This retention timeline is part of the roadside repair authorizations guide, which walks one out-of-network breakdown record by record. This page asks a narrower question: in what order does that history disappear when the system holding it is switched off?
Five clocks run on every roadside repair
One breakdown leaves records in several places, and each copy has its own end date. A retirement project usually sees one date (go-live). The history sees five.
| Record | What sets its clock | Documented minimum | Where it usually lives | Typical risk at retirement |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Driver vehicle inspection report | 49 CFR 396.11 | 3 months from the report date | Driver app or telematics | Gone long before any migration |
| Roadside inspection report copy | 49 CFR 396.9 | 12 months from the inspection | Safety or compliance files | Kept, but not linked to the repair that cleared it |
| Inspection, repair and maintenance records | 49 CFR 396.3 | 1 year where housed, 6 months after the unit leaves | Fleet system | Closed outside repairs often not imported |
| Vendor quotes and approval emails | Mailbox or ticket retention policy | None published | Shared mailbox, vendor portal | Deleted with the mailbox policy or left behind |
| Approvals against a spending limit | Fleet system or purchasing configuration | None published | Fleet system, purchasing | Old limits and approver names not migrated |
| Invoices and variance notes | Accounting retention | IRS: generally 3 years after filing | Accounts payable | Survive, but lose the link to the quote |
The federal figures are floors for safety compliance. None of them requires a fleet to keep the decision trail (the quote, the limit that applied, the approver, the reason a variance was accepted), and none of them gives permission to license anything.
What disappears first when the fleet system goes dark
The order is fairly predictable, though every fleet should check its own plan:
- Driver reports, within months. At three months they have usually rolled off already. Only reports attached to a ticket or work order survive the retention window.
- Quotes in inboxes. If quotes arrived by email and were never attached to the ticket, they leave with the mailbox policy, which has nothing to do with the retirement date. The difference between an email archive and a backup decides whether they can be recovered.
- Closed outside repairs and their approvals. A new system typically imports open work orders and the asset list. Closed out-of-network repairs, the approver field and the limit that applied stay in the old database, and the CMMS migration guide explains why import scopes are drawn that way.
- The link between roadside report and repair. The inspection copy may survive in safety files for 12 months, but the reference that tied it to the repair order often does not.
- Invoices, last. Accounts payable keeps paying records longest, so the cost survives while the reason for it does not.
That last point is the trap. A history in which invoices outlive approvals shows what each breakdown cost, not how anyone decided to spend it.
An Illustrative timeline for one fleet retirement
Illustrative only; the company and dates are fictional. A 260-person building-materials distributor with about 140 tractors is replacing its fleet system at fiscal year end. The fleet manager fills in the timeline from the project plan, without opening a single record.
| Point on the timeline | Event | Record class affected | Status after the event |
|---|---|---|---|
| Month minus 4 | Inventory call with the fleet manager | All six record classes | Listed with years, systems and owners |
| Month minus 2 | Import scope signed off | Closed outside repairs, approvals | Not in scope for the new system |
| Month 0 | New system live; old one read-only | Approvals, limits, work orders | Readable, but no longer updated |
| Month 3 | Shared mailbox policy purges older items | Vendor quotes held only in email | Gone unless saved to the ticket or archive |
| Month 12 | Old system license ends | Closed repairs, approvals, limits | Lost unless exported with IDs intact |
| Year 3 and later | Accounting retention continues | Invoices and variance notes | Survive under the finance schedule |
Only the federal minimums are outside figures here. The rest come from the fleet's own contracts and plans, which is why the timeline has to be completed by the people who hold them. Telematics data has its own export questions; Samsara export data covers one common platform.
SamsaraWho must approve keeping each record
Keeping data past its normal end date is a decision with an owner, not a technical step.
| Record class | Who can describe it | Who approves keeping it longer |
|---|---|---|
| Driver reports | Safety manager | Safety manager with counsel |
| Vendor quotes and emails | Fleet manager | IT for mailbox policy, counsel for vendor terms |
| Approvals and limits | Fleet manager | COO or CFO |
| Work orders | Maintenance supervisor | COO |
| Invoices and variances | AP lead | Finance director |
| Outsourced service desk notes | Fleet manager | Counsel, under the provider contract |
Do not recommend retaining anything without that authority, and never export or copy records yourself. A partner helps the fleet write down which copies exist and when each is due to end, so the decision is made knowingly.
What the partner writes down, and what stays unknown
Discovery stays at metadata level: record classes, years covered, the system and owner of each, approximate counts of out-of-network repairs, and every documented date. Record a date only when it is written somewhere, such as a license end, a read-only date or a decommission plan. That is the real urgency in this workflow. The referral brief template has a field for it, and fleet maintenance records covers the repair side of the same history.
The introduced company needs 50+ full-time employees at peak (contractors excluded, which matters for fleets using owner-operators), a documented operating history, rights to license the records and an authorized contact. Companies in the U.S., Canada and the EU qualify, as do companies in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, India, Singapore, South Africa, Latin America, the UAE and Saudi Arabia when at least 90% of the data is in English.
Unknown until SourceX reviews it: buyer interest in authorization histories, how vendor and service-desk contracts affect rights, how much preparation the records need, and any offer. SourceX licenses approved business data directly from companies for AI training and evaluation, and manages the agreement, rights review, data preparation, delivery and payout. Partners sign the Channel Partner Agreement before submitting, and the first valid introduction within the 90-day window is credited when the company submits a verified application. The who-can-license page names the executive to introduce.
Next step
Refer a company. Earn up to $100,000. Default reward: 25% of Actual Supplier Payout, capped at $100,000 cumulatively per referred company. Eligibility and payment conditions apply, and a signed Schedule A or addendum can differ. A lead, meeting or signature alone does not trigger payment.
If the timeline shows approval history that ends on a documented retirement date and an executive who can decide what happens to it, register as a partner, check the fleet on who qualifies and read the program terms before the introduction.