An ELD for owner-operators who'd rather be driving
When you're the driver and the whole office too, the logbook can't turn into a second job. TenTrucks runs on your phone with a small device in the truck. It keeps your clocks in front of you and puts your logs in an officer's hands in a few taps.
Do I need an ELD?
Under your own authority, you are the motor carrier. The ELD rule in 49 CFR 395.8 applies to you the same way it applies to a fleet of five hundred: if you drive a commercial motor vehicle and have to keep records of duty status, you need an ELD from FMCSA's registered list. Unless one of these fits.
| Your situation | ELD needed? | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| You need logs on 8 days or fewer in any 30-day period | No. Paper logs are allowed | 395.8(a)(1)(ii)(A)(1) |
| The truck was made before model year 2000, per the VIN | No | 395.8(a)(1)(ii)(A)(4) |
| A newer truck with a pre-2000 engine (glider, engine swap) | No, under FMCSA guidance. Keep the engine paperwork at your place of business | FMCSA ELD FAQ |
| Driveaway-towaway, where the truck you drive is the shipment | No | 395.8(a)(1)(ii)(A)(2) |
| Within 150 air miles of your reporting location, released within 14 hours | No logs at all. Keep time records for 6 months | 395.1(e)(1) |
| Anything else that needs logs | Yes, and the device must be on FMCSA's registered list | 395.8(a)(1)(i), 395.22(a) |
The 30 days roll. FMCSA's own example is June 15 to July 14, not a calendar month. Canada treats old engines the opposite way: a model year 2000 or newer truck with a pre-2000 engine is not exempt there.
What to look for when it's one truck
Fleet ELDs get picked by safety managers in an office. Yours gets picked by the person who has to use it at a fuel island at 4 a.m. That changes the checklist.
A phone app and a small device
TenTrucks is a driver app on your phone that talks to a small ELD device in the truck over Bluetooth. There are two models, PT-30 and PT-40, and they read OBD-II, J1708 and J1939. Tell us the truck before you order, and we'll tell you which one fits.
Your hours on the first screen
The home screen shows what's left on your drive, shift, break and cycle clocks. If you have to dig through menus to find your hours, it's the wrong app. Ask any vendor to show you on a phone, not on a slide.
Roadside transfer that works
The rule lets an ELD support either web services plus email, or USB plus Bluetooth, and the officer picks from what your device supports. TenTrucks does web services and email, from the app or the web. It doesn't do USB or Bluetooth, and the rule doesn't ask for both options.
Logging with no signal
Logs save on the phone first and sync when you're back in coverage. The app keeps recording through dead spots in the mountains, and it works in airplane mode.
Your language
English, Spanish, French, Russian and Uzbek, in the app and on the web. Your clocks and warnings read in the language you think in, which matters when one is counting down.
Terms you can read
Ask every vendor the same questions: what the device costs, what the monthly fee covers, how long the contract runs, and what it costs to leave. Get the answers in writing before the box ships.
A day on the app
You start at a truck stop outside Cheyenne. Do your inspection in the app, with photos if something's off. A carrier running only one truck is exempt from the post-trip report in 396.11, but 396.13 still says you have to be satisfied the truck is safe before you drive. Writing it down takes a minute and leaves a record.
Once you roll, driving time comes from the truck. The app counts down drive, shift, break and cycle time. While you're driving it pushes a warning 30, 15 and 5 minutes before a limit and again at zero. You can also pick a banner that shows up 15, 30, 45 or 60 minutes before a violation, or turn it off.
Yard move and personal conveyance are there once you switch them on for yourself. Add a speed cap on yard move or a distance cap on PC and the status ends on its own when you pass it. Split sleeper works on the US presets, with one period of at least 7 hours in the berth and another of at least 2, 10 or more in total. The 34-hour restart is built in.
At the end of the day, certify the log, one day at a time or all of them with Sign-All. Unsigned days keep a banner up until you do. More on the clocks in hours of service.
- Drive, shift, break and cycle clocks
- Push warnings at 30, 15 and 5 minutes
- Personal conveyance and yard move with optional limits
- Unidentified driving to accept or reject, with a note
At the port of entry in Wyoming
The sign says open, the light tells you to pull around, and the officer wants your logs. Tap inspection mode and hand over the phone. The officer sees today and the previous 7 days: the header with your carrier, USDOT number, VIN and ELD ID, the graph, the events and your cycle recap. Set a 4-digit PIN and the screen stays locked to the logs, away from your photos and texts.
If they want the file, send the FMCSA output file by web services or email from the same screen, with the officer's comment or code entered first. A PDF copy can go by email too.
Since July 22, 2026, the ELD user manual no longer has to be in the cab. You still need transfer instructions, malfunction instructions, and blank graph-grids for at least 8 days, and FMCSA says a logging app can count as the grids. The transfer and malfunction instructions are in the app.
If the device fails, the rule gives you 24 hours to note it and notify the carrier, which is you, and 8 days to get it fixed. The app shows the malfunction and what to do about it. The officer's side is covered in roadside inspection.
Receipts, IFTA and the paper in your door pocket
Paperwork is the part of the job nobody pays you for. Take a photo of a fuel receipt, a repair invoice or a bill of lading, and the AI scan pulls out what matters: date, vendor, location, amounts, gallons, odometer, load number, invoice number. It lands in your documents, not under the seat.
IFTA gets easier when the miles are already counted. TenTrucks adds up miles by state from GPS and builds the IFTA report. Fuel purchases come in by hand, from a scanned receipt, or from the ELD.
Registration, insurance, permits: give a document an expiration date and you get an alert before it runs out, not a surprise at the scale.
- AI document scan
- Miles by state from GPS
- IFTA reports from the same miles
Keep the truck earning
When one truck pays every bill, a missed oil change is a missed load. Set service schedules by miles, days or engine hours and get alerted before they're due.
When your inspection turns up a defect, a work order opens on its own. Major defects are due in a day, the rest in seven, with your photos attached. Want your own checklist for the reefer or the flatbed straps? Build a custom inspection form.
The ELD device reads engine data too: hours, odometer, speed, RPM, VIN and fault codes. A fault code sends you an alert and opens a work order, so Tuesday's check-engine light gets looked at before it turns into a tow on Friday. Low fuel sends an alert as well.
What it costs
We don't put prices on this page. Plans change, and an old number sitting here helps nobody. Ask us for current pricing when you book a demo, and ask the same questions you'd ask anyone else.
For context, FMCSA estimated in its 2015 ELD final rule that an ELD with telematics transfer would cost about $419 a year, and one with local transfer about $166 a year. Those are the agency's estimates from 2015, not today's market prices. TenTrucks transfers by web services and email, which is the telematics kind.
When you compare, line up the same things side by side: hardware, monthly fee, contract length, the cost to cancel, and whether IFTA, maintenance and document scanning are part of the plan or extra.
The back office is a separate tool
The ELD keeps you legal. Booking loads, sending invoices and chasing what you're owed is a different job, and TenTrucks has a TMS for it: see TenTrucks for owner-operators for dispatch and invoicing.
To be straight about it: today the ELD and the TMS are separate products. Your hours don't show up in dispatch, and ELD data doesn't flow into the TMS. Use one, the other, or both.
Questions fleets ask us
About TenTrucks ELD for owner-operators & small fleets.
Rules referenced on this page
- 49 CFR 395.8: who must use an ELD, and exemptions
- 49 CFR 395.1(e): short-haul exception
- 49 CFR 395.22: registered devices and the in-cab packet
- 49 CFR 395.34: ELD malfunctions
- 49 CFR 396.11: DVIR and the one-vehicle exemption
- 49 CFR 396.13: pre-trip inspection
- FMCSA ELD frequently asked questions
- 80 FR 78292: ELD final rule (2015), cost estimates
Try the TenTrucks ELD on your truck
Book a demo and we'll walk you through the driver app the way you'll use it on the road, and give you current pricing.