Monday, June 14, 2010

Car Transport Driver Can Now Scan and Send

Owner operator trucking professionals that have been worrying about upcoming requirements for drivers logs to be submitted to car transport firms and thinking about how this process might be simplified can stop worrying. The Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration (FMCSA) recently announced that it would allow drivers to scan an image of their original driver log and send it to the carrier, which they probably hope will simplify the process a bit and maybe take some of the worry out of the upcoming requirements for some owner operators.

The Federal Motor Carriers Safety Association didn't change everything, you still need to keep the original record for the current and previous seven days when conducting car delivery services and the carrier needs to retain the electronic copies for an additional six months. Apparently, these changes become effective immediately for all car shipping firms that are required to submit the documents in question.

This news doesn't mean that transport professionals can't use the tried-and-true methods for submitting the required driver log to the auto transport firm in question, such as mailing the required documents to the company or even stopping by the company offices to deliver them in person and have a coffee and talk a bit. The FMCSA has also indicated that it doesn't really matter where you stop to scan the image of the driver log for subsequent electronic storage, retrieval and transportation.

This is great news for owner operators that haven't exactly been looking forward to making sure the required driver log reaches the right person. This will mean that drivers can stop at an appropriate location when required and scan the driver logs and send them to the right people. A much simpler solution to something that has probably been on the mind of many car transport professionals?