers regarding Cab Cards
Below are some very effective tips regarding how to use your cab cards correctly and get the best cab card trucking services for vehicles:
- Keep a Habit to Update Required Cab Card Documents Monthly
Make sure to keep a habit of updating all the required cab card documents on a particular date every month. This way, you will have it all planned in your schedule and will not miss out on the update date at all.
- Let there be Some Extra Copies of Cab Card and Documents
Always keep some extra copies of your cab card and the necessary documents with you, in a corner of your vehicle. This way, you will always be ready for any sudden inspections and not get into any trouble.
- Educate Your Truck Driver about Valid and Suspicious Cab Cards
Providing proper education to your truck drivers about differentiating between valid and invalid cab cards is important. This is to ensure that they don’t get caught in any fraudulent activities and are away from legal troubles constantly.
Along with following the cab card compliance, consider these tips to start your trucking company. These tips will help you secure the best trucking services for your vehicles. Each one of the tips mentioned above can offer great benefits to your vehicles while trucking and can keep your vehicles on the road and in business for a much longer time.
Conclusion
Common trucking mistakes can be caused by anyone and without any intention of actually doing it. However, if proper information about all the possible errors regarding the vehicle cab cards is available to people, then most of them can be avoided.
Therefore, understanding how to handle the cab cards and how they operate is very important to get them to work for you. So, make sure you know the whole process regarding cab cards, right from their actual meaning till their registration is properly done and remember it forever.
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