The conversation that opened my eyes was with an owner from Brescia. He runs 14 vehicles: 4 trucks doing Italy-Germany, 8 vans doing Lombardy and occasionally Slovenia, 2 small ones for city deliveries. “From 1 July I have to keep four compliance logics running in parallel, and I have ONE fleet manager who happens to be my brother-in-law”. He was right: the public conversation around the G2V2 tachograph mandatory from 1 July 2026 has focused on 2.5-3.5 t vans, as if companies only had those. The average Italian SME doesn’t have “only trucks” or “only vans” — it has both, in variable mixes. And from 1 July it finds itself with four vehicle populations under different regimes that must coexist within the same organisational process.
This article goes into how to manage a mixed fleet without multiplying costs and errors. For the general scope of the obligation see the G2V2 pillar article; for the vehicle-specific verticals see G2V2 costs on Ducato, Master and Sprinter.
The 4 regimes coexisting after 1 July 2026
In a typical Italian fleet, after 1 July 2026 up to 4 distinct compliance regimes coexist.
| Regime | Vehicles concerned | Tachograph | Driving times 561/2006 | Cabotage | Driver posting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A — EU heavy | Trucks >3.5 t in international or cabotage | G2V2 mandatory since 2024 | Yes | Yes (3 ops/7 days) | Yes |
| B — New-entry LCV | Vans 2.5-3.5 t in international or cabotage | G2V2 mandatory from 01/07/2026 | Yes | Yes (3 ops/7 days) | Yes |
| C — Out-of-scope LCV | Vans 2.5-3.5 t domestic only, for hire or own account | Not mandatory | No | N/A | N/A |
| D — Sub-threshold LCV | Vans <2.5 t (including 2.4 t and below) | Not mandatory | No | N/A | N/A |
Looks tidy on paper. In operations it’s chaos, because a single vehicle can move from regime C to regime B over an occasional foreign trip, and because some vehicles at the dimensional limit (e.g. exactly 2.5 t) are ambiguous without a documented weighing.
The 7 common traps
Here are the 7 situations where SMEs with mixed fleets fall the most. We’ve classified them by severity and frequency in the feedback from the first months of application.
1. The van “for domestic only” that does an occasional foreign trip
Classic scenario: a 3.3 t van is normally assigned domestic routes (regime C). Once a month — at customer request, because another vehicle is down, because of an emergency — it carries a load to France. That single trip triggers regime B: G2V2 mandatory for the entire day, posting declaration, driving times.
The mistake is treating the trip as irrelevant. It isn’t: enforcement is based on roadside checks, not annual programmes. The van is across the border, it must be compliant.
Fix: either all 2.5-3.5 t vans are G2V2-equipped by default, or you categorically ban cross-border use for non-equipped vehicles and document the internal rule.
2. Out-of-scope mode set incorrectly
The G2V2 has an “out-of-scope” mode that activates on domestic legs (mixed regime): on those legs 561/2006 rules don’t apply and the device doesn’t record other activities as “work”. The driver must manually set the mode when entering the out-of-scope segment and disable it when leaving.
The trap: drivers who forget to disable out-of-scope when they re-enter international operation. Result: missing records during the regulated leg, charges in case of inspection, suspicion of tampering.
Fix: focused operational training + verification in the data download report that the out-of-scope/in-scope sequence is consistent with the trip plan.
3. Drivers with cards for only some vehicles
Common error in mixed fleets: the driver “used to heavies” has had a driver card since 2019, but the new hire “who only does vans” has never applied for one. From 1 July, if the van driver does a regime-B trip, they must have a card. Card cost: ~€40. Issue time: 30 days for first issue.
Fix: driver × vehicle × card-status mapping. Plan applications to the Chamber of Commerce in advance. For card detail see smart tachograph G2V2 and driver card.
4. Data download deadlines with different perimeters
The regime-A trucks have been downloading for years on a consolidated cycle. The regime-B vans start “from scratch” on 1 July with their own deadline clock. The schedules don’t align: a truck may have a VU download due on 18 September, one van on 29 September, another van on 5 October.
Fix: a single deadline-tracking system with alerts. Manual Excel routines break down above 8-10 vehicles. See the data download playbook for SMEs.
5. Cabotage on heavies vs cabotage on light vehicles
Formally the cabotage regime is the same (max 3 operations in 7 days after international transport, 4-day cooling-off). But for the vans introduced on 1 July, the practical enforcement of the rules is not yet consolidated in all national jurisdictions. Different police forces interpret differently, awaiting case law.
Fix: for vans, a precautionary stance — 2 operations instead of 3, reinforced trip documentation, driver briefing before the first trips. See also cabotage and own-account for vans.
6. Posting declaration in a dual regime
The posting declaration (IMI portal) has applied to regime A for years. From 1 July it also applies to B. Same portal, same process, but the volume of paperwork per trip doubles. An SME with 3 trucks + 6 vans on EU routes can go from 30-40 declarations/year to 90-110.
Fix: automation via fleet management software, integration of the IMI portal in the trip-creation workflow, or outsourcing to a specialist consultant (~€30-50 per declaration).
7. Unified audit trail impossible on paper or Excel
If a pharmaceutical customer asks for ESG/CSRD audit of the 14 vehicles, or if an authority asks to verify driving-time compliance for a specific driver over a given period, the fleet manager must produce structured data in a short time. With mixed archives (heavy DDDs on one cloud, van DDDs on another, shift tables in Excel, files saved on local disk), the audit becomes a 4-5 day treasure hunt.
Fix: a unified platform that handles all regimes in the same dataset, with filtered export by request from authority or customer.
The 3 organisational strategies
SMEs follow 3 patterns. They have different pros and cons; pick consciously.
Strategy A — Silos by vehicle type
A dedicated procedure for each regime: the heavies have their head, the vans another, the internal manual is separate. Pro: clear responsibilities. Con: duplicates processes, coordination errors, cross-vehicle audit hard. Fit for: fleets above 50 vehicles with dedicated staff.
Strategy B — Unified by process
The same process handles all regimes, with rules differentiated by vehicle inside a single software/procedure. Pro: scalability, single audit, lower management cost. Con: requires integrated tools, doesn’t work in Excel. Fit for: 10-50 vehicle SMEs with one fleet manager.
Strategy C — Hybrid (in-house + external consultant)
The fleet manager handles operational aspects (shifts, planning, driver app) and delegates compliance and regulatory paperwork to a specialist external consultant. Pro: heavy work offloaded. Con: consultant cost, external dependency, possible disconnect with day-to-day reality. Fit for: SMEs under 15 vehicles with no dedicated fleet manager.
Worked case: pharma logistics SME, 18 vehicles
To make it concrete. Real (anonymised) client — regional pharmaceutical distribution + Italy-Austria routes.
- Fleet: 4 trucks 7.5 t (regime A), 10 vans 3.5 t (8 in B, 2 in C), 4 vans 2.2 t (regime D).
- Three fleet managers: 1 owner, 1 fleet supervisor, 1 administrative handling paperwork.
Pre-July 2026: heavies managed on a dedicated software since 2019, vans on Excel + WhatsApp.
Change from July 2026: the 8 regime-B vans move into the unified software; the 2 regime-C vans and the 4 regime-D ones stay out. Procedure: regime-differentiated rules in the system, single audit trail, automatic data download via ITS interface on the 12 G2V2 vehicles (4 trucks + 8 vans). Administrative time: from ~10 h/week to ~3 h/week. Software ROI in 7-8 months.
Takeaway: strategy B (unified by process) is almost always the right call above 8-10 total vehicles with any share in regime B.
The role of software: minimum system requirements
The fleet management software for mixed fleets must support at least these 6 capabilities:
- Configurable per-vehicle rules: each vehicle tagged by regime, with compliance rules applied automatically.
- G2V2 read via the ITS interface for regime A or B vehicles; handling of vehicles without G2V2 (regime C/D) through other means.
- Unified audit trail: single export showing all vehicles filtered by period, customer, driver.
- Multi-deadline alerts: VU download 90 days, driver card 28 days, biennial calibration, driver training, card validity.
- Automated posting declarations: integration with the IMI portal or guided workflow.
- ESG/CSRD reporting: extraction of km/CO2/operational data for the sustainability report. See CSRD for company fleets.
In short
- After 1 July 2026 the average Italian SME juggles up to 4 parallel compliance regimes on its vehicles.
- The 7 common traps revolve around occasional trips, out-of-scope mode, driver cards, staggered deadlines, differentiated cabotage, posting declarations, unified audit.
- The 3 organisational strategies (silos, unified, hybrid) have different costs and scalability — the unified strategy works best above 8-10 vehicles.
- Software is not optional: without a system handling per-vehicle rules + unified audit, above 10 units the error is statistically guaranteed.
If you manage a mixed heavy-vehicle + LCV fleet and want to figure out how to structure the transition, download the Mobility Package 2026 checklist or book a demo to see how Optivo handles regimes A, B, C and D simultaneously in the same platform.