Inspection certificate date

Definition

Minnesota's dated state patrol certificate every school bus must display, valid for twelve months.

Why It Matters

It is where deferred maintenance hides. A bus whose certificate is eleven months old is a bus whose next inspection is the buyer's problem, and the operator, not the state, is responsible for presenting each vehicle and for the repairs that get it through. The diligence item is the roster of certificate dates across the whole fleet instead of the odometer readings, because the dates tell you what the first year of ownership costs in shop time.