personal conveyance thread

For clarification (I am not trying to make a point) the guidance you quoted in part (Quote: Generally, drivers may not drop a trailer (or otherwise be unladen) hundreds of miles from home and then claim that the vehicle is being used as a "personal conveyance" for the "last leg" home.) does say "generally" indicating there can be exceptions. What If anything would you believe would constitute exceptions to the short distance?

 

Similarly, we are limited to 25 miles per day.

 

We have a 30 min limit that is intended for running to store/ restaurant. I regularly exceed that heading home. It is easily changed in the system by sending a message to our logs person.

 

i am not commuting , i am going home. i am unladen.

there is no mileage stated in the regulation. if they want a limit , it should be stated in the reg.

in my example , i meet all the criteria of listed in the reg for PC. the only difference is a question of mileage. no mileage stated in the reg.

you might not like it, or buy it, but it meets the criteria of the rule as written. intent is not written in the rule.

 

To add yet another wrinkle.

How would this work for an O/O, that is leased to a carrier - on hometime?

Example: my home terminal is in Fort Lauderdale - I drop my trailer at the yard, and bobtail home (on line 3). I have 5 days off, and don't own a personal conveyance - but I do own my truck (and pay for my own fuel). During those off days, bobtailing as if it were a (large, fuel inefficient) car - would all be line 1, off duty - correct?

Driving to the yard to pick up my trailer, goes back on line 3.

The main question here would be - if I OWN my truck, and choose to use it to food shop, do laundry, go to the gym, etc., not under dispatch or working hours - long story/short - can you use your own truck as a car when not working?

Rick

 

same way I look at it. Empty and headed towards the house I blow by the scales off duty and in personal conveyance mode. Thats one of the good things about a flatbed they can see unladen real easy.
Going through the scale empty only makes you a bigger target, it's one less thing they have to look at as if they was doing anything anyway.

 

The website makes it clear it's from terminal to home and vise versa. It also makes it clear to run around the local area shopping while bobtailing or empty.

To interpret the gray area's how you want goes both ways. And who do you think wins? Isn't part of the regs purpose is so a driver doesn't drive tired?

The rules do clearly say whether laden or not, you are in violation if you exceed your hours by seeking out a safe haven. So why would three hours driving home be an exception? You have to look at the bigger picture when reading some regs.

Besides all that you have to explain the forward progression if someone looks at your logbook. Anyone could run illegal and say it's personal conveyance. Let's say Joe Trucker has a dedicated run 160 miles out loaded and 160 miles back empty twice a day. Can the DH home be personal conveyance? It would never fly because you are returning to set up for a load. The same with a long DH home if you get your next load close to it.

Sure you can bobtail locally all you want and use a truck as a personal vehicle.You can even drive long distance if you are not engaged in commerce. Let's say you decide to move to the next state. You can load your truck full of your personal belongings and not have to log.

 

First you need to understand the leasing regs. Yea, they do apply here. They clearly state that when you lease your truck to a carrier, you give the control of that truck over to the carrier. Next question is how much control does the carrier choose to exercise over that truck? Some excercise very tight control, some not so much. Next, does the carrier even allow personal conveyance? Just because FMCSA allows it, doesn't mean that the carrier will. A carrier can have stricter rules than the FMCSA.
As to using your truck to move to another residence, that is laden. May be no compensation involved, but is still laden.

 

the difference is when i log personal conveyance, i flag it AND put the destination on the log . if i am checked it is already there, no intent to fake anything. that destination matches my drivers license, the tag receipt for the truck, the trailer tag and every other piece of paper concerning the truck. i own truck and trailer and its empty, its legal.



the regs allow for going to home on P/C. condo , your post contradicts itself.

if i am unladen, logged as going home and can prove that is my home location how am i engaged in commerce?

but yet you somehow say if i load my flatbed with all my furniture , i can move from ga to alabama with no problem??


problem is, some of you have never owned a truck and the trl and have never done an actual p/c home under those circumstances.

this is no different than most of the big carriers drivers they can be on duty past 14 hours, thats bogus, you cant DRIVE past 14 hours.

i dont think that will fly.

 

I think the problem would arise if it became a pattern. I'll give an example though not saying this is what you are doing.

A guy PU's a load@ 6am in his home town.Through the course of his day drives 500 miles in about 11 hours(lunch,fuel,bathroom etc). He then logs PC to go home, and at 6am the next morning again PU's to deliver same spot as day 1.

Now he could say I was just going home. And riding in the ildefined gray area probably survive a quick inspection. But would that not be using it for commerce?

I agree if your in Pheonix and everything looks like crud and you want to see your kids Ballgame you as an O/O owning your equipment by law take your personal vehicle home. Irf it ever looked similar to an example or driving 500-700 miles every friday and leaving out every Monday(Yeah I know your not gonna dead head that much every week) I can see someone questioning if your doing it in the interest of running your company.


I expect some of this to be adressed in the next round of HOS(Oh you better believe it is coming again)as the definitions are left broad to the point it becomes a matter of judging intent. That is patently impossible in most cases.