Operating a business as a legitimate interstate motor carrier is a feat in itself. With all of the different loopholes and forms, it takes serious “attention to details” to keep things straight. If you happen to do business as a California-based motor carrier, be prepared to take it up a notch! The Biennial Inspection of Terminals program, also known as BIT, takes it a step further to try and keep trucks on the 
road based out of California safe. Having literally just passed my BIT inspection just an hour before writing this, I figured I would talk a little more about what it is I had to go through as a California-based interstate motor carrier.
The first thing I think of when I hear the word inspection in relation to trucking is a coverall-clad DOT representative crawling under my truck on their creeper looking through everything with a fine-toothed comb. I am guessing that this image I conjure up in my head is not too far off from what most think of when they hear these words. This is just part of the BIT program though, since it is actually an inspection of one’s entire terminal and operations at least every 25 months. The reason I say California takes it up a notch is that there are many other facets to becoming a terminal rated as “satisfactory” in this state. For starters some of the extra items for BIT include having equipment safety inspections every ninety days and not just annually, log inspections since starting operations for all drivers (4 months for me), review of company drug & alcohol policies, verification of enrollment in the employer pull notice program through DMV for each driver, verification of enrollment in a drug and alcohol testing pool for each driver, and a review of all maintenance since starting operations for each piece of equipment. All of this is in addition to any paperwork electronically uploaded previously to the FMCSA for the federal audit and the complete level-one inspection on the trucks and trailers.
I know this is stuff that a lot of folks out there have said is the main reason they would never do business in this state. I happen to like having the beach thirty minutes in one direction and the mountains another forty-five minutes in the other, so I really have to make the BIT program work for me to continue my operations as a California-based carrier! Not to mention, for those of you not wanting work based out of California due to regulations like this…more work for me! I am never one to look at a challenge and take the easy way out, so instead of fearing the BIT program, I surrounded my self with some of the most knowledgeable people in the industry to help get prepared. With plenty of help in getting ready from lessons learned from my fellow Team Run Smart Pros and some help from Team Run Smart coach Joe Rajkovacz and his associate Shantal over at CCTA/WTA in Upland, California, I was armed with the best 
ammunition possible to succeed in my inaugural BIT inspection…Knowledge! With help from the very same resources readily available here to everyone on teamrunsmart.com I was able to not only pass my BIT inspection with a new CVSA sticker, but was told by the inspector that in his seven years of doing BIT inspections, I was actually the first person to truly impress him with my level of preparedness for the inspection! Proof positive that hard work pays off and luck does truly favor the prepared!
“Be prepared, work hard, and hope for a little luck. Recognize that the harder you work and the better prepared you are, the more luck you might have.” – Ed Bradley