Equipment maintenance log: what to record, with a fleet spreadsheet to copy
What to record in an equipment or vehicle maintenance log, a filled-in fleet example, a spreadsheet layout to copy, and the federal record rules for trucks.
An equipment maintenance log is the service history of each machine or vehicle you run. Every inspection, service and repair gets one line: the date, the miles or hours on the meter, what was done, the parts, the cost, who did it and when the next service is due. Keep two lists: your assets, and the jobs done on them.
It’s for contractors, rental yards and small fleets that keep maintenance on paper or in a spreadsheet. You get the fields to record, a filled-in fleet log, a spreadsheet to rebuild, and the federal record rules for trucks.
How we researched this: in October 2026 we read the federal rules quoted here in the Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (eCFR), the government’s continuously updated online edition, and checked every spreadsheet step on Microsoft’s and Google’s own help pages. This guide isn’t legal advice.
What is an equipment maintenance log?
A maintenance log, also called a service record or maintenance tracker, answers three questions about each unit: what’s been done to it, what it has cost, and what’s due next. A vehicle maintenance log is the same thing for trucks, vans and trailers, tracked by mileage or date. Machines such as skid steers, excavators and generators are tracked by engine hours.
A log pays you back in four ways:
- Nothing gets missed. The next oil change or inspection is written down, not remembered.
- You see what each unit costs, and which truck costs the most to keep running.
- Repeat problems stand out. A third hydraulic hose on the same machine in one season is a pattern, not bad luck.
- You can prove the work was done, to an inspector, a dealer for a warranty claim, a customer renting the machine, or a buyer when you sell it.
A log records work that’s finished. A work order is one job to be done, and a preventive maintenance schedule lists what’s coming. Both feed the log.
What should an equipment maintenance log include?
Keep two lists, linked by a unit number: an asset list with one row per truck, trailer or machine, and a service log with one row per job. Details that don’t change, like the VIN, live once in the asset list instead of on every log line.
For each asset: the asset list
| Column | Example | Why it’s there |
|---|---|---|
| Unit | T-12 | The short number painted on the unit; every log line uses it |
| Type | Truck, trailer or machine | To sort the fleet, and to tell miles from hours |
| Year, make and model | 2021 Ford F-350 | For ordering parts and booking service |
| VIN or serial number | From the title or the unit’s ID plate | Identifies the unit on parts orders and paperwork |
| Plate | 8KLM203 | For registration renewals |
| Assigned to | Crew 1, or the yard | Who to ask about it |
| Miles or hours | 52,940 | The latest odometer or hour meter reading |
| Next service | Oil and filter | The next routine job |
| Due at | 53,210 | The reading when it’s due |
| Due by | Oct 6, for the trailer’s inspection | The date when it’s due, for jobs on the calendar |
A rental yard can add a column for whether each unit is out on rent, and log the check after each return (lights, tires, bearings) as an inspection line.
For each job: the service log
| Column | Example | Why it’s there |
|---|---|---|
| Date | Sep 4, 2026 | When the work was done |
| Unit | T-14 | Which asset, picked from a list |
| Miles or hours | 87,960 | The reading at the time, to time the next service |
| Type | Preventive, repair or inspection | Shows planned work against breakdowns |
| Work done | Front brake pads and rotors | In plain words, plus anything you noticed, like rear pads at 4 mm |
| Parts | Pads, rotors | Add the part numbers you reorder |
| Parts cost and labor cost | $412 and $272 | Two columns that add up to the job’s total |
| Done by | Mike, or Valley Diesel | Your mechanic or the outside shop |
| Invoice or work order number | INV-20418 | To find the paperwork later |
| Next due | Blank for a repair; 53,210 mi after T-12’s oil change | For routine jobs, the reading or date of the next one |
Write one line per job, even small ones like a tire patch, and never type over old lines. The history is the point.
What does a fleet maintenance log look like?
Here’s a filled-in vehicle maintenance log for a small excavation contractor with two trucks, a dump trailer and a skid steer. The Assets tab shows each unit’s reading and next service. The Log tab has one line per job.
A few things to copy from it:
- Due soon stands out. T-12 is at 52,940 miles with its oil change due at 53,210, and the trailer’s annual inspection is due Oct 6, so both show in amber.
- Outside work is logged too. T-14’s brake job was done at a shop, so the line names the shop; keep its invoice number there too.
In this example the trucks get an oil change every 5,000 miles and the skid steer every 250 hours. Use the intervals in each unit’s owner’s manual. Our preventive maintenance checklist covers what to check and how to schedule it.
How to make a fleet maintenance spreadsheet in Excel or Google Sheets
This vehicle maintenance spreadsheet works the same in Excel and Google Sheets, and machines fit in it too. Make two tabs named Assets and Log, with these headings in row 1:
Assets tab: A Unit; B Type; C Year, make and model; D VIN or serial number; E Plate; F Assigned to; G Miles or hours; H Next service; I Due at; J Due by; K Warn within; L Last service; M Spent this year.
Log tab: A Date; B Unit; C Miles or hours; D Type; E Work done; F Parts; G Parts cost; H Labor cost; I Done by; J Total; K Invoice or work order number; L Next due.
1. Fill in the Assets tab
Give each unit one row. Warn within is how early you want a warning, in miles or hours: 500 for a truck, say, or 25 for a machine. Leave Last service and Spent this year empty; formulas fill them in step 3.
Type every reading, Due at and Warn within as a plain number, like 52940 without “mi” or “h”, and Due by as a date. The formulas can’t compare text, and the unit’s Type tells you which meter it uses.
2. Add dropdowns so unit numbers match
The formulas only work if every log line spells the unit exactly as the Assets tab does. On the Log tab, make Unit a dropdown of your unit numbers, and Type a dropdown of Preventive, Repair and Inspection. Select the cells below each heading (B2 down for Unit), so the heading stays plain text.
- Google Sheets: choose Insert > Dropdown, then pick “Dropdown from a range” and enter Assets!A2:A200 for units, or pick “Dropdown” and type the items. Sheets rejects anything that isn’t on the list by default (Google help).
- Excel: choose Data > Data Validation, set Allow to List, and select the unit numbers on the Assets tab as the Source, or type Preventive,Repair,Inspection into it (Microsoft help).
3. Add the formulas
On the Log tab, Total adds the two costs. Type this in J2 and fill it down:
=G2+H2On the Assets tab, Last service finds each unit’s latest log date. Type this in L2, fill it down, and format the column as a date:
=IF(COUNTIF(Log!B:B,A2)=0,"",MAXIFS(Log!A:A,Log!B:B,A2))Spent this year adds up each unit’s totals since January 1. Type this in M2 and fill it down:
=SUMIFS(Log!J:J,Log!B:B,A2,Log!A:A,">="&DATE(YEAR(TODAY()),1,1))MAXIFS works in Google Sheets and in Excel 2019 or later, including Microsoft 365 (Excel, Google Sheets). It returns 0 when nothing matches, so the IF part leaves the cell blank for a unit with no jobs yet.
4. Flag what’s due
Conditional formatting turns a unit’s row amber when its next service is close. On the Assets tab, select A2:M200 and add a rule with this formula:
=OR(AND($J2<>"",$J2<=TODAY()+14),AND($I2<>"",$G2>=$I2-$K2))It flags a row when the Due by date is 14 days away or less, or when the reading is within Warn within of Due at.
- Google Sheets: choose Format > Conditional formatting, then pick “Custom formula is” under “Format cells if” (Google help).
- Excel: choose Home > Conditional Formatting > New Rule, then “Use a formula to determine which cells to format”; in Excel for the web, pick Formula as the rule type (Microsoft help).
5. Keep it current
Two habits keep the log honest:
- Update readings every week, from each driver’s odometer or operator’s hour meter.
- Close the loop after every job. Add the log line, then change the unit’s Next service, Due at and Due by. That second step is the one that gets skipped, and then the amber flag never comes on.
What maintenance records do commercial vehicles need?
If your trucks are commercial motor vehicles, federal rules set the minimum your log has to hold. FMCSA’s regulations count a vehicle used on a highway in interstate commerce as one when it (49 CFR 390.5T):
- has a gross vehicle weight rating or gross combination weight rating, or an actual weight, of 10,001 pounds or more, whichever is greater,
- is designed or used to carry more than 8 people for pay, or more than 15 people not for pay, counting the driver in both, or
- carries hazardous materials in amounts that need placards.
The combination rating can be the truck’s and trailer’s ratings added together, so a pickup towing an equipment trailer can count.
These rules cover interstate commerce, which includes trips inside your state that are part of a load’s journey to or from another state. If your trucks never do that, your state’s rules apply instead. States that take federal truck-safety grants must keep rules that match these (49 CFR 350.207), though they may exempt in-state trucks under 26,001 pounds unless they carry placarded hazardous materials or 16 or more people (49 CFR 350.305). Check with your state’s DOT.
For each commercial vehicle you control for 30 days in a row, 49 CFR 396.3 asks for three kinds of records (buses need a fourth, for emergency exit tests). The layout above holds most of it. Add an Owner column for any vehicle you lease or rent, and a third tab with one row per scheduled service for units with several, such as oil changes and the annual inspection.
| What 396.3 asks for | Where it goes in your log |
|---|---|
| An identification of the vehicle: company number if marked, make, serial number and year, plus who furnishes it if you don’t own it | Assets tab: Unit; Year, make and model; VIN or serial number; plus an Owner column |
| ”A means to indicate the nature and due date of the various inspection and maintenance operations to be performed” | Next service, Due at and Due by, one set for each scheduled service |
| A record of inspections, repairs and maintenance, with their date and nature | The Log tab |
Keep these records where the vehicle is housed or maintained for 1 year, and for 6 months after the vehicle leaves your control. Two other records sit next to the log:
- Annual inspection reports. Each commercial vehicle, including each trailer in a combination, must have passed an inspection in the last 12 months, with proof of it on the vehicle. Keep the inspector’s report for 14 months (396.17, 396.21).
- Driver vehicle inspection reports. At the end of each day’s work, drivers write up any defect they find or are told about that could affect safety or cause a breakdown, using the checklist below. You repair what affects safety before the vehicle runs again, certify on the report that it was repaired or that no repair was needed, and keep it for 3 months. Carriers that run only one commercial vehicle are exempt (396.11).
Daily commercial vehicle inspection checklist
The driver’s report covers at least these parts:
- Service brakes, including trailer brake connections
- Parking brake
- Steering
- Lights and reflectors
- Tires
- Horn
- Windshield wipers
- Mirrors
- Coupling devices
- Wheels and rims
- Emergency equipment
Every repair from a driver’s report goes in the Log tab like any other job. This summarizes the federal rules as of October 2026; read the full Part 396 for your own operation.
When should your maintenance log come from work orders?
A spreadsheet log is filled in after the fact. Someone does the job and writes it on a work order or gets an invoice. Then someone types it into the log, then updates the unit’s next service. The same job is written down three times, and each copy is a chance to miss one.
Run the log from work orders when:
- More than one person does the work, or drivers and operators report problems by text and phone instead of a maintenance request form.
- The next service is often out of date, so an oil change or inspection slips past.
- You can’t see what’s open. A log only holds finished jobs, so a truck waiting on parts doesn’t show up anywhere.
With work orders, every job is tracked from the moment it’s reported or comes due. The mechanic closes it with what was done, the reading, the hours and the parts, and that closed work order is the log entry.
That’s what maintenance software does. A CMMS, or computerized maintenance management system, keeps asset records, work orders and preventive maintenance schedules together. Our guide to free work order software compares free plans from MaintainX, Fiix, Coast and others, with their limits and prices.
Turn your maintenance log into a GoodTaco app
If you built the spreadsheet above, start there: upload it on our spreadsheet to app page, no account needed. GoodTaco brings your Assets and Log records into a built-in database, turns repeated choices like Type into dropdowns, and builds a web app around them in minutes.
When you’re ready to run every job as a work order, start from the free work order template instead. It’s a maintenance app with the log built in:
- An equipment list: each unit with its make and model, serial number, install date and notes, grouped by site. Mark a unit retired and its history stays.
- Work orders: a number, priority, assignee and due date for every job, with a board of what needs attention and a My work view of one mechanic’s jobs at a time.
- Close-out: finishing a job asks what was done, plus the hours, parts cost and contractor cost.
- Each unit’s history: a page per unit with its work order history, the number of jobs done, and the labor hours and parts cost they add up to.
- Repeating jobs: services every so many days, weeks or months. Each work order is created a set number of days before it’s due (7 by default) when someone on your team who can edit opens the app, and it lands in the work order list and that mechanic’s My work.
- A request page: drivers and operators report a problem from a link, and it lands as a request to review. Publish the app, then share the request link.
The template’s sample records are a property maintenance team’s buildings and boilers, and its repeating jobs run by date. Clear the samples, then ask for the fleet changes in plain words:
Rename sites to yards, and equipment categories to trucks, trailers and machines. Add a miles or hours reading to each unit and to each work order when it’s closed, track the next service by miles or hours as well as by date, and change the request form to ask for the yard and unit number instead of a building and room.
The app opens in any browser, including a phone’s, so a mechanic can close a job from the shop floor. Only people signed in to your GoodTaco workspace can open the board and the work orders. Anyone else who has the link gets the request page and nothing more.
GoodTaco is free to start. Paid plans start at $9 a month, and Pro at $49 a month includes 10 users; bigger teams talk to us about Enterprise.
Log every repair once, from the work order. Give your crew one app for the jobs and the maintenance log. Start free, no credit card needed.
Frequently asked questions
What is an equipment maintenance log?
It's the service history of each machine or vehicle you run. Every inspection, service and repair gets one line: the date, the meter reading, what was done, the parts, the cost, who did it and when the next service is due. Keep it as two lists: an asset list with one row per unit, and a service log with one row per job.
What should be included in a maintenance log?
For each asset: a unit number, the year, make and model, the VIN or serial number, the latest miles or hours, and the next service due. For each job: the date, the unit, the meter reading, the type of work, what was done, the parts, the parts and labor cost, who did it, an invoice or work order number, and when it's due next.
How do I make a vehicle maintenance log in Excel or Google Sheets?
Make two tabs. Assets has one row per vehicle with its reading and next service; Log has one row per job with the date, unit, miles, work done, parts and cost. Type readings as plain numbers, make the Log's Unit column a dropdown of your unit numbers, use MAXIFS and SUMIFS to show each vehicle's last service and spending this year, and use conditional formatting to flag services that are due soon.
How long should you keep vehicle maintenance records?
For commercial motor vehicles in interstate commerce, FMCSA's rule (49 CFR 396.3) says to keep inspection, repair and maintenance records where the vehicle is housed or maintained for 1 year, and for 6 months after the vehicle leaves your control. Annual inspection reports are kept for 14 months, and driver vehicle inspection reports for 3 months. Trucks that stay in one state follow their state's rules, which are often the same.
What is the difference between a maintenance log and a work order?
A work order is one job to be done, with who's doing it and when it's due. A maintenance log is the history of jobs that were done. When every job runs as a work order, the closed work orders become the log, so nothing is typed twice.
Is there a free equipment maintenance log template?
Yes. You can copy the Assets and Log layout in this guide into Excel or Google Sheets for free. GoodTaco's free work order template is a working maintenance app with an equipment list, work orders, each unit's service history and repeating jobs, and you change it by chatting.
What is the best way to track fleet maintenance for a small business?
A spreadsheet works for a handful of vehicles if one person keeps it current. Once several people do repairs or report problems, run every job as a work order so each unit's service history fills itself in, with maintenance software or an app built around your own log.
Start from the work order template
Get your own copy of a working work order app with sample data, ready to make yours. Free to start.
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