How should a truck yard handle monthly fleet parking requests?

Qualify a monthly fleet request before you quote it: equipment counts and trailer types, reefer use, gate hours, who pays and the start date. Quote from your rate sheet and assign spots or a zone in writing. Collect a signed yard lease, the first payment and any insurance certificate the lease requires, and set a reminder before the certificate expires.

What to ask on the first call

Question	Why it matters
Carrier name and the person authorized to sign	The lease and payment need a responsible party.
Number of tractors, trailers and bobtails	Decides spot count and type.
Trailer type and length	Dry van, reefer, flatbed, tanker or chassis. Lengths decide which rows work.
Will reefers run on site?	Noise, fuel and power rules, and which rows they can use.
Gate hours needed	24-hour access, set hours, or after-hours by code.
Reserved spots or first-come in a zone	Changes price and how you police the lot.
Start date and expected term	Monthly, or a longer commitment.
Who pays: the carrier, a broker or an owner-operator	Billing contact and payment method.
Unit numbers and plates	So yard staff know who belongs on site.

Reserved spots or a zone?

Option	Works when	Watch out for
Reserved, numbered spots	Fleets that return at set times and need the same place	Empty reserved spots in a full yard; price it accordingly
Assigned zone	Fleets with changing unit counts	Clear signage and a cap on units in the zone
Unreserved, first-come	Smaller carriers and owner-operators	More disputes at night when the yard is full

The fleet onboarding workflow

Step	Owner	What	Output
1. Qualify	Office	Ask the questions above	Request record
2. Quote	Office	Price from your rate sheet; send it in writing with terms	Written quote
3. Lease	Carrier	Sign the yard lease and pay the first month	Signed lease
4. Insurance	Carrier	Send the certificate your lease requires	Certificate on file with expiry date
5. Access	Office	Issue gate codes or credentials per driver or per unit	Access list
6. Assign	Yard staff	Mark the spots or zone; share a yard map	Spot assignment
7. Review	Office	Check unit list, payment and certificate monthly	Account status

Paperwork checklist

• Signed yard lease with spot count, rate, term and rules (required)
• First payment received (required)
• Insurance certificate on file, with the expiry date recorded (required if your lease requires one)
• Unit numbers, trailer types and plates listed (required)
• Driver contact list and gate access per driver or unit (required)
• Reefer rules acknowledged, if reefers will run (required if applicable)
• Billing contact and payment method on file (required)
• Yard map with assigned spots or zone shared (recommended)

Example (hypothetical)

A regional carrier asks for monthly parking for 6 tractor-trailer combinations with 53-foot trailers. Two of the trailers are reefers that will run overnight. The yard's rate sheet lists $250 a month per tractor-trailer spot, and a $50 monthly charge per running reefer.

• Spots: 6 times $250 is $1,500.
• Reefers: 2 times $50 is $100.
• Monthly total: $1,600.

The yard assigns 6 numbered pull-through spots in the row set aside for running reefers and longer equipment. The carrier's certificate of insurance expires March 31. Reminders go out on March 1 (30 days before), March 17 (14 days) and March 28 (3 days). If a new certificate has not arrived by April 1, the yard follows what its lease says about lapsed coverage, rather than discovering the gap after an incident.

Common problems

Problem	Likely cause	Fix
Unknown trucks in the yard at night	No current unit list	Require unit numbers and plates; update them monthly
Lapsed insurance found after an incident	Expiry date never tracked	Record the expiry date and send reminders before it
Disputes over a carrier's "reserved" spot	Spots assigned verbally	Put spot numbers in the lease and on a shared yard map
Reefer noise or fuel complaints	No reefer rules	Assign reefer rows and write the rules into the lease
Late monthly payments	Unclear billing contact	Record who pays and send payment links before the due date
Drivers locked out after hours	Gate codes not updated when drivers change	Update access when the carrier changes its driver list

What to track

Track the share of fleet accounts with a current insurance certificate on file. It is the number most likely to hurt you if it slips.

Where Propty fits

Propty's truck and trailer yard page describes answering carrier calls 24/7 with an approved greeting, quoting only from your rate sheet, texting back missed callers and holding the conversation in Spanish when a driver speaks Spanish. Its What you get page describes paperwork and insurance-certificate reminders at 30, 14 and 3 days, payment links sent by text within your texting rules, and an app where carriers pay rent and fees and view their agreement. These descriptions come from Propty's public pages as checked on 2026-10-14. They are not a test of the live product. What is available for a property depends on setup and connected services, so confirm current behavior in a demo before relying on it.

For the clauses the yard lease itself needs, see what a truck parking lease should include. See the truck and trailer yard demo.

Sources

• Propty for truck and trailer yards: 24/7 answering, rate-sheet quoting, missed-call text back, Spanish, paperwork and insurance certificate reminders at 30, 14 and 3 days, customer app. Checked 2026-10-14.
• Propty, What you get: payment links by text within your texting rules. Checked 2026-10-14.
• No outside statistics are used. All rates, unit counts and dates are labeled examples.