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FMCSA Rejects TRALA ELD Petition Except for Break-Downs but Will Allow Rentals to Accept HOS Data From Different Platforms

TRALA met with FMCSA on October 5 to discuss the agency's final decision on TRALA's petition for short-term rental trucks.  The result of this meeting - which was given to TRALA in advance of its formal ruling - was a partial victory and partial defeat.  

TRALA met with FMCSA on October 5 to discuss the agency's final decision on TRALA's petition for short-term rental trucks.  The result of this meeting - which was given to TRALA in advance of its formal ruling - was a partial victory and partial defeat.  According to FMCSA, they will allow trucks that have a break-down to not be forced under the ELD Mandate for up to eight days, keeping consistent with other parts of the mandate.  Unfortunately, FMCSA will not grant other short-term rentals relief from the ELD Mandate but stated that because of the interoperability issue that persists, they will allow the last seven days of HOS for a driver to be printed out or downloaded and put into a rental truck and then that driver would be allowed to use the rental company's ELD or use a portable device they brought with them for the rest of the rental period.  This means that if a rental truck has an ELD that has a different platform than the one used by its customer, it can still be used to stay in compliance with the ELD Mandate. 
 
TRALA is concerned about the administrative burden this will place on many of its members' customers in addition to the predictable confusion that it will place on law enforcement personnel.  It also essentially means that all TRALA members would be advised to purchase ELDs for all their trucks that might be used as commercial rentals or risk losing business to other companies that offer that service.
 
In response to TRALA's concerns and technical questions, FMCSA agreed to hold a conference call within the next two weeks with TRALA's membership so that the agency can answer very specific questions and give guidance to TRALA members.  TRALA was also told in its meeting today that if technical information was brought to light that the agency could not solve, they would be open to looking at addressing those aspects subsequently to their official ruling on TRALA's petition.
 
TRALA will send out a notice to its entire membership within the next few days regarding the date and time for this conference call with FMCSA which is targeted currently as the week of October 16-20.
 
While disappointing that its petition was not granted fully, TRALA is committed to working with all of its members to ensure the transition to ELDs is as seamless as possible with the caveat that in dealing with the federal government, nothing is as simple as they would like to believe.   
 
If you would like to discuss the upcoming ruling by FMCSA further - before the conference call - please e-mail me at jjacoby@trala.org or call me at 703-299-9120.
 
Thank you.
 
Jake Jacoby
President & CEO
TRALA
 
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