In a move that had truckers across the nation rejoicing, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) announced on February 13th, 2020 that it would be lowering registration fees for motor carriers starting with registration year 2020 and continuing for the foreseeable future.Unified Carrier Registration PlanThe Unified Carrier Registration (UCR) Plan is no stranger to […]
Buying a semi-truck, whether you are buying it for yourself in the jump from company driver to owner-operator, or for an employee as you jump from owner-operator to fleet owner, will be one of the biggest decisions anyone makes in their trucking career. It is not a decision to be taken lightly. It costs money […]
Paid CDL training, is it too good to be true? On the surface, getting paid to train in a CDL program might seem like a dream come true: you get paid to be able to get paid. The logic seems airtight, but like most major decisions in life, it is a good idea to take […]
You might remember from last week that we wrote about California Assembly Bill No. 5 and its potential effects on the trucking industry as a whole. The article ended by mentioning other states following suit. Now, the House of Representatives has passed their parallel to AB5, called the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act. […]
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) works hard to use the power of technology to increase transportation industry safety nationwide, but sometimes their speed of implementation falls short of expectation. The implementation of this rule has been pushed back two years from February 7th, 2020 to 2022. What is the Entry-Level Driver Training Rule? […]
One benefit of being a trucker is that your company might allow you to take a furry friend with you. If you are considering getting a four-legged driving buddy, here are some tips to get you started. Pet Friendly Companies The first thing you should do if you are employed already is to check to […]
Truckers starting out in hauling across state lines might be shocked to find out that some states have different speed limits for cars and heavy-duty trucks. These are for a few reasons: a semi-truck crashing at a higher speed limit can cause more damage, and a big rig traveling faster uses more fuel and generates […]
Though USMCA may sound like the acronym for an offshoot of the Marine Corps, in this context it stands for the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. The shipping of goods between the United States, Canada, and Mexico is bound to affect the trucking industry. History of the USMCA Before we understand USMCA, we must first know the […]
We here at TopMark Funding covered WEX fuel cards as one of the best fuel cards in the market, but it appears there is a downside to being the most popular fuel card in the country. On the night of February 4th, 2020, WEX cards were not accepted at diesel pumps across the country. Hitting […]
According to current federal law in the continental United States, a truck driver must be over the age of 21 to haul freight across state lines. With a trucker shortage hitting the United States, Congress is debating the Drive Safe Act, which would allow commercial drivers under the age of 21 to drive across state […]
In early 2019, Volvo Group, the parent company of Mack Trucks, started mysteriously posting job listings to hire engineers in the Salem/Roanoke area of Virginia. Volvo declined to comment about the job listings other than to say they would fulfill “future business needs”, but Jon Harris of the Morning Call predicted that Mack Trucks may […]
To many in the trucking industry, a semi-truck that gets 10 miles per gallon (MPG) at a full load seems like a fantastic pipedream. Of course, in the early years of the trucking industry, when trucks received 2 to 3 miles per gallon, the idea of 5 miles on a gallon of diesel also seemed […]
Adam McCann of WalletHub has released a list of the best and worst states to drive in 2020. He compiled his results studying data from over 15 different sources, including the U.S. Department of Energy and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. If you were to simply look at the list itself, you might wonder […]
Just when you thought the FMCSA was done regulating, they toss on even more regulations. This time it’s with the FMCSA Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse. The website is loaded with information on the new database, and you really should go there if you want to obtain a full understanding of the program. For those who […]
In an earlier article, we discussed the credit statistics of owner-operators who apply for credit and the connection between FICO score and the likelihood of an owner-operator getting the deal they want. We are going to ramp things up this time around and compare the credit and funding of owner-operators versus fleet owners and see […]
When it comes to getting a loan, there are numerous factors. The factor that impacts the other factors the most, however, has to be credit score. A credit score can be the difference between a double-digit and a single-digit loan on your truck, or the difference as to whether or not you get a loan […]
With fuel costs being one of the largest costs in the transportation industry, diesel fuel may be approaching its decline. Companies are racing to be the first to bring about a revolution of fueling to reap the rewards. Many alternative power systems are being researched, but none has caught the public’s eye quite like electric […]
In 2016, Uber delivered 50,000 cans of beer over 120 miles of highway without any driver intervention. But two years later, Uber closed down its self-driving semi-trucks division to focus on self-driving cars instead. The trucking profession is huge, over five percent of all American jobs are in truck transportation. When self-driving trucks progress far […]
The first thing every up-and-coming trucker should know is that their semi-truck takes diesel fuel, not gasoline. What even some experienced truckers may not know are the nuances between diesel and gasoline, and why there is a distinction. Here, we go over the differences between the two. Origins Back in the 19th century, when automobiles […]
At the time of this writing, the year 2020 is still in its infancy. After the tumultuous time of change for the trucking industry in both 2018 and 2019, it is time to make sense of the industry’s health to see if there’s any trends that need addressing. Trucking Isn’t Going Away Amongst the news […]
There seems to be no stopping Tesla. The technological giant currently has a market capitalization more than twice over Ford. Recently, Tesla has decided to step into the semi-truck market with their new Tesla Semi, set to be released by the end of this year, 2020. Here’s a rundown of all of Elon Musk’s individual […]
Are you looking to buy a box truck and need truck financing? We’ve put together a guide on how to get a box truck lease and financing. Box truck leasing and commercial truck financing are different from traditional vehicle financing and leasing. Traditional truck loans typically require your credit, business revenue, and time in business […]
Every truck should know the weight of diesel fuel. How much does a gallon of diesel fuel weight? When a normal driver passes a truck on the freeway, they don’t really think twice. They might think they want to speed up to pass it, or that they’re getting their view blocked. They don’t think about […]
How much money do truck drivers make per year? When you’re considering a job, perhaps the most important question of all is how much money you will make. The same goes for the trucking industry, and the answer is a little less straightforward than a simple salary amount. There are about 3.5 million truck drivers […]
