ELD exemption checker for local, older and part-time trucks

The ELD exemptions the checker looks at

The checker works through the rules in order, from the ones that remove logs entirely to the ones that only allow paper:

1. 150 air-mile short haul. Stay within 150 air-miles of your normal work reporting location, return and be released within 14 consecutive hours, with 10 hours off between shifts. No logs; the carrier keeps time records for 6 months. Source
2. Non-CDL short haul. For trucks that don't need a CDL, within 150 air-miles and back each day, with 16-hour days allowed on 2 of any 7. Again, time records instead of logs. Source
3. Pre-2000 vehicles. A truck made before model year 2000, by its VIN, may use paper logs. Source
4. Driveaway-towaway. When the vehicle you drive is part of the shipment, or is a motor home or RV trailer being delivered, paper logs are allowed.
5. 8 days in 30. A driver who needs logs on no more than 8 days in any 30-day period may keep paper logs on those days.

If none of these apply and you need logs, you need an ELD.

ELD exemptions for local drivers

Most local specialty work, dump trucks, water trucks, scrap, logging runs to the mill and 26 ft box truck deliveries, fits the short-haul exceptions on most days. The test is daily: stay inside the radius and the hours, and that day needs no log. Step outside on one day, and that day needs one.

That is why the 8-days-in-30 rule matters to local carriers. A driver who runs local most of the month but takes an occasional longer trip can log those days on paper. Once the long days pass 8 in any 30, the truck needs an ELD.

Worked example EXAMPLE

A dump truck driver works out of a yard, never goes more than 60 miles away, and is back by early afternoon every day. That is short haul: no logs and no ELD, with the carrier keeping start time, end time and total hours for each day. In October the driver takes three runs to a job 250 miles away. Those three days need logs, which can be on paper because they are under 8 in 30.

Agricultural and livestock work

Separate from the ELD rules, drivers hauling agricultural commodities within 150 air-miles of their source, or livestock within 150 air-miles of the final destination, are outside the hours-of-service rules during the planting and harvesting periods each state sets. Source The checker doesn't model these, because they depend on the commodity, the season and the state. Livestock haulers have also had their own ELD provisions over the years; check FMCSA's current guidance.

ELD exempt trucks: what still applies

An exemption from the ELD is not an exemption from the hours. Drivers on paper logs or time records still have to stay inside the driving and on-duty limits that apply to them, and inspectors can ask to see the records. Time records have to show when the day started, when it ended and the total hours on duty, and they are kept for 6 months.

ELD exemption mistakes

• Counting road miles instead of air-miles. The 150 limit is measured in a straight line from the work reporting location, which can be very different from the miles on the odometer.
• Forgetting the 14-hour return. Staying in the radius isn't enough; you also have to be back and released in time.
• Using the engine year. The pre-2000 test uses the vehicle model year in the VIN on the registration.
• Losing count of log days. Track the days you needed logs, or the 8-in-30 allowance runs out without you noticing.

What the result means

Time records means no logbook and no ELD on qualifying days, but you still have to keep the records the rule asks for. Paper logs means you keep a log, just not electronically. ELD required means every day you need a log, it goes on an ELD. In every case the hours-of-service limits themselves still apply.

When we dispatch you, your logging setup is on your card. If a load would push you out of the short-haul exception you rely on, we tell you on the call before you accept. See how that works in our dispatch for owner-operators and regional dispatch.