The Truck Renting and Leasing Association has petitioned the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration for an extension to its current 90-day electronic logging device rule waiver for short-term rental trucks that would extend through the end of the year.

The current waiver expires on April 19, and TRALA argues in its petition that the 90-day period was not enough time to address the issues that short-term rental fleets are experiencing. The extension would give rental vehicle owners, carriers and drivers more time to develop compliance strategies to deal with the unique issues related to ELD use in short-term rental vehicles.

TRALA believes that extending its waiver would not impact operational safety, because drivers would still be required to maintain hours-of-service compliance through paper records.

Short-term rental operators face unique challenges in complying with ELD requirements that are not common to other segments of the industry. Businesses that rent trucks to customers have to offer ELD options that work with a variety of different platforms. The complexity of the issue has made compliance a problem for rental fleets that the FMCSA previous recognized when it granted the original 90-day waiver.

The FMCSA is currently requesting public comment on the TRALA exemption extension application; comments must be received before April 12.