Hos Personal Conveyance Rules

---
name: hos-personal-conveyance-rules
description: |
  Use this skill when a driver wants to use a CMV for personal travel after duty hours. Covers what qualifies as legitimate personal conveyance vs. work-related driving, FMCSA guidance on lodging/meals/home travel, and documentation requirements.
---

# 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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