Liability insurance is one of the biggest fixed expenses facing any trucking company, so raising the minimum could have a drastic effect, especially on owner-operators.Unlike the broker bond, which increased to $75,000 last year, the insurance minimum is tied to equipment. Carriers have to pay insurance premiums for each truck while brokers secure one bond to cover the entire business.
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s proposed $302 billion transportation bill includes a rule that drivers be paid for the time they’re detained at shipper’s and receiver’s facilities. The bill states that the Secretary of Transportation may require motor carrier employers to compensate the employee for any on-duty, not-driving period at an hourly rate not less than the federal minimum wage.
Most drivers will face challenges when they make the transition from company driver to running on their own authority. DAT customer Chad Boblett faced many challenges, too, but has now found success and encourages others to take the leap and become owner-operators. He recently started a private Facebook group called “Rate Per Mile Masters,” and the group has grown to nearly 1,400 members in just a few months.
In a capacity crunch, driver recruitment and retention becomes even more crucial to your trucking company. What if there was one simple investment that could improve driver morale and provide a multitude of tools that make good business-sense?
In the digital world, it is all about what potential customers can find out about your operation before they make a decision to work with you. So what can you do to make sure you are putting your best foot forward with DAT Company Reviews? Just keep these two steps in mind: request reviews and reciprocate.
The FMCSA recently published its long-awaited proposal for an electronic logging devices (ELD) mandate. The timeline is still up in the air, but the mandate could still take effect as early as 2016. Despite strong opposition, the mandate appears to be imminent – so now the question is: how will it impact the carriers and owner operators ...
As a carrier, you are navigating all the time, but when it comes to navigating your IFTA fuel tax liabilities, it can be easy to take a wrong turn. I’ve been helping fleets and owner operators fulfill their IFTA fuel tax reporting obligations for more than 35 years with DAT Fleet Compliance (formerly TransCore Fleet Compliance), which is ...
In December, we reported that the FMCSA had revoked authority of 38 percent of the 21,700 brokers with authority when the $75,000 bond requirement went into effect. Despite the big numbers nationally, things played out differently in the DAT Network. Even though the vast majority of brokers on the DAT Network are small businesses, only a few had ...
On October 1, the FMCSA issued a Final Rule that adopts regulations required by MAP-21. The rule includes the provision which sets a minimum financial security of $75,000 for brokers and freight forwarders, including carriers that occasionally broker loads. In the Final Rule, the FMCSA states that compliance with the new rule will cost the ...
You've probably heard a lot about the new $75K bond requirement that goes into effect October 1, but if you think it only applies to brokers you may be in for a rude awakening. If you're a carrier who brokers or sub-contracts freight and you want to post loads, you'll need a bond. If that doesn't apply to you, the requirement will still .../p
This month marks the 20th anniversary of perhaps the most definitive study of what truck drivers like and dislike about their job. “Job Satisfaction of U.S. Commercial Drivers,” conducted in 1992 and published in May 1993 by the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute (UGPTI) is based on a survey of nearly 4,000 ...
You’ve probably read that DAT Load Boards recently added 15 specialized equipment types, up from 57. This means that brokers can now be more specific about their specialized loads and search for carriers with the right equipment. Likewise, since carriers generally prefer to search for loads rather than post their trucks, they can now search ...
