FleetFile
As described:StopNarrowed:NarrowNo as described. Go, small, as DOT paperwork for private trade fleets, with a day-45 kill test.
trade fleets · ~$85 a month per firm · last reviewed (next review by 29 Dec 2026) · 40 cited sources
Start this week
- Write down your access and hours honestly: who do you know who runs a landscaping, tree, HVAC or plumbing firm with trucks and trailers, or who insures them? And how many hours per week do you have available?
- Pull 300 firms from the FMCSA census: private-only, 3–25 power units, zero CDL drivers, landscaping or lawn in the name, in 3 states you can reach. Book 15 calls. The query is in research/10.
- Ask each owner 4 questions: do you keep DQ files today, when does each driver's medical card expire, how many drivers do you hire each spring, and has DOT or your insurer ever asked for these records? Record the answers word for word.
- Find the advisor: contact 5 independent DOT safety consultants and ask about a paid review of your checklist and templates.
- Set up the hands-on kit: an Airtable base with drivers, documents and expiry formulas, an e-sign application template, and a binder PDF template. Offer it to the first 3 firms at $49/month plus a $149 catch-up.
Checkpoints and kill gates
Decide in advance what counts as on track. Missing a checkpoint means changing the buyer or the offer, not adding features.
Day 30
~15 hrs/week
12 calls, advisor signed, 1 firm paying
Full-time
25 owner calls done. Advisor signed. 3 firms paying ≥$49 for the hands-on service.
If you miss it
No owner access: stop and find an association or insurance-agent partner first.
Day 45 (kill test)
~15 hrs/week
3 firms paying
Full-time
5 firms paying
If you miss it
Switch trade once (HVAC and plumbing instead of landscaping). Missing twice means stop.
Day 90
~15 hrs/week
8 firms, same rule
Full-time
15 firms on the self-serve product, every active driver with a complete file
If you miss it
Cut to the core: driver text link, expiry engine, binder. Drop vehicles and MVR ordering until usage returns.
Month 6
~15 hrs/week
$700 MRR (~8 firms)
Full-time
$1.5k MRR (~18 firms), monthly churn ≤2%, ≥30% of trials from search or referral
If you miss it
Pivot A: HVAC, plumbing and electrical firms. Pivot B: white-label for insurance agents and safety consultants who look after many small fleets.
Month 12
~15 hrs/week
$2k MRR (~24 firms)
Full-time
$5k MRR (~59 firms), ≥60% on annual
If you miss it
Stop feature work. Fix onboarding time and the single best channel.
Month 18
~15 hrs/week
$3k MRR (~35 firms)
Full-time
$8k MRR (~94 firms)
If you miss it
Add the second trade, or a field-service app marketplace listing, to widen the funnel.
Month 24
~15 hrs/week
$3–5k MRR, profitable
Full-time
$12–15k MRR, profitable ($20k is the stretch)
If you miss it
Above $10k: keep running it and consider a Canadian or state-intrastate expansion. Below $2k: stop, or pivot within compliance records for small fleets.
Do
1.Sell to private trade fleets, not truckers. Start with landscaping, lawn and tree firms with 3–25 DOT-regulated vehicles, US interstate or in states that adopt 10,001 lb.
Target: Every user can say it in one line: "It keeps my DQ files and med cards right, so an audit doesn't shut us down."
Why: Private fleets survive longer than small for-hire carriers (43–52% vs 27–40% still active). Trucking DQ tools are crowded at $15–49 (research/10).
2.Lead with the question owners can't answer: "Does DOT apply to my trucks?" Build a free 10,001 lb checker. The owner enters truck, trailer and state and gets a plain answer, the list of records they owe, and what they don't owe (no drug testing or Clearinghouse for non-CDL drivers).
Target: 200+ checker uses a month by month 6. ≥5% become trials.
Why: The buyer doesn't know the rule applies. The first job is teaching it, for free.
3.Make the driver do the paperwork, by text message. A link per driver: photo of licence and medical card (OCR reads the expiry), e-signed application, previous-employer consent.
Target: A new driver's file is complete in ≤3 days with ≤10 minutes of owner time
Why: Spring hiring means 5–20 new drivers in 6 weeks. Chasing paper is the pain.
4.Build the expiry and annual-review engine. It tracks medical cards, licences, the annual MVR and review, and road-test certificates. It sends reminders at 60, 30 and 7 days, and the review "note" is signed on a phone with the reviewer's name and date, as § 391.25 requires.
Target: Zero expired medical cards among active drivers across all customers
Why: Using a physically unqualified driver is an automatic failure in the new entrant audit (research/10).
5.Do a "catch-up" for every new firm. Import their current drivers, list what's missing per file, and give a fix-it list. Charge $149 once, or waive it on annual plans.
Target: 90% of new firms reach a complete file for every driver within 30 days
Why: Most owners start with nothing. A complete file on day 30 is the proof of value.
6.One-click audit binder. A PDF per driver and per vehicle, in the order an auditor asks for it, plus a retention log that shows what may be removed and when.
Target: Binder generated in under 1 minute
Why: This is what the owner shows the auditor. It's the reason to renew.
7.Add vehicle records in v1.1: maintenance log and due dates (§ 396.3), the annual inspection, and DVIRs only when a defect is reported.
Target: 80% of firms log every vehicle
Why: The same owner has the same record duty for trucks. It adds stickiness at little cost.
8.Order MVRs through a licensed MVR vendor, billed at cost plus $2. Never touch the raw record yourself beyond storing the PDF.
Target: MVR pass-through ≥95% of cost, zero FCRA/DPPA complaints
Why: State fees are $2–29. Using a licensed vendor keeps the permissible-purpose and consumer-report duties with them (confirm with counsel).
9.Price flat per firm with driver bands, and charge from day one. Crew $59, Company $119, Fleet $199. 14-day trial, no free plan, 2 months free on annual.
Target: ≥60% of firms on annual by month 12
Why: Annual plans cover the winter churn risk. Per-driver pricing punishes seasonal hiring.
10.Build channels that run while you're offline: SEO pages ("DOT number for a landscaping trailer", "medical card for a non-CDL driver in [state]"), the free checker, one state landscape association, and insurance agents who write contractor fleets.
Target: ≥50% of trials from search, association or referral by month 12
Why: At ~15 hrs/week you can't sell every firm by phone.
11.Automate onboarding and support. A recorded demo, the catch-up done by a guided import, templated emails, a help center, and one weekly office-hours call.
Target: ≤45 minutes of founder time per new firm after firm #25
Why: This is what makes the ~15 hrs/week plan possible.
12.Get a paid compliance advisor and E&O insurance before launch. The advisor signs off every rule, template and page of marketing copy.
Target: Signed within 30 days
Why: One wrong rule is copied into every customer's file. That's the liability.
Avoid
1.Selling to new trucking authorities and single-truck owner-operators
Why: 60–73% of new small for-hire registrations are gone within 3–5 years. At least 7 tools serve them at $15–49 a month. You'd be replacing your customer base every year.
2.Leading with the Clearinghouse and drug testing
Why: Part 382 applies only to CDL drivers. For a non-CDL trade fleet, it's irrelevant and confusing. Offer it later as an add-on for mixed fleets.
3.Becoming a drug-testing consortium or third-party administrator (TPA)
Why: A regulated service business with collectors, MROs and random-selection duties. Refer to one instead.
4.ELD, hours of service, GPS or dashcams
Why: Motive, Samsara and Lytx own them with hardware. Most trade fleets under 150 air miles likely fall under the short-haul exception (unverified; confirm with the advisor).
5.Promising "DOT compliant", "audit-proof" or "guaranteed"
Why: The carrier is responsible for compliance. You provide records, reminders and checklists. A crash lawsuit that finds an expired medical card will ask who promised what.
6.Giving rule answers without the advisor's sign-off
Why: Intrastate thresholds differ by state, and the checker's answers become advice. Every rule gets a source, a date and a reviewer.
7.Depending on Samsara or Geotab as the launch channel
Why: Samsara can remove you without cause, caps its liability at $100 and sells DQ files itself. DQM Connect already holds Geotab's DQ slot. Most small trade fleets probably aren't on either.
8.Bundling MVR fees into the subscription
Why: $2–29 a record by state. A 25-driver firm in an expensive state wipes out a year of margin.
9.Bulk cold email to the FMCSA census list
Why: The list is public, so owners already get a flood of compliance solicitations, some of them scams. Spam puts you in that bucket. Use small, personal batches that quote the firm's own census data.
10.A free plan, lifetime deals or AppSumo
Why: The cheap end is already $15 a month. Free users are owner-operators who churn when their authority lapses.
11.Filing services: UCR, IFTA, permits, MCS-150 updates, BOC-3
Why: They're one-off, low-margin and full of paperwork-mill competitors. They pull you toward being a filing service, not software.
12.Native iOS and Android apps before $10k MRR
Why: A text link and a mobile web page cover the driver's job.
13.Adding features when a checkpoint fails
Why: A miss means wrong trade, wrong fleet size or wrong pitch. Change that first.
14.Raising money
Why: The ceiling is a small, profitable business. Outside money pushes you into the trucking segment, which is avoid #1.