One reference, not a new topic
This guide doesn't introduce a new rule — it pulls the retention periods scattered across the rest of this series into one place, since each program runs on its own separate clock.
Every guide in this series has mentioned how long its own records need to be kept, but comparing them side by side is where the surprises show up. The retention window for your HOS logs (6 months) is nothing like the retention window for a positive drug test (5 years) or a driver qualification file (employment plus 3 years). None of these clocks are tied to each other, and none of them are tied to how long you personally feel like keeping something.
This page is meant to be a quick lookup, not a substitute for the full guide on each topic — when in doubt, go back to that guide (or the official source) for the complete picture.
One-size-fits-all retention gets people in trouble both ways
Applying a single retention rule to everything usually goes wrong in one of two directions. Destroy records too early — treating a 5-year drug test record like a 6-month HOS log — and you can end up unable to produce something an auditor, insurer, or court asks for years later. Keep everything forever "just in case," and important documents get buried in clutter that makes the records you actually need harder to find when it matters.
There's a simple rule of thumb worth using when a document could plausibly serve more than one purpose: use the longest applicable period. A fuel receipt, for example, supports both your IFTA record (4 years) and your tax records (potentially longer) — so it's worth keeping it as long as the longer of the two requires, not the shorter.
The retention schedule, program by program
-
✓
Hours of Service (RODS + supporting documents): 6 months from the date received — the shortest retention period in this entire series.
6 months -
✓
Vehicle maintenance records: kept for 1 year, plus 6 months after the vehicle leaves your control (sale, trade-in, or end of lease).
1 yr + 6 mo -
✓
Driver qualification file: for as long as the driver is employed, plus 3 years after employment ends. Some individual documents inside it (annual MVR review, violation certification, medical certificate) can be replaced 3 years from when they were created, even while still employed.
Employment + 3 yrs -
✓
Drug & alcohol testing records: tiered by type — 5 years for positive results, refusals, and annual summaries; 2 years for collection-process records; 1 year for negative or canceled results; training records for as long as someone performs the role, plus 2 years after.
1–5 yrs -
✓
Clearinghouse queries and consent records: generally 3 years from the date of the query or consent.
3 years -
✓
Accident register (recordable crashes): 3 years after the date of the crash, including copies of all reports filed with your state or insurer.
3 years -
✓
IFTA records: 4 years from the date the tax return was due or filed, whichever is later.
4 years -
✓
IRP records: generally 4 years after the end of the registration year they support.
4 years -
✓
Tax records (general IRS rule): 3 years from filing, or 2 years from when the tax was paid, whichever is later — extending to 6 years for substantial underreporting, and indefinitely if a return was never filed. Records tied to a truck's depreciation need to be kept until the limitations period expires for the year you dispose of it, often well past the return itself.
3–6+ yrs