Add Your Trucks and Trailers in TruckTA

Your driver needs a truck, and your car-hauling setup needs a trailer. Before moving on to your first load, get both into TruckTA with their details, expiration dates, and documents. This guide follows the video “Add your trucks and trailers in TruckTA,” from opening Equipment to reviewing a driver assignment and saving your trailer.

1. Open Equipment from the sidebar

From the Dashboard, open Equipment from the sidebar. This is where you’ll find your truck and trailer records. Trucks and trailers each have their own tab, so you can view the equipment type you’re working with.

Each row shows the current driver, VIN and plate, and the registration and state inspection expiration dates. That gives you a place to check who’s in a unit and see its identifying details alongside those dates. Anything expired is flagged in red.

Start with the truck. On the Equipment page, select Add equipment to open the form. You can use a registration to fill in vehicle details or enter them by hand. Both routes begin from this control.

2. Add a truck from a registration or by hand

If you have the truck’s registration handy, select Analyze registration and upload it. TruckTA reads the year, make, model, VIN, plate, and expiration date from the registration. You review every value before it fills the form.

Treat that review as part of entering the truck, not something to skip past. Look through the values TruckTA read from the registration before letting them fill the form. The workflow gives you that review point before the extracted details become form entries.

If you’re entering the truck manually, type the details into the form instead. The unit number is the only required field. Keep the type set to Truck, then add the year, make, and model. Next, enter the VIN, license plate, and plate state.

The manual route doesn’t depend on uploading a registration first. Use it when you’re typing the vehicle details yourself; use Analyze registration when you want TruckTA to read the listed values from the document. Either way, you’re building the truck’s equipment record before moving down to its expiration dates and attachments.

3. Enter expiration dates and attach documents

In the truck form, go to Registration and Compliance. Enter the expiration dates for registration, annual state inspection, and annual federal inspection. These are separate date entries, so work through each one rather than treating the registration expiration as the only date to enter.

TruckTA tracks each date and shows when one is expiring soon or has expired. This is the date-tracking part of the setup: enter the dates here, then use the displayed expiration status to see which ones need your attention.

For equipment documents, use the attachment area on the right. Attach the registration, both inspections, insurance, a lease agreement, and a photo of the truck. You choose the files while you’re filling out the form, but they upload when you save. Selecting the files and saving the equipment are distinct parts of this workflow.

Value, bank, and monthly payment details are optional. Only people with access to sensitive equipment details can see them. If you’re entering those details, do so before saving; if not, they aren’t required to finish adding the truck.

At this point, you’ve worked through the vehicle details, expiration fields, and document selections. The next control finishes the equipment entry and opens the truck’s profile.

4. Save the truck and assign a driver

Select Save equipment. The selected files upload when you save, and the new truck’s profile opens. On that profile, Data Health lists what’s still missing, such as registration and insurance documents. The cards below count expired and expiring documents.

Use those two parts of the profile for different questions. Data Health shows missing information or documents; the cards show counts for documents that are expired or expiring. Saving the truck gets you to this view, where you can see what still needs attention.

To assign a truck to a driver, open the truck’s Assignments tab. Select Add Assignment, choose your driver, and set the start date. Use the date that was true for the assignment. Assignment history decides which truck gets each load and fuel purchase, so the date is more than a note about when you entered the record.

Next, select Review Impact. Before anything is saved, TruckTA shows how many loads, fuel purchases, and settlements the change affects. Read those counts before confirming. This is your opportunity to see the assignment’s impact before the change is saved.

Select Confirm Assignment to finish. Your driver now shows on the truck. Keep the sequence clear: Add Assignment is where you choose the driver and start date, Review Impact shows the affected records, and Confirm Assignment saves the assignment.

5. Add a trailer

Open Equipment from the sidebar again and select Add equipment. This time, set the type to Trailer. You’re using the same equipment workflow, but choosing the trailer type for this record.

Enter the unit number and vehicle capacity, which is how many cars the trailer carries. Then add the year, make, model, VIN, and plate. Once those details are entered, select Save equipment.

To find the saved trailer, open Equipment from the sidebar once more. When the list opens, select the Trailers tab. Your new trailer appears there. It’s ready to assign to a driver from its own Assignments tab, just like the truck.

Use TruckTA to organize your equipment details, track the dates you entered, and review driver assignments before confirming them. With your truck and trailer added, the next step shown in the video is to create your first load and dispatch it to your driver.