Maintenance & inspection
What is a preventative maintenance inspection?
A preventative maintenance inspection, or PMI, is a scheduled safety inspection of a vehicle carried out to a set list at a set frequency, independently of whether anything is known to be wrong with it.
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<img src="https://fleetoptix.co.uk/glossary/preventative-maintenance-inspection/diagram.svg" alt="preventative maintenance inspection — diagram from FleetOptix" width="880" height="620" loading="lazy">
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<a href="https://fleetoptix.co.uk/glossary/preventative-maintenance-inspection">What is a preventative maintenance inspection?</a> — diagram by
<a href="https://fleetoptix.co.uk">FleetOptix</a>
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</figure>It is the backbone of an operator's maintenance system and the thing an examiner asks to see first. The inspection is planned in advance, carried out to a recognised list, recorded, and any defect it finds is followed through to rectification and sign-off.
The frequency is set by the operator based on how the vehicles are used — mileage, load, terrain and age all bear on it — and then declared. Having chosen an interval, the operator is measured against their own, so a schedule that is routinely missed is worse than a longer one that is kept.
The record is the deliverable. A sheet showing every item inspected, the defects found, the work done and a signature attesting roadworthiness is what turns a workshop visit into evidence of a system.
What goes wrong in practice
- Inspections drifting past their declared interval, which shows up immediately when dates are laid against the planner.
- Sheets signed off with defects still open and nothing recording their repair.
- A planner kept for the next few weeks only, so nobody can show the pattern over a year.
- Brake performance never assessed in any meaningful way across the inspection cycle.