The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration published in the Federal Register the waiver the Truck Renting and Leasing Association requested for short-term rental trucks. This 90-day waiver from the electronic logging device mandate runs from Jan. 19, 2018, until April 19, 2018.

While TRALA was told by the agency Dec. 12 that this waiver was coming, TRALA had been waiting for the FMCSA to formally post it in the Federal Register. This way any driver of a short-term rental truck can simply print out a copy of the notice and carry it in their cab during this time frame, according to TRALA.

With the ELD mandate going in to effect on Dec. 18, 2017, TRALA says many enforcement officers have been unaware of the waiver being granted for rental trucks, which had created confusion for several TRALA members. With the waiver posted in the Federal Register, TRALA expects the inspection process to be much simpler for users of rental trucks.

The 90-day waiver will allow trucks rented for 30 days or less to use paper logs to record their hours of service and allow those providing the rental or lease trucks more time to equip trucks with ELDs. This 90-day waiver can only be issued once. After it expires, TRALA notes, rental customers will still be able to rely on the eight-day exemption from the ELD mandate for rental trucks that TRALA received late last year, which runs for five years.

There are several requirements within the 90-day waiver that must be followed in order to benefit from this exemption.  They include:

1. The waiver will expire on April 19, 2018.

2. The exemption covers rental of any property-carrying vehicle for a period of 30 days or less. Evidence that a carrier has simply replaced one rental with another 30 days will be considered a violation.

3. Drivers operating under this waiver must still comply with all other regulations, such as paper logs, while operating a short-term rental truck.

4. Motor carriers must have a “satisfactory” rating in order to use this waiver.

5. Drivers must carry a copy of the Federal Register notice in the vehicle and present it to a law enforcement officer upon request.

6. Carriers operating under this waiver must notify FMCSA within five business days of any accident involving any vehicle that was using this waiver at the time of the accident.

7. FMCSA expects that drivers and their employing motor carrier operating under the terms of this waiver will maintain their safety record. If they do not, FMCSA will revoke the waiver from that particular motor carrier.

You may view and print out the official 90-day waiver published in the Federal Register by clicking here.   

TRALA has begun work on another exemption petition following a call with its Government Relations Committee on January 11. This petition request will ask the FMCSA for an additional nine months before forcing rental trucks to adhere to the ELD mandate. This extra time would allow TRALA members to work with their customers to further address the issues revolving around a lack of interoperability between ELD platforms.