FMCSA to grant 90-day exemption from ELD mandate for short-term rental trucks

user-gravatar Headshot

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has informed the Truck Renting and Leasing Association that it plans to grant a 90-day extension of compliance with the federal electronic logging device mandate to short-term rental trucks, defined as 30 days or less. TRALA announced Tuesday the agency had informed them about the compliance extension, though a notice has not yet been published in the Federal Register. 

TRALA requested in March a more permanent exemption from ELD use for short-term rental trucks. In October, FMCSA granted a permanent exemption for rental trucks used for eight days or fewer, rather than the 30 days asked for by TRALA.

Rental trucks are most commonly used by fleets during breakdowns and to add capacity to their fleet during busy seasons. The additional three months gives rental truck suppliers until mid-March to prepare for the mandate for rentals between eight and 30 days. TRALA argued that the “interoperability” of the different ELD units on the market created a challenge for both carriers renting trucks and the companies supplying the rental units. The extra time will help rental companies “devise new methods and systems to adapt to the ELD rules,” TRALA said in a press release.

This is the second 90-day extension granted by the agency, who announced last month it is giving truckers who haul livestock and other agriculture loads until mid-March to switch from paper logs to an ELD.