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Truck Accident Evidence Preservation Letter
The trucking company's driver logs, camera footage and engine data are the case — and federal rules let the company destroy most of them on a schedule unless it has been put on notice. This builds that notice: a spoliation letter citing each record and the regulation that governs it, with the Florida insurance-disclosure demand included. Composed in your browser; nothing is stored or sent.
Fill in the crash date, location, carrier and your name to complete the letter (15 blanks left).
[DATE]
VIA CERTIFIED MAIL, RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED, AND EMAIL
[MOTOR CARRIER NAME]Attn: Safety Director / Risk Management / Registered Agent[CARRIER MAILING ADDRESS]USDOT No. [USDOT NUMBER — on the truck door and at safer.fmcsa.dot.gov]
Re: NOTICE TO PRESERVE EVIDENCE — Crash of [DATE OF CRASH] at [ROAD, CITY AND COUNTY OF THE CRASH], involving your commercial motor vehicle ([DESCRIPTION OF TRACTOR AND TRAILER — make, color, unit and trailer numbers, plates]) operated by [NAME OF DRIVER, if known]
Dear Sir or Madam:
I was injured in the crash described above. This letter is formal notice that a claim is being asserted against [MOTOR CARRIER NAME], its driver, and every other person or entity responsible for the vehicle, its driver, its cargo and its operation on that date, and that you are obligated to preserve every record, device and item of physical evidence relating to the crash, the driver and the vehicle.
Federal regulations require you to retain many of the records listed below for fixed periods — six months for hours-of-service records and their supporting documents under 49 CFR § 395.8(k), for example — and routine destruction after those periods is lawful only where no claim has been asserted. A claim has now been asserted. You must immediately suspend every automatic deletion, overwrite, recycling and disposal process that would otherwise reach any of the following, and confirm in writing that you have done so:
1. Hours-of-service records and electronic logging device (ELD) data. All ELD records of duty status, ELD output files, edits and annotations, unassigned driving records, malfunction and diagnostic logs, and every supporting document — fuel receipts, toll and weigh-station records, bills of lading, dispatch and trip records, payroll and settlement sheets — for the 6 months before the crash and the 30 days after. (49 CFR § 395.8(k); retention: 6 months.)
2. Engine control module (ECM) and event data recorder (EDR) data. All data held by the engine control module, event data recorder, and any collision-avoidance, lane-departure, stability-control or brake-control system on the tractor and trailer, including hard-brake, last-stop and sudden-deceleration events, and the modules themselves; the vehicle is not to be driven, repaired, altered, salvaged or sold before a joint inspection and download. (preserved in place; retention: until downloaded — overwritten by continued operation.)
3. Camera footage and telematics. All forward-facing, driver-facing and side-camera video and audio, event-triggered clips, and all telematics, GPS, fleet-management and driver-monitoring data (for example Samsara, Motive, Omnitracs, Lytx, PeopleNet, Geotab or any similar system), together with all dispatch, satellite, in-cab and text communications with the driver, for the 72 hours before the crash and the 24 hours after. (carrier retention policy — often days; retention: routinely overwritten within days to weeks.)
4. Driver qualification file. The complete driver qualification file, including the employment application, motor vehicle record inquiries, road test and certification, medical examiner's certificate, annual reviews, prior-employer inquiries and safety performance history, and all training, disciplinary and prior crash and violation records for the driver. (49 CFR § 391.51; retention: employment plus 3 years.)
5. Drug and alcohol testing records. All post-accident alcohol and controlled-substance test results, chain-of-custody documents, and any record explaining why a required post-accident test was not performed, together with the driver's pre-employment, random, reasonable-suspicion and return-to-duty testing history and Clearinghouse queries. (49 CFR Part 382, including § 382.303 post-accident testing; retention: 1 to 5 years depending on the record.)
6. Inspection, maintenance and repair records. All inspection, repair and maintenance records for the tractor and trailer for the year before the crash, all driver vehicle inspection reports (DVIRs) and certifications of repairs, annual inspection records, out-of-service orders, roadside inspection reports, and any post-crash inspection, estimate, repair or salvage record. (49 CFR § 396.3(c) and § 396.11; retention: 1 year for maintenance records; 3 months for driver vehicle inspection reports.)
7. Accident register and post-crash investigation. The carrier's accident register entry for this crash, all internal investigation reports, photographs, statements, root-cause or preventability determinations, and communications with any insurer, adjuster, investigator or reconstructionist concerning the crash. (49 CFR § 390.15; retention: 3 years.)
8. Cargo, loading and weight records. Bills of lading, shipping papers, load manifests, weight tickets, cargo-securement records, and all records identifying the shipper, broker and loader of the cargo being carried at the time of the crash. (49 CFR Part 393, Subpart I; § 392.9; retention: varies.)
9. Driver's phone and messaging records. All records of calls, texts, app usage and data activity on any carrier-issued phone or device, and the identity of any personal phone the driver used, for the 24 hours before and after the crash. (carrier and driver possession; retention: carrier-issued devices under carrier control.)
The tractor, trailer and all of their components — including the engine control module, event data recorder, and any camera, telematics or collision-avoidance hardware — are to be held in their post-crash condition and are not to be driven, repaired, altered, salvaged, released or sold until my representatives have had a reasonable opportunity to inspect, photograph and download them. Please contact me to arrange that inspection.
Under section 627.4137, Florida Statutes, you and every liability insurer that may provide coverage for this crash are required, within 30 days of this written request, to provide a statement under oath of a corporate officer or the insurer's claims manager or superintendent setting forth the name of each insurer, the name of each insured, the limits of liability coverage, a statement of any policy or coverage defense, and a copy of each policy. Please treat this letter as that request and forward it to each insurer that may afford coverage.
Your preservation obligations extend to evidence held by your agents, employees, contractors, telematics and camera vendors, maintenance providers, insurers, adjusters and investigators, and you are responsible for notifying each of them of this demand. Destruction, alteration or loss of any of the evidence described above after receipt of this notice will be brought to the court's attention, which may impose sanctions and instruct the jury that the missing evidence would have been unfavorable to you.
Please confirm in writing within ten (10) days of receipt that this notice has been received and that the preservation steps described above have been taken. Direct all communications concerning this matter to me at the address below.
Sincerely,
[YOUR FULL NAME][YOUR MAILING ADDRESS][YOUR PHONE][YOUR EMAIL]
cc: [NAME OF DRIVER, if known] (driver)cc: [CARRIER'S LIABILITY INSURER, if known] (insurer)
How to send it
- Certified mail, return receipt requested, to the carrier's principal place of business from the FMCSA lookup, plus email to any address you have. Keep the receipt — the date of notice is the point of the letter.
- Send copies to the driver, to the carrier's insurer if you know it, and to any other company named on the truck or trailer — a lessor, a broker, a shipper. Each holds its own records.
- Send it today. Camera footage is routinely overwritten within days, the ECM is overwritten by driving, and the six-month ELD clock is already running.
- Get the crash report and the FMCSA safety profile for the USDOT number. Both tell you who else to write to.
This is a form of notice, not a court order. If the carrier ignores it, the next step is an emergency motion for a preservation order — which is where an attorney becomes necessary rather than helpful. What the black box and ELD data show →
This tool provides general information — not legal advice about your case.
A preservation letter creates the duty; it does not enforce it. HOV Law sends these within hours of being retained, follows them with the inspection demand and, where a carrier stalls, an emergency motion — and reads the ELD and ECM data when it arrives. If a truck hurt you or someone you love, send the letter today and call.
Preservation Letter Questions
What is a spoliation letter in a truck accident case?+
A spoliation letter — a preservation letter, or litigation-hold letter — is written notice to the trucking company that a claim is being asserted and that it must preserve every record and item of evidence relating to the crash. Its purpose is to create a clear duty to preserve at a fixed, provable date. Florida does not recognize a separate lawsuit for destroying evidence (Martino v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 908 So. 2d 342 (Fla. 2005)); what it provides instead is sanctions and an instruction to the jury that missing evidence would have been unfavorable to the party that lost it — and both remedies depend on showing the company knew it had to keep the evidence.
How long does a trucking company have to keep ELD and hours-of-service records?+
Six months. Under 49 CFR § 395.8(k), a motor carrier must retain records of duty status and their supporting documents for six months. After that, unless a claim has been asserted, routine destruction is lawful — which is why the letter has to go out early, and why it should specifically demand suspension of automatic deletion. Vehicle maintenance records are kept for one year under 49 CFR § 396.3(c), driver vehicle inspection reports for only three months, and camera footage is governed by the carrier's own retention policy, which is often days.
What evidence does a truck accident preservation letter demand?+
Everything the carrier holds that bears on the driver, the vehicle and the trip: ELD and hours-of-service data with supporting documents; the engine control module and event data recorder; forward- and driver-facing camera footage and telematics; the driver qualification file; drug and alcohol testing records, including the post-accident test that 49 CFR § 382.303 requires within 8 hours for alcohol and 32 for drugs; inspection, maintenance and repair records; the accident register and internal investigation; cargo, loading and weight records; and the driver's phone records. The letter also demands that the tractor and trailer be held in their post-crash condition until inspected.
Can I send the preservation letter myself, or do I need a lawyer?+
You can send it yourself, and you should not wait to do so. The letter creates the duty; what it cannot do is enforce it. If the carrier ignores the letter or refuses an inspection, the remedy is a motion in court for a preservation order, and reading the ELD, ECM and telematics data once it arrives is technical work. Sending the letter today and retaining counsel this week is the sequence that protects the evidence.
Who should receive the letter?+
The motor carrier named on the truck door, at its principal place of business from the FMCSA registration, by certified mail with return receipt and by email. Copies to the driver, the carrier's liability insurer if known, and every other company named on the tractor or trailer — a lessor, a broker, a shipper, a maintenance vendor. Each of them holds its own records, and each is a separate potential defendant.
What does Florida Statute 627.4137 require the trucking company's insurer to disclose?+
Within 30 days of a written request, every liability insurer that may provide coverage for the crash must provide a sworn statement identifying each insurer, each insured, the limits of coverage, any policy or coverage defense, and a copy of the policy. The letter this tool builds makes that request. Knowing the coverage early — a federal minimum of $750,000 for most interstate carriers, often far more — shapes every decision that follows.
What if the truck has already been repaired or the footage already deleted?+
Send the letter anyway, today. It fixes the date from which the carrier was on notice, and anything destroyed after that date is exposed to sanctions and the adverse-inference instruction. Evidence destroyed before notice is harder — it turns on whether the carrier reasonably should have anticipated litigation, which a serious crash usually establishes on its own — and much of what matters exists in more than one place: the ELD vendor's servers, the telematics provider, the insurer's file, the police body-camera footage.
Related: Orlando truck accident lawyer · Black box & ELD evidence · What to do after a truck accident · FMCSA hours of service
Disclaimer
Not legal advice. This tool is provided for general informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. It cannot account for every fact, exception, or nuance that may affect your specific situation. Using this tool, or submitting information through it, does not create an attorney-client relationship with HOV Law.
Estimates only — not a guarantee. Any figures, dates, or outcomes this tool generates are estimates based on the general rules of Florida law and the information you enter. They are not a valuation, settlement offer, guarantee of coverage, or prediction of how an insurer, court, or jury will resolve your case. Actual results depend on facts, evidence, and legal arguments this tool cannot evaluate.
Laws change. Statutes, deadlines, and dollar amounts referenced in this tool reflect Florida law as HOV Law understands it at the time of publication and are subject to change by the Florida Legislature or the courts. Verify current law or consult an attorney before relying on any result.
This tool composes a general-form preservation demand from the information you enter. It is not a court order and does not itself compel any party to do anything; its function is to establish notice. It cannot identify every party that may hold evidence, verify the carrier's identity or address, or determine which federal rules apply to a particular vehicle or operation. Review the letter before sending it, keep proof of delivery, and consult an attorney about enforcing it.
For advice about your specific situation, contact HOV Law for a free, confidential consultation.