The Drive Star Group Of Companies takes great pride in its ability to meet or exceed the standards
as set out by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration in the United States and the Ministries
of Transportation in the various Canadian provinces.
Drive Star is one of only a handful of drive-a-way companies who fully comply with the guidelines in all jurisdictions. Many companies in the drive-a-way industry attempt to operate outside of the scope of the Department of Transportation regulations. The carriers that typically try to avoid the rules do so because of the administrative burden as well as for the cost savings. These practices put both themselves and their clients at risk.
At Drive Star our operating mandate is simple “Understand the rules, adopt them as policy and prosper with your partners.”
The United States Department of Transportation, through the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration rates carriers based on their overall performance by ranking carriers in one of three ways;
For the most part, carriers begin their existence as “Satisfactory” from startup. After a period of time, those carriers who practice poor operating practices will inevitably land themselves in front of a D.O.T. auditor who will audit the carrier and place them with a “Conditional” rating if they are deemed to be poor operators with questionable practices. Once the D.O.T. downgrades a carriers rating to “Conditional” they are subject to mandatory audit within the next 90 days. This grace period is granted in order to get back on track and meet their very strict guidelines.
Once the re-audit occurs one of three things may happen. They may extend the carriers “Conditional”
rating if they feel the carrier still needs work or they may down grade the carriers rating to “Unsatisfactory”.
In the event that a carrier is downgraded to “Unsatisfactory”, their authority is revoked. Carriers who
have their rating downgraded to “Unsatisfactory” may not provide service legally. The third possibility
is that the D.O.T. returns the carriers rating to “Satisfactory”, whereby the carrier is once again clear
until such time that re-audit occurs, either randomly or due to an increased number of infractions.
For more information on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration or to get information on a particular carrier go to www.safersys.org. When visiting this site you can query a carriers’ operating history, insurance history, accident statistics, driver statistics and overall compliance by searching using one of three search criteria;
This information is free to the public and can be used as a very credible means of determining whether or not a carrier can legally operate on the roads and interstates in the United States.
As far as Canada goes, there is not a system in place in which a user can research a carrier nationwide.
A company wanting information for Canada must first start with the Ministry of Transportation in the
base province where the carrier resides and has its registered head office. Most provinces have their
own unique requirements which a carrier operating in or through their jurisdiction must adhere to.
For example, in Ontario, carriers must comply with C.V.O.R. guidelines. The acronym C.V.O.R.
stands for Commercial Vehicle Operators Registration and is monitored by the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario. (“MTO)
Most of the Canadian regulations are administered based on a demerit point system, whereby the accumulation of points can cause an audit when measured against the standards.
There are many other operating requirements that a carrier must adhere to should they wish to run a legitimate operation. Many of which are listed below.
Each of the companies that operates within the Drive Star group has attained a satisfactory safety rating. Drive Star meets or exceeds all of the following compliance requirements;
Within the guise of each of these bodies lies a myriad of compliance requirements which requires substantial administrative talent and time. For example, the USA D.O.T. administers the “Hours of Service” Regulations as well as the “Drug & Alcohol” Testing requirements to name two.
For carriers that lack the administrative capacity and knowledge to deal with such requirements the burden can be so overwhelming that compliance is ignored.
At Drive Star, Safety & Compliance is a way of life. It is such a priority that we actually have a department that is dedicated to fulfilling those responsibilities on a full time basis. When considering the use of a drive-a-way carrier, see how they stack up to what we as a company provide as an integral part of our service offering.
To find out more about our company or to receive a compliance package detailing all of our registrations and policies please contact us at 866 – DRV – STAR.
Drive Star, through our Director of Risk and Insurance can answer any questions you may have related to our insurance coverage’s and/or the types & limits of coverage’s you should have in place when using a drive-a-way carrier.