Electronic Logging Device Rule. And how to avoid it.

What is ELD?

 

ELD stands for Electronic Logging Device. A mandatory device in all commercial motor vehicles starting December 18, 2017. 

Since it is not very popular with most old school drivers, let’s see how to avoid it.

 

*First group of people who will not be required to use ELD’s will be drivers who log 8 days or less in a 30 day period. …. Realistically speaking this is not for us. Only farm drivers, drivers delivering machinery or heavy equipment to job sites will be able to use this exemption. 

 

*Drivers who conduct drive-away and tow-away operations, where the vehicle being driven is the commodity being delivered. Simply speaking the drivers who deliver purchased vehicles to the dealer or customer and the vehicle itself is a commodity. 

 

*And finally and most importantly drivers of vehicles manufactured before the year of 2000. Now, this sounds like something we everyday truck drivers can use to avoid the e-logs right? Wrong. 

 

I know this is not an answer you were expecting but hear me out before you start wasting money on some old junk you will not be able to use.

First of all the customers will be demanding trucks that are in full compliance. And by full compliance, they mean full up to date compliance without any exemptions.Not all but a great deal of them will be refusing to load trucks without ELDs. Not because these customers don’t care but this is because the picture is much bigger than it appears.  It will become a huge liability for businesses even to let you in. In the society where anyone can sue the red traffic light for being red. And in some workplace injury lawsuits, it will be considered as safety negligence to allow exempt trucks to enter.  Older CMV’s will be prioritized for the roadside inspections and if you keep your vehicle in the show like condition it will not be fun to waste time on additional DOT checks. Old trucks break more because they are old. Replacement parts are becoming more and more difficult to get and the nature of breakdowns is the worst, some old oxidized wire may cost you a dollar to replace but it may take a few thousand dollars in hourly labor just to figure out what is going on and what the issue is. I had some old trucks in the past and no matter how much I loved them at some point the cost of upkeep and time loss simply becomes unbearable.

 

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