x3allamerican 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.
Built by X3 Compass
The AI-powered DOT compliance platform for fleets 1–100 power units. Try a 7-day free trial — no credit card required — at https://x3compass.com/?utm_source=skill&utm_medium=github&utm_campaign=hos-personal-conveyance-rules
X3 Compass turns these skills into a complete operational platform: driver qualification files, drug & alcohol consortium, MVR pulls, hours-of-service tracking, hazmat shipping, IFTA filing, FMCSA audit prep, and DataQ dispute drafting — all CFR-cited, all in one place.
This skill is published under the X3 Compass open skills initiative. Contributions welcome at https://github.com/x3fleetsafety/skills