Truck drivers must keep the last seven consecutive days of their record of duty status on them whenever they’re on duty, and their motor carrier must retain those logs, along with the supporting documents behind them, for at least six months from the date the carrier receives them. Both requirements come from federal regulations at 49 CFR Part 395, enforced by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. The rule applies the same way to electronic logging device records and to paper grid sheets.
The Seven Days a Driver Carries
The driver’s personal obligation is short-term but strict. Every driver subject to hours-of-service rules must keep copies of their record of duty status for the previous seven consecutive days in their possession and available for inspection whenever they are on duty.1eCFR. 49 CFR 395.8 – Drivers Record of Duty Status The current day’s record has to be kept up to date through the last change in duty status.
For drivers using an ELD, the device carries most of that weight automatically and can display the last seven days on screen or transfer them electronically to an inspector. Paper log users have to physically carry seven grid sheets plus the day in progress. If a roadside officer asks for logs and any of those days is missing, the gap itself is a violation, separate from whatever the missing sheet might have shown.
The Six Months a Carrier Holds
Once the carrier receives a driver’s record of duty status, it has to keep that record for no fewer than six months.1eCFR. 49 CFR 395.8 – Drivers Record of Duty Status The clock starts on the date the carrier receives the log, not the date the driver created it. Records must live at the carrier’s principal place of business, organized so they can be pulled and reviewed during a compliance audit.
Six months is the federal minimum. Nothing in the rule prevents a carrier from keeping records longer, and many do.
Supporting Documents Follow the Same Six Months
Logs on their own aren’t the whole retention picture. Motor carriers must also keep the supporting documents that verify what a driver wrote on the log: bills of lading, dispatch records, expense receipts for on-duty time, electronic fleet management communications, and payroll records among them. A carrier must retain up to eight supporting documents per driver for each 24-hour period the driver was on duty.2eCFR. 49 CFR 395.11 – Supporting Documents
Drivers have to turn these documents over to the carrier within 13 days of either the 24-hour period the documents cover or the day the driver receives them, whichever comes later.2eCFR. 49 CFR 395.11 – Supporting Documents From there, the carrier holds them for the same six months that applies to the logs themselves.
When an ELD Fails
If an ELD malfunctions, the driver has to note the malfunction, notify the carrier in writing within 24 hours, and reconstruct the record of duty status for the current day and the previous seven consecutive days on paper grid logs unless those records are still retrievable from the device. The driver continues on paper until the ELD is repaired.3eCFR. 49 CFR 395.34 – ELD Malfunctions and Data Diagnostic Events Those reconstructed paper logs are subject to the same seven-day carry rule and the same six-month retention rule at the carrier.
When Six Months Is Not Long Enough
Carriers with any crash exposure should think past the federal floor. Federal regulations separately require motor carriers to maintain an accident register, including copies of all accident reports, for three years after each crash.4eCFR. 49 CFR Part 390 – Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations General That accident-register requirement doesn’t formally extend the six-month log retention window, but a carrier that destroys a driver’s logs six months after a serious crash is inviting problems in any resulting lawsuit. Many carriers and their insurers keep logs for at least three years as a matter of internal policy for that reason.
What Happens If Logs Are Missing or Wrong
The retention rules matter because inspectors and auditors do check. A motor carrier that fails to maintain required records, or maintains records that are incomplete or inaccurate, faces civil penalties of up to $1,584 per day the violation continues, with a maximum total of $15,846. Knowingly falsifying, destroying, or altering a required record carries the same $15,846 maximum when the falsification misrepresents a fact that constitutes a substantive violation.5Federal Register. Revisions to Civil Penalty Amounts, 2025 These amounts are adjusted annually for inflation.
Deliberate falsification can also draw criminal charges. Under 18 USC 1001, anyone who knowingly makes a false entry in a matter within federal jurisdiction faces up to five years in prison, and FMCSA-regulated logs fall squarely within federal jurisdiction.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 US Code 1001 – Statements or Entries Generally
At the roadside, an officer who finds that a driver has exceeded HOS limits or cannot produce adequate logs can declare the driver out of service. The driver cannot operate the vehicle until enough off-duty time has passed to bring them back into compliance, and the carrier cannot require or allow that driver to drive until the order is satisfied.7Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). Drivers Declared Out-of-Service (395.13) The loaded trailer waits.
Availability for Inspection
Logs and supporting documents must be available for inspection by authorized federal or state enforcement officers at any time.1eCFR. 49 CFR 395.8 – Drivers Record of Duty Status For a driver, that means the seven-day rolling window has to be producible on the spot during a roadside stop, and an ELD has to be capable of displaying records on screen and transferring data electronically through web services or email when an inspector requests it. For a carrier, the equivalent scenario is a compliance review where auditors examine the full six months of stored records at the principal place of business. ELD data, paper logs, and every supporting document have to be organized and retrievable.
Short-Haul Drivers Are a Different Case
Not every commercial driver has to keep a record of duty status at all. A driver is exempt from maintaining a log if they operate within a 150 air-mile radius of their normal work reporting location, return to that location and are released from work within 14 consecutive hours, and take the required off-duty time between shifts. The exception applies to both CDL and non-CDL commercial vehicle drivers.8eCFR. 49 CFR 395.1 – Scope of Rules in This Part
Short-haul drivers still generate a paper trail, though. Their motor carrier has to maintain time records showing when the driver reported for duty, total hours on duty each day, and when the driver was released. Those time records follow the same six-month retention rule that applies to full logs.8eCFR. 49 CFR 395.1 – Scope of Rules in This Part So even in the short-haul world, the six-month floor is the number to plan around.