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Fleet Compliance Checklist for Ireland: Every Date Your Vehicles, Drivers and Business Need

Every vehicle in an Irish fleet needs motor tax, insurance and a roadworthiness test: the NCT for cars, the CVRT for vans, trucks and buses. Trucks and buses add tachograph calibration and safety inspections. Professional drivers carry their own licence, Driver CPC, tachograph card and ADR dates, and haulage and bus businesses hold an operator licence.

Running the fleetPublished 7 min read

At a glance

Checked against 11 official sources
Every vehicle
Motor tax, insurance, and the NCT or CVRT
Trucks and buses
Tachograph calibration at least every 2 years, and safety inspections at the interval you set
Buses and taxis
A vehicle licence: from the Gardaí for buses, the NTA for taxis
Professional drivers
Driving licence, Driver CPC card, tachograph card, ADR certificate
The business
A road transport operator licence, issued for up to 5 years
Records
Maintenance, inspection and defect records kept for at least 2 years
On this page 8 sections

Ask an operator what they have to keep track of and the answer is usually "tax, test and insurance". That is right for a single car. For a fleet with vans, trucks or buses, and drivers who drive for a living, the list is longer, the dates run on different cycles, and several of them sit on the driver or the business rather than the vehicle. Here is the whole list for Ireland in 2026.

Vehicle dates

  • Motor tax

    How often
    3, 6 or 12 months
    Applies to
    Every vehicle used in a public place
    Where
    motortax.ie or a motor tax office

  • Insurance

    How often
    Usually every 12 months
    Applies to
    Every vehicle
    Where
    Your insurer or broker

  • NCT

    How often
    At 4 years, every 2 years until 10, then yearly. Taxis yearly, then every 6 months from 10 years old
    Applies to
    Cars, including taxis, hackneys and limousines
    Where
    ncts.ie

  • CVRT

    How often
    Every year from the 1st anniversary of registration
    Applies to
    Vans and all goods vehicles, buses with more than 8 passenger seats, ambulances, trailers over 3,500 kg
    Where
    An authorised test centre, booked at cvrt.ie

  • Tachograph calibration

    How often
    At least every 2 years, and after repairs or a tyre size change
    Applies to
    Vehicles fitted with a tachograph
    Where
    An NSAI-approved tachograph workshop

  • Safety inspection

    How often
    At the interval you set: the RSA's guide runs from about 13 weeks down to 4
    Applies to
    Trucks, buses and heavy trailers, and vans if you choose to
    Where
    Your maintenance provider

  • Service

    How often
    At the manufacturer's distance or time limit, whichever comes first
    Applies to
    Every vehicle
    Where
    Your garage

  • Bus vehicle licence

    How often
    Usually 3 years
    Applies to
    Buses and coaches carrying passengers for reward
    Where
    An Garda Síochána

  • Taxi vehicle licence

    How often
    Every year, or every 6 months for some older vehicles
    Applies to
    Taxis, hackneys and limousines
    Where
    National Transport Authority

  • ADR vehicle certificate

    How often
    Every year
    Applies to
    Tankers and other vehicles approved to carry dangerous goods
    Where
    The RSA, after a CVRT pass

The cycles that catch people out: vans take the CVRT every year from their first anniversary, not at four years like a car, and taxis take the NCT, not the CVRT. A heavy vehicle's CVRT doesn't replace its safety inspections, and a safety inspection doesn't replace a service. Each has its own date.

More detail: the CVRT, the NCT, motor tax on vans and trucks, safety inspections, service schedules.

Driver dates

  • Driving licence

    How often
    Car licence (B) usually 10 years. Truck and bus licences (C, D) usually 5 years, with a medical report at each renewal
    Applies to
    Every driver
    Where
    NDLS

  • Driver CPC card

    How often
    Card valid up to 5 years, with one 7-hour training module every year
    Applies to
    Professional truck and bus drivers
    Where
    The RSA, posted automatically once the training is recorded

  • Tachograph driver card

    How often
    Every 5 years
    Applies to
    Anyone driving a vehicle with a tachograph
    Where
    The RSA

  • ADR certificate

    How often
    Every 5 years, with a refresher course in the final year
    Applies to
    Drivers carrying dangerous goods
    Where
    An approved ADR training provider. CILT issues the certificate for most classes

Driver dates follow the person, not the vehicle. A driver moving between vehicles, or an agency driver covering for a week, brings their own dates with them, and a lapsed card stops that driver working whatever the state of the vehicle. More detail: Driver CPC, drivers' hours and tachographs.

Business dates

  • Road transport operator licence

    How often
    Issued for up to 5 years
    Applies to
    Haulage for hire or reward over 3,500 kg (over 2,500 kg abroad), and bus and coach operators
    Where
    rtol.ie, the Department of Transport's licensing unit

  • Fleet insurance policy

    How often
    Usually every 12 months
    Applies to
    Fleets insured on one policy
    Where
    Your insurer or broker

  • RSA annual self-declaration

    How often
    Every year
    Applies to
    Owners of buses, goods vehicles and trailers over 3,500 kg, and ambulances
    Where
    The RSA, through cvrt.ie

A haulier also has to keep its operator licence evidence current through the life of the licence: a transport manager, financial standing, and an operating centre. See the operator licence guide.

The records behind the dates

Dates are what lapse. Records are what an inspector asks to see:

  • Maintenance, inspection, repair and defect records for each commercial vehicle, kept for at least two years, with the odometer reading and invoice for each job. See walkaround checks and the records to keep
  • Tachograph data: driver cards downloaded at least every 28 days and vehicle units at least every 90 days, kept for at least 12 months
  • A record of which driver had which vehicle and when, so a fixed charge notice can be nominated within its 28 days. See how to prove who was driving

How to keep it all in hand

  1. Put every date for every vehicle and driver on one list, not a list per person
  2. Give each date an owner: the person who will actually book the test or renew the policy
  3. Set reminders far enough ahead for the job. A test needs a few weeks to get a slot, an insurance renewal needs time to compare quotes
  4. Keep being reminded after a date lapses, until it is renewed. Silence after the expiry date is how a lapse turns into a summons
  5. Update each date the day the renewal comes through
  6. Review the whole fleet once a month, red and amber first

The cost of missing one is covered in the penalties for untaxed, uninsured and untested vehicles.

Where FleetMain fits

FleetMain was built for exactly this list. For each vehicle it tracks motor tax, the NCT or CVRT (or the MOT for a UK vehicle), insurance, tachograph calibration, safety inspections, the bus vehicle licence, the taxi vehicle licence and service schedules by mileage and time. Fleet-wide dates such as a fleet insurance policy or an operator licence are set once for the whole fleet. On the Business and Fleet Pro plans it also tracks each driver's licence, Driver CPC card, tachograph card and ADR certificate, and keeps the log of who had which vehicle and when.

You choose up to three reminder points for the fleet, anywhere from 1 to 365 days ahead, and anything that lapses keeps coming back in a regular reminder until it is renewed. Regional managers can be named on a group of vehicles so they get the reminders for their own vehicles only. The dashboard colours every date green, amber or red, and if you would rather not load the fleet yourself, the FleetMain team will do it for free.

This article is a general checklist, not legal advice. Each date's rules are set out in the linked guides and the official sources below, and should be confirmed for your own vehicles and drivers.

The FleetMain dashboard for a 26-vehicle demo fleet: 3 vehicles expired, 8 expiring soon and 15 with nothing due, with the same summary for its 10 drivers.
The dashboard: every vehicle and driver, sorted into expired, expiring soon and fine.

Common questions

What documents does a company van need in Ireland?

Motor tax, insurance, and a valid CVRT certificate from its first registration anniversary, with the CVRT, tax and insurance discs displayed. A van taxed at the goods rate also needs an RF111A goods declaration on file. Its owner must keep maintenance and defect records for two years, and drivers must do a walkaround check before driving it.

How often does a van need a CVRT?

Every year, starting on the first anniversary of its first registration. Vans don't follow the car's four-year NCT cycle.

What does a truck or bus operator need to track?

For each vehicle: motor tax, insurance, the CVRT, tachograph calibration and periodic safety inspections, plus the bus vehicle licence for buses. For each driver: the driving licence, Driver CPC card, tachograph card and, for dangerous goods, the ADR certificate. For the business: the operator licence and the RSA annual self-declaration.

Who is responsible if a company vehicle is untaxed, uninsured or out of test?

Often both the driver and the business. For driving without insurance, an NCT or a CVRT, the vehicle's owner can be prosecuted as well as the driver, and a company that can't name the driver on a fixed charge notice commits an offence of its own.

How far ahead should I be reminded about each date?

Far enough to do the job. A test needs a few weeks to get a slot, an insurance renewal needs time to compare quotes, and an operator licence renewal needs time to gather financial evidence. Many fleets use a long first reminder for those, and a final one a week before.

Sources

Every rule in this guide was checked against these pages on 20 October 2026.

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