Trucking Terms Guide

ELD and HOS / Logs

Personal Conveyance in trucking

Short answer: Off-duty movement of a commercial motor vehicle for personal use when conditions are met.

Plain-English explanation

Personal conveyance (PC) is a special ELD duty status that allows a driver to move the commercial motor vehicle for personal use — completely off the clock, without counting toward HOS driving limits. The driver must be fully off-duty with no business purpose, and the movement must be a genuine personal trip such as going to a restaurant, hotel, or personal errand after reaching a destination.

With logs and hours, timing matters. A phrase may sound simple, but the ELD record, duty status, supporting documents, and roadside inspection context can change how it should be handled.

Why it matters in trucking

PC is frequently misused. Some drivers log PC to extend drive time after reaching a shipper or receiver, or to reposition the truck without using drive time. Inspectors and FMCSA investigators look at whether the PC movement was genuinely personal and whether it was used to extend a shift that was already at its HOS limit.

A clean ELD log is easier to defend when the driver and office understand the vocabulary before an edit, annotation, or inspection request comes in.

Example in real use

A driver completes a delivery in Kansas City at 9:00 p.m. with 11 hours of drive time and 13 hours of on-duty window used. The driver wants to move the truck 4 miles from the receiver's dock to a truck stop for the night. That repositioning is a legitimate personal conveyance move — the load is done, the driver is going to rest, and there is no commercial purpose to the trip.

Common mistakes or confusion

  • Using personal conveyance to reposition the truck toward the next load pickup — any movement with a business purpose disqualifies PC status.
  • Using PC after a shipper or broker requests the move — if the carrier or customer directed the movement, it is on-duty.
  • Not understanding that personal conveyance use is visible to FMCSA reviewers and can be challenged if the pattern suggests systematic misuse to circumvent HOS limits.

Related terms

Audit Trail A record of changes or events in a logging system that helps explain how driver log data changed. Supporting Documents Business documents used to support or verify a driver's records of duty status. Duty Status A driver log category such as driving, on duty, off duty, or sleeper berth. Yard Move A special driving status used for movement in a yard rather than over-the-road driving. On-Duty Not Driving Time when a driver is working but not driving, such as loading checks or inspections. Off Duty Driver time relieved from work responsibility and not performing carrier work.

Related guides

ELD and HOS Terms is the best next place to keep learning this topic.

Sources and last updated

HOS and ELD definitions reflect the current FMCSA Hours-of-Service Summary and ELD regulatory guidance, including the September 2020 final rule. See the sources page for full reference list.

Last updated: 2026-05-10