8 days a month OTR with paper logs?

I get what you're saying but that's not an apples to apples comparison. Going off on a tangent here I used to happily pay $135 an hour shop rate to the local CAT house because they were quick and always did a good job standing behind their work. And in all likelihood were overall cheaper than the numerous $85 an hour shops that did half ### work. But we're talking about ELD's here not engine overhauls. ELD providers are not scarce like skilled, competent mechanics... there's lots of choices for ELD's. Good ones. Cheap is ok... they don't cost anywhere near a $1,000 a month...

 

But what if the ELD is on the engine?


My omnitracs was around $700. It's $30 a month for the service.

 

That's what I was asking. I didn't know if there was a one time upcharge or upfront hardware cost like that. Even so, there's a competitive market there for ELD providers. A person doesn't have to over pay. Just do some digging and find out who's the best most cost effective. Sounds like OP is hung up on the whole "8 days out in a month" which isn't even what the reg says anyway. I hope he finds a solution to his red tape nightmare.