This week I talked to a company with 13 vehicles.
Not 13 identical trucks. Ten service vans, one mechanic truck that moves between job sites, and two supply vehicles. Each type does something different. Each one has its own paperwork. Each driver does too.
When they told me how they were handling it, I wasn’t surprised: one folder per vehicle in the filing cabinet, a spreadsheet that was “mostly up to date,” and the fleet manager who had mentally noted that the mechanic truck’s insurance “always renews in March.”
That works. Until it doesn’t.
The real problem with mixed vehicle types
A homogeneous fleet — 15 long-haul trucks, for example — has a certain internal logic: every vehicle carries the same documents, every driver needs the same certifications. The tracking system, even if it’s paper-based, makes sense.
But when you mix vehicle types, things get complicated.
The mechanic truck has its commercial insurance, registration, and DOT inspection sticker. The 10 service vans do too, but some carry specialized equipment with its own certifications on top. The supply vehicles operate on different routes and sometimes need additional permits.
And then every driver has their own license, medical card, training records.
That’s 13 vehicles. If each one has 4–5 documents with expiration dates, plus the driver documents, you’re tracking somewhere between 60 and 80 deadlines. Someone has to own all of that.
With a spreadsheet, here’s what happens: the file grows, nobody keeps it fully updated, and one day you find out that the mechanic truck’s insurance lapsed three weeks ago because “nobody was checking that column.”
“Is this only for trucking companies?”
When this company came to GoExpirely, that was the first question.
“We’re not a trucking company. We don’t do freight or long-haul routes. Does this work for us?”
Yes. And honestly, I need to communicate that better.
GoExpirely is not logistics software. It’s not route management. It’s a platform to track any asset that has documents with expiration dates. Doesn’t matter if those are long-haul trucks, service vans, construction equipment, or anything else.
The logic is simple: you have assets (vehicles, drivers, equipment), each asset has documents, each document has a date. We alert you before it expires.
How they set it up in one afternoon
In GoExpirely they created three entity types: “Service Van,” “Mechanic Truck,” and “Supply Vehicle.” For drivers, another type.
Each type carries its own documents. Service vans: registration, insurance, inspection sticker, equipment certification. Mechanic truck: same plus extended liability coverage. Supply vehicles: registration, insurance, inspection. Drivers: license, DOT medical card, training records.
Setting up that structure took one afternoon. Then they added the 13 vehicles and the drivers one by one. After that, the system runs itself: alerts at 30 days out, 15 days, 7 days, and on the expiration date.
The fleet manager stopped needing to remember that the mechanic truck’s insurance renews in March. The system tells him when it’s time.
The notes field that changed the process
Here’s the part they liked most.
Every vehicle profile has a free-text notes field. No required format. Write whatever you want.
They used it to record the physical location of each folder in the filing cabinet. “Gray cabinet, drawer 3, blue folder.”
When the alert comes in that vehicle 7’s insurance expires in 10 days, there’s nothing to search for. Open the profile, read the note, go to the cabinet, have the folder in hand in 30 seconds.
Before, the process was: alert comes in (if it came at all) → ask around where the folder is → someone thinks it’s in the warehouse cabinet → go look → it’s not there → turns out it’s in the office → find the document → make the call. Half a morning gone.
With the note: alert → folder in hand → call made → done.
What I took from this
Small businesses with mixed vehicles have a document control problem just as real as dedicated trucking fleets. But they don’t see themselves in solutions built “for trucking companies.”
If you run a maintenance company, an installation business, a cleaning service, a distribution operation — any business where people drive company vehicles to do work — the problem is the same: documents, dates, alerts. And spreadsheets stop scaling past a certain point.
GoExpirely works for all of them. What changes is which vehicle types and documents you configure. The system adapts to your operation, not the other way around.
What changes when all vehicles are in one system
Eight vehicles. Four document types each. Some under DOT regulation, some not. Three different tracking processes that don’t talk to each other.
When all vehicles are in one system: registrations, inspections, insurance, and driver licenses in one place regardless of vehicle type. One alert for each expiring document, 30 days out. One dashboard for the whole fleet.
If you have between 5 and 50 vehicles of any type and tracking their documents takes hours every month, try GoExpirely free. No credit card required.
Written by Julio Alvarez — builder of GoExpirely and other software tools for operators and small businesses in the US.