What can and cannot be edited on a past log?
The Motive ELD records driving time and duty status events according to FMCSA Electronic Logging Device (ELD) regulations. Some parts of a driver's log can be edited or corrected afterwards. Some parts of the logs are protected by regulation and cannot be changed. The table below explains which fields are editable, which are locked, and how to handle the common scenarios you may run into.
| Field or event | Driver can edit | Fleet Admin can edit | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Duty status entries for:
|
Yes | Yes (as a suggestion) | The driver must approve fleet admin edits before they apply. |
| A missed past duty status (e.g., forgot to switch to On Duty) | Yes | Yes (as a suggestion) | Driver approval required for fleet admin edits. |
| Vehicle number, trailer number, shipping document number | Yes | Yes | Free-text fields on the log form. |
| Co-driver information | Yes | Yes | |
| Location | Yes | Yes | The ELD's recorded location stays in the audit trail; the edited value appears alongside it. |
| Time (start/end of a duty status) | Yes | Yes | Cannot create an overlap with the automatically recorded driving time. |
| Notes and remarks (annotations) | Yes | Yes | Required for any edit. |
| Odometer reading | Yes | Yes | |
| Automatically recorded driving time (recorded by the Vehicle Gateway) | No | No | Cannot be edited, shortened, or reclassified. See "Working around auto-recorded driving time" below. |
| Manual driving time added by a driver | Yes (for exempted drivers and in specific scenarios) | Yes | Manual driving time cannot sit adjacent to automatically recorded Vehicle Gateway trips. |
| Assignment of driving time between drivers | Limited | Yes | Unidentified driving can be claimed by a driver; team drive time can be reassigned between co-drivers when both confirm. |
What's editable on the Driver App?
Drivers can edit or suggest edits to logs from the last 14 days directly in the Motive Driver App. Anything older than 14 days is not available on the Driver App. To make changes to logs older than 14 days, drivers must contact their fleet admin, who can edit the log from the Fleet Dashboard.
Drivers can:
- Edit a past duty status that was set incorrectly (for example, change Off Duty to On Duty Not Driving for warehouse time).
- Insert a missing duty status that was not recorded at the time.
- Update the log form fields:
- Vehicle number
- Trailer number
- Shipping document number
- Co-driver
- Time
- Notes or annotations
- Odometer reading.
- Claim the unidentified driving time that belongs to them.
- Approve or reject edit suggestions from a fleet admin.
Every edit requires a note (annotation) explaining the reason for the change. The original entry is preserved alongside the edit, with a timestamp and the name of the person who made the change.
What's editable from the Fleet Dashboard?
Fleet admins can edit any of the same fields above for any driver in their fleet, going back further than 14 days. Fleet admin edits are submitted as suggestions, and the driver must review and approve them in the Driver App before they take effect on the official log.
What cannot be edited?
The following are protected under FMCSA ELD regulations and cannot be changed:
- Automatically recorded driving time: Once the Vehicle Gateway has recorded driving time under a driver's profile, that driving time cannot be shortened, deleted, or reclassified to a non-driving status. This applies to both drivers and fleet admins.
- Reclassifying auto-recorded driving to a Special Duty Status: Drive time cannot be retroactively changed to Personal Conveyance (PC), Yard Move (YM), or Off Duty on the official ELD output. PC and YM must be selected by the driver before the drive event begins. See Managing Personal Conveyance (PC) and Yard Move (YM) in Motive ELD for the correct workflow.
- The original log record: Per FMCSA, the ELD retains the original entry alongside every edit, along with timestamps and the identity of the person who made the change. Edits do not overwrite the original data on the official log.
Working around auto-recorded driving time
Auto-recorded driving time cannot be edited, but there are valid ways to contextualize it when it is incorrectly recorded:
| Scenario | What to do |
|---|---|
| Auto-recorded driving was wrongly attached to a driver (e.g., the Vehicle Gateway recorded driving while the driver was not driving) | Fleet admins can use Ignore Drive Time to exclude the event from the driver's HOS clocks for internal compliance. The event still appears on the driver's official ELD log with a note explaining the scenario. See Ignore Incorrectly Recorded Drive Time. |
| Driving was recorded as Unidentified (no driver was connected to the Vehicle Gateway during the trip) | Drivers can claim Unidentified driving from the Driver App. Fleet admins can also assign Unidentified driving to the correct driver from the Fleet Dashboard. |
| A team driver's driving time was attached to the wrong co-driver | Either driver (or a fleet admin) can reassign the drive time to the correct co-driver. Both drivers must confirm the reassignment. |
| A driver mistakenly claimed an Unidentified driving event that was not theirs | The driver can undo the claim from the Driver App, and the fleet admin can revert it from the Fleet Dashboard. If neither is possible, contact Motive Support for assistance. |
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