What are vehicle maintenance reporting standards (VMRS) codes?

What are vehicle maintenance reporting standards (VMRS) codes?

VMRS stands for vehicle maintenance reporting standards. VMRS codes are numeric codes that provide a standard, universal language to help all parties involved in truck maintenance communicate. Those involved may include fleets, original equipment manufacturers (OEM), service providers, maintenance personnel and repair shops. VMRS codes help establish record-keeping practices for equipment maintenance.

VMRS was developed in 1970 by the American Trucking Association (ATA). VMRS codes are maintained by the ATA’s Technology and Maintenance Council (TMC) and are updated regularly. The codes describe causes, fixes, components, systems, equipment, types of work and more on a wide range of maintenance work. The VMRS digit codes also cover various vehicles and types of equipment including trucks, tractor units, trailers, forklifts, utility vehicles, and more. In its most recent version, VMRS can accommodate up to 1,000 different vehicle systems.

How do you read VMRS codes?

The VMRS coding system is relatively easy to learn. Due to the logical structure of a VMRS, fleet managers can choose to stay high-level or drill down to the component and parts level if needed.

At the highest level, VMRS codes are organized by categories called code keys. There are 65 active VMRS code keys that cover all sides of the industry, but typically only a handful will be relevant to an organization. Some of the most common VMRS code keys for fleets include: 

• Code Key 01 – Organization/Location: Identifies the company, division, or location performing or receiving the service.

• Code Key 02 – Equipment Type: Describes the general type of equipment (such as tractor, trailer, forklift).

• Code Key 05 – Work Accomplished: Details the type of work performed (such as repair, replace, adjust, clean).

• Code Key 06 – Repair Priority: Indicates the urgency or priority of the repair (such as safety-critical or minor).

• Code Key 13 – Mode of Failure: Describes how a part failed (such as worn, cracked, seized).

• Code Key 14 – Reason for Repair: Indicates why the maintenance or repair was performed (such as scheduled PM, driver report, breakdown).

• Code Key 18 – Technician Failure Codes: Describes the specific reason a part or component failed, as diagnosed by the technician.

• Code Key 20 – Labor Work Accomplished: Captures labor effort in terms of specific tasks or job functions.

• Code Key 31 – System: Identifies the major system on the vehicle where the issue occurred (such as electrical, brake, engine).

• Code Key 32 – Assembly: Narrows down the system to a specific assembly within it (such as alternator within the electrical system).

• Code Key 33 – Component Code: Pinpoints the exact part or component being worked on or replaced (such as battery terminal). Code Key 34 – Manufacturers: Specifies the manufacturer of the failed or replaced component.

• Code Key 36 – Parts Warranty Status: Indicates whether the part was under warranty at the time of failure.

VMRS codes are made up of nine digits, grouped in threes like this: 000-000-000. The first three digits are a system code. The second or middle set of digits describe the assembly. Finally, the last three digits identify the component or parts.

Managers can look up VMRS codes by looking them up in spreadsheets licensed from the TMC. They are also included in most maintenance software programs or available for integration into systems.

What are the benefits of VMRS codes for fleet management?

Eventually, all vehicles and equipment in your fleet will need maintenance. VMRS codes offer many significant benefits, enabling everyone within to completely understand a vehicle’s repair history and what happened during the repair—without the need for extensive reports and write-ups.

Here’s how VMRS codes are commonly used in the trucking industry:

1. Improving preventive maintenance

VMRS codes are foundational to many preventive maintenance programs. Managers and technicians often use VMRS codes to guide maintenance processes by standardizing work orders and scheduling language into a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS).

Without VMRS codes, getting issues resolved in repair shops was complicated by miscommunication. For example, when a technician fixes a power window, there are multiple ways they could note this in a report. But with VMRS codes, fleet managers can monitor their fleet’s progress over time since every component and labor uses a common language.

2. Reducing maintenance costs

With regular fleet maintenance, managers can analyze VMRS data to gain insight into performance. VMRS codes help reduce maintenance costs by providing detailed, standardized data that allows fleets to identify trends, inefficiencies, and recurring issues. With this maintenance information, fleet managers can optimize preventive maintenance schedules, reduce unnecessary repairs, quickly identify parts numbers required for repairs, and address root causes of frequent breakdowns. For instance, managers can view data and diagnose if an issue is a symptom of a larger problem. By identifying root causes of issues, they can take action to prevent a breakdown, which saves on time and reduces maintenance costs.

3. Streamlining regulatory compliance

​VMRS codes ensure compliance by standardizing how maintenance data is recorded, making it easier to meet regulatory requirements from agencies such as the FMCSA and DOT. Like building a maintenance program with a common language, managers can use VMRS codes to build templates for inspections and reporting. With this maintenance data as a benchmark, fleets can ensure accurate documentation of repairs, improve audit readiness, and help track safety-critical maintenance activities, warranties, and recalls. VMRS also helps streamline environmental and emissions compliance, such as EPA emissions guidelines, smog check standards, and CARB regulations, by providing consistent records that demonstrate proper vehicle maintenance and regulatory compliance.

4. Enhancing operational efficiency

VMRS codes enhance operational efficiency and reduce downtime by providing clear, standardized maintenance data that makes it easy to improve work order processing, parts management, and technician scheduling. By using VMRS codes to identify recurring issues and track repair times and costs, fleet managers can proactively address maintenance issues, streamline preventive maintenance, and ensure faster turnaround on repairs. As a result, fleets can maximize uptime, reduce unexpected breakdowns, and optimize maintenance operations.

Transform fleet maintenance management with Samsara's Connected Asset Maintenance solution

Vehicle maintenance reporting standards (VMRS) are important for ensuring that your fleets are optimizing their maintenance operations. Modern organizations today are implementing Samsara’s Connected Asset Maintenance solution to help them save time, increase asset utilization, and enhance operational efficiency.

Samsara Connected Asset Maintenance is designed to minimize the time your vehicles spend in the shop and maximize their time on the road, directly impacting your bottom line. By consolidating critical maintenance information and streamlining key workflows, you can:

• Improve maintenance management: Simplify maintenance with an integrated computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) with work orders, parts, inventory management, asset health, and invoice scanning.

• Unlock deeper maintenance insights: Track costs and and proactively identify problem areas, enabling you to improve uptime, reduce unplanned maintenance, and minimize downtime.

• Consolidate systems and processes: Gain a holistic view of your maintenance operations on a single dashboard and streamline workflows with native integrations and third-party APIs.

• Reduce manual work and improve maintenance with AI: Leverage Samsara Intelligence, our industry-leading AI technology to surface fault codes, customize repair instructions, analyze invoices, and automate work order creation from scanned vendor documents.

Learn how Samsara can help you improve your fleet maintenance by diving into our Vehicle Telematics solution and get in touch with our team today.