When it comes to USDOT Lettering, there are many options to displaying your US DOT & other important regulation numbers such as MC, KYU, CA & GVWR. In this short blog, we’ll go over the basics of each.

Vinyl Lettering

Vinyl lettering is great since it’s easy to place, it looks professional and it’s customizable. Vinyl lettering will also last a long time and will withstand all of the elements. You don’t have to worry about your important regulation numbers falling off and failing a USDOT inspection. Another great feature is that when you are ready to sell your commercial vehicle or go out of business you can easily take off the vinyl lettering and the vehicle will look like before. It won’t damage the paint and it will not leave any residue behind.

Magnets

Magnets are another method of displaying your regulation numbers. This method is a bit riskier since your magnets can be easily stolen (yes this happens quite often) or your magnets tend to fall off at high speeds (60 MPH +). A lot of truckers have been fined heavily when they have lost their magnets. Let’s say you are doing business and you get stopped at a truck scale by a DOT officer and your magnets are nowhere to be found. Do you think the DOT officer will believe you? No! It is your responsibility to display all of your lettering on your cabin at all times. Magnets are good for individuals who use their personal vehicle for business and vice versa. In our opinion, magnets do not look very professional. Do you ever see law enforcement vehicles displaying magnets? Never!

Spray Paint Lettering

We have seen hundreds of people display their US DOT regulation lettering with spray paint (stencils). This is by far the worst thing you can do as it will damage the paint and it will not look very professional. This is an immediate solution, but we recommend against this method. Getting spray paint off vehicle paint is extremely difficult and will hurt the value of the commercial vehicle.

Pen & Paper Method

We’ve seen hundreds of carriers displaying their regulation numbers on a piece of computer paper taped on their cabin. While this is technically compliant, we strongly recommend against this method. Rain will destroy the paper and you’ll be out of compliance immediately. Besides, it’s your business, would you really want to display your carrier name and USDOT on a piece of paper?