Fleet compliance reminders for trades

Builders · plumbers · electricians · joiners · gardeners · landscapers · roofers

A van off the road costs you a day's revenue and the customer's trust. Most trades businesses run between one and five vans, with no admin team and no software budget. Fleetkeep gives every van its own MOT, tax, insurance and service reminders in a single dashboard. The job is to keep the tools moving. We keep the paperwork off your bench.

Why trades fleets are easy to forget

The compliance dates are not difficult to track. The problem is that nothing about a working day reminds you of them:

• You're on a customer site. The DVLA reminder letter went home; you're at someone's house with a deadline. By the time the post is opened, the date is past.
• Mixed renewal cycles. If your fleet grew over years, Transit in 2020, Sprinter in 2023, Custom in 2024, every vehicle is on its own MOT and tax cycle. The dates do not line up.
• The signwriting van is the one you forget. The branded company van gets used every day so you notice it. The unbranded backup or apprentice's van is quieter, and is exactly the one whose MOT lapses.
• Insurance auto-renew is not the same as good insurance. Renewal quotes go up unless you actively review them three weeks ahead. Without a reminder, most trades just take the renewal price.

What applies to a trades van

The compliance basics for any van under 3.5 tonnes are the same regardless of who is driving it:

• MOT: class IV (vans up to 3,000 kg) or class VII (vans 3,000-3,500 kg). Annual after the third year.
• Vehicle Excise Duty (road tax): most vans are under "TC39 light goods" at a flat annual rate. More on TC39 in our VED guide.
• Insurance: typically commercial-use with goods-carrying and tools cover. SDP is not enough; tools-in-transit cover is usually a separate add-on.
• Service: most manufacturers recommend every 12 months / 12,000 miles, whichever comes first. For tradesmen putting on 30-50k a year, you'll hit mileage long before time.
• O-licence: only required for vehicles over 3.5 tonnes hauling goods commercially. A standard transit van does not need one.

The maths on one van off the road

A typical sole-trader builder bills £200 to £350 per day. A two-person team bills £400 to £600. Now factor in a clamped van:

• Lost day rate while you sort it out: £200 to £600.
• Recovery / declamp fee: £100 plus VAT.
• Late-licensing fine: £40 to £80.
• Worst case, driving without an MOT and being stopped: up to £1,000 (or £2,500 if the vehicle is in a dangerous condition), plus invalidated insurance on any incident in the lapsed window.
• Hidden cost: rebooking the customer who was expecting you that day. Some never come back.

Fleetkeep starts from £6.67/month for 2 vehicles when billed annually. The first time it saves you a day, the maths is already done.

How Fleetkeep works for a trades fleet

Sign in with Google, paste the registrations of every van you operate (or upload a CSV of up to 25 at once). We pull MOT and tax data straight from DVLA's published services and pre-fill the make, model, year, fuel and colour. You add the bits DVLA does not hold:

• A label. "Old white Transit", "Sprinter, Jamie", "Custom blue lifted". So you know which is which without checking plates.
• Insurance renewal date. Whatever your broker quoted you when you renewed.
• Last service date and interval. Default 12 months. Set 9 or 6 if you're high-mileage.

Then the reminders kick in: 60, 30, 14 and 7 days before every renewal across every van, emailed to you and an optional second contact. The dashboard shows red for items due in the next 7 days, amber for 30, green for everything else. Every van on one screen.

Worked example: a 3-van plumbing firm

You run a plumbing business: yourself plus an apprentice plus a sub-contractor, three vans. A Vivaro you've had four years, a Custom bought 18 months ago, and a Connect for the apprentice. Three MOTs, three tax dates, three insurance renewals, three service intervals. Twelve dates total in a year.

The Vivaro's MOT is in November. The Custom's MOT is in May. The Connect's is in January. The Vivaro's tax is in March. The Custom's tax is in October. The Connect's tax is in July. None of these line up. Without a tracking system, you will miss one, eventually, and the Vivaro spending a day off the road in November while you sort an MOT slot at short notice costs you a customer's bathroom job.

With Fleetkeep, all three vans are on one screen, sorted by next renewal. The November MOT lands in your inbox in October so you can book the slot when you have time, not when DVSA happens to have one available. Simple.

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