HOS Personal Conveyance Limits (§ 395.8 guidance)

Personal conveyance (PC) is off-duty use of a CMV for non-work purposes. FMCSA Regulatory Guidance to § 395.8 (last clarified 2018) defines PC strictly — and roadside inspectors commonly find violations here.

What QUALIFIES as personal conveyance

• Travel to/from lodging or home after the work day ends (reasonable distance)
• Travel to a restaurant during a break
• Travel to entertainment or personal errands while off-duty
• Moving the vehicle at the request of a law enforcement officer during off-duty time
• Returning to a terminal AFTER official work is complete (i.e., after the load is delivered, the driver returns the truck — clarified 2018)

What does NOT qualify

• Positioning the vehicle for the next work assignment — even if it feels off-duty, if it's getting ready for the next dispatch, it's on-duty
• Deadheading to pick up a load — even an empty trailer is work
• Traveling to a fuel stop where the next load originates — if the route is dispatch-driven, not driver-chosen, it's work
• Moving the vehicle off a public roadway at the request of a shipper, consignee, or carrier — that's a yard move on-duty, not PC
• Returning to the terminal in time for the next shift — if the trip is for work logistics, it's not personal

Reasonable-distance test

FMCSA's "reasonable distance" for PC home/lodging travel is not specifically defined. Industry rule of thumb: under 100 miles is typically defensible; 100-200 may invite scrutiny; over 200 is essentially impossible to defend as PC.

Documentation

ELD annotation: when the driver moves to PC status, the ELD records the GPS track. Inspectors will compare the PC track to the work-route logic:

• If PC moves toward delivery → likely a violation
• If PC moves away from delivery toward lodging → likely defensible

CFR + guidance citations

• 49 CFR § 395.8(a)(2) — driver records duty status
• FMCSA Regulatory Guidance to § 395.8, last revised June 2018 (Question 26 — personal conveyance)

How Compass surfaces this

HOS module: when a driver logs PC time that overlaps with a dispatch-assigned location, Compass flags the entry for carrier review BEFORE it appears in audit-export. Common saves: the driver intended PC but the route data shows they were actually positioning.

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