VMRS Codes

How a VMRS Code Is Structured

VMRS has been in continuous use since 1970 and is maintained by the Technology & Maintenance Council (TMC) of the American Trucking Associations. A full code is nine digits written in three groups of three. The first group is the System code, which TMC numbers 31 — the major vehicle system the work touched. The second is the Assembly code (32), the major grouping within that system. The third is the Component code (33), a generic identifier for the individual part. Component codes are deliberately not manufacturer part numbers; they are universal terms for the part, so two shops buying the same item from different suppliers still code it identically.

The handbook's own worked example runs through all three levels on the same repair. Front brakes and drums are identified by the System and Assembly combination 013-001. Add the component level and a front brake lining becomes 013-001-015. That is the whole mechanism: one string that narrows from system to assembly to part, readable by any other VMRS user without a translation table. Source: VMRS Implementation Handbook (Version 2.0), TMC/ATA, 2020.

The VMRS System Codes

These are the System-level codes (31) as published by TMC, with the handbook's own group headings. Note that the numbering is not grouped the way intuition suggests — Brakes is 013, in the Chassis group, while 042 is the engine Cooling System. Guessing a code from memory is how coding quality degrades; this is the list to check against.

The list above covers the groups an on-highway fleet codes against daily. TMC publishes further System groups that this table does not reproduce — Bodies and Vessels (071-079), Heating and Refrigeration (081-084), Bulk Product Transfer Systems (091-098) and a large Equipment Dependent Attachments range for vocational machinery. Check the licensed code set for those rather than extrapolating from this table.

Why the Codes Change What You Can Measure

Without VMRS, a maintenance history is free-text technician notes. A line reading “fixed the brake thing on truck 44” cannot be aggregated with anything. Coded as 013-001-015 it joins every other front brake lining replacement in the fleet, which is what makes questions like lining life by route type or by tractor model answerable at all. The value is not the code itself — it is that the same repair gets the same string in both of your shops, and the same string at the dealer who did the warranty work.

Reason for Repair

Component codes say what was touched. Reason for Repair (14) says why the unit came in at all, which is the field that separates planned spend from everything else. TMC segregates the activity into three areas — Maintenance, Outside Influence, and Towing. The Outside Influence group is reproduced below; it is the group that answers whether a cost belongs to your maintenance programme or to an accident, a recall, a warranty claim or a roadside inspection.

Tracked alongside the System codes, Reason for Repair is what lets you say whether a PM programme is preventing failures or merely running beside them. A rising 013 spend that is mostly code 43 (Roadside Inspection) is a different problem from the same spend arriving as scheduled maintenance.

The Other Code Sets You Will Meet

Work Accomplished (15) is a set of two-digit codes for what the technician actually did — the handbook lists over 35 of them plus codes for PM levels, including Clean, Align, Tighten, Road Test, Rewire/Wire, Towing, Fabricate/Weld/Burn and Repair. The committee chose these specifically because “major” and “minor” left too much to interpretation. Technician Failure Code (18) carries over 90 codes describing how a part failed, such as Bent (10), Worn (44) and Noisy (60). Code set 34 identifies manufacturers, suppliers and brands universally, and 1 identifies what the equipment does — the vocation a unit is assigned to.

VMRS Is Licensed, Not Public

TMC/ATA holds rights in the code sets and they are not freely distributable. Access is through annual, renewable subscription licences delivered electronically. The Electronic Catalog licence covers the System, Assembly and Component codes plus the manufacturer codes (34), and is aimed at manufacturers matching their own part numbers to VMRS codes. The Complete Corporate licence covers the full set of codes and Instruction Sets for internal use by the licence holder. The Complete Distribution licence adds the right to distribute the codes inside software or present them in a SaaS product. A licensee may describe itself as VMRS-compliant only if it follows the handbook's guidelines. This matters when you evaluate fleet software: a vendor offering VMRS coding needs a distribution licence to do it legitimately. Source: VMRS Implementation Handbook (Version 2.0), TMC/ATA, 2020.

• Decide your minimum coding depth before rollout — the handbook's floor is the three-digit System code; Assembly and Component are added for more detail
• Code the Reason for Repair on every work order, not just the component — without it you cannot separate planned spend from accident, warranty and roadside findings
• Check codes against the licensed list rather than from memory, because the numbering is counter-intuitive: Brakes is 013 and 042 is the engine Cooling System
• Confirm your fleet software vendor holds a VMRS distribution licence if it presents the codes inside the product
• Audit a sample of closed work orders for codes that have defaulted to a catch-all value, which is the usual failure mode once coding is routine
• Train coding at technician onboarding — the data is only comparable across shops if both shops code the same repair the same way
• Keep Component codes distinct from supplier part numbers in your records; VMRS component codes are generic part identifiers, not procurement references