PCF Transportation Practice Leader, Todd Lykke is joined by special guests, Tiana Schowe, CEO of meshVI, and Rob Moseley, attorney working in the transportation industry. Together, they discuss what MVR monitoring is and how it can play a major role in reducing risk and costs for truckers and motor carriers. Learn how PCF Transportation uses MVR monitoring to help keep your business moving.
Watch the discussion below, or read the full transcript for all the details you need to know about MVR monitoring. For more information about how PCF Transportation can help keep your business moving, visit transportation.pcfins.com.
Moderator: Brodie Lawson
Today, I'm talking to PCF Transportation and some special guests about vehicle registration, or MVR monitoring. We will discuss why it is important and how PCF Transportation uses this useful tool to help manage some of the risks that come with the transportation industry.
Allow me to first introduce Todd Lykke, PCF Transportation Practice leader. Hello, Todd.
Todd Lykke
Hello.
Moderator: Brodie Lawson
Next up is Tiana Schowe, chief executive officer of meshVI.
And Rob Mosley, a lawyer who works in the transportation industry. Hello.
Rob Moseley
Hello, hello.
Moderator: Brodie Lawson
Thank you very much for joining us. We are really excited to get started. So, for Tiana first, what is driver monitoring and MVR and how does it work in meshVI?
Tiana Schowe
That's a good question, Brodie. Therefore, MVR monitoring is a continuous monitoring of motor vehicle violations that occur to drivers as they go out using their commercial vehicles. In the case of meshVI, and how we integrate it into the platform, we have a seamless driver inventory that makes it very easy for carriers to bulk load and bulk monitor their drivers from a single shot. They can see if the driver has received a conviction with real-time data. So they can see if the driver is being monitored with real-time data. It will display points indicating whether the driver received a violation or not. So, it's like golf, bad scores are bad, high scores are bad. Therefore, the lower the score, the better the driver in terms of caution. So all of that is built into one seamless meshVI screen and allows car carriers, trucking companies and anyone who monitors drivers to know in real time if their drivers have received a conviction for a local law violation. You know those laws: speeding, reckless driving, stop signs, and so on, those kinds of violations that motorists watch out for their drivers.
Moderator: Brodie Lawson
That's right. So, we always aim for that low score area like in golf. It's really easy to remember.
Now to Todd, car carriers are very careful when it comes to their business, right? They have DOT scores, car maintenance, handling, customer service and more; it never ends and there is just so much going on. So, from a critical point of view, how important is this?
Todd Lykke
Thank you, Brodie. It is important. It is part of the ingredients that bake the cake is one way of looking at it. When I advise a client from a risk management perspective, what we always try to do is minimize exposure. How do we reduce exposure, which helps lower their insurance costs, right? When the insurance company charges something, it should charge the amount of exposure like your car repairs, like your DOT scores. The better the result, the less exposure there is from the insurance company's point of view. So, when you monitor, when a customer monitors MVRs, we know that if something comes up, like a driver's license is suspended or there's a major violation, these are the things that are most important when they're from the view. of the insurance company. And as we all know, Brodie, a lot of times the drivers, we're not the ones who raise their hands and say, “hey, Mr. Employer, guess what? I just got a 15 mph speeding, speeding ticket. But all of that will matter. So, it's part of that. If you want to control your company, you want to control your expenses. This is what you want to see.
Moderator: Brodie Lawson
Definitely. And to add to that Todd, what value would a motor carrier get from monitoring a driver's MVR?
Todd Lykke
Better understanding of your driver pool. Indeed, you reduce your exposure if you have a bad driver out there, instead of knowing this after the fact. Brodie, here's the situation. What ends up happening when we have a bad accident and after the fact, the MVRs are finally handled by the plaintiff's attorney, and we see that the driver had a suspended license? They may not have been paying child support. It could be many reasons, but from the point of view of the case, you just give the farm. This is scary. Now, we have an unqualified driver on the road. Why don't we know that? The reason is most of the time a trucking company will run MVRs once a year and after that, they think everything is fine. They don't know the difference, but they should know if there's a problem out there. That could be a showstopper for their company or putting their company at risk by looking at a lawsuit or just insurance costs. They need to know that they need to make decisions accordingly and this is the value that having this type of service brings to our customers.
Moderator: Brodie Lawson
Yes, it really does happen. I mean, it becomes more obvious when you give that particular example. So, thank you. So, I'll turn it over to Rob. From a legal perspective, which I know Todd touched on a bit, what are some of the risks and benefits of MVR monitoring?
Rob Moseley
The only danger is if you don't act with the knowledge you have. I mean that can only be dangerous if you know the driver is unfit but you keep him on the road, that can be dangerous. But there is no risk of taking an unqualified driver off the road. On the benefits side, you know, Todd and Tiana mentioned some of these. But, you know, you run your annual review under the 391-25 regulations and it could be 11.5 months before you look at this driver again. And if you do that, you know, that's 11.5 months where a driver can have a suspended license or have some type of violation that could require some type of remedial training or some type of discipline. And yet you didn't know about it. That is the advantage, that you are no longer in the dark.
What we hear from time to time is, “well, I'm checking the CSA to see if they've violated the law,” and the answer is no, they won't, because the CSA won't tell you that a driver has been suspended unless the driver has been pulled over and notified that the driver has been suspended for the past 11.5 months . Also, there are many local laws and regulations that do not appear in the CSA that can appear with the MVR. There are many benefits and very little risk in using a program like this. That is incredibly helpful.
Moderator: Brodie Lawson
That's exactly how you described it. So, let's get it from a perspective now, for a motorist, what are some of the ways motorists can use MVR monitoring?
Rob Moseley
Well, a car carrier, like Todd said, a motorcycle carrier will understand more about the drivers in their fleet. But having this constant vigilance, and in a litigious situation, it's good to say, “of course, we knew that and that's what we did in response to that.”
So if, if a driver breaks the law or has some kind of suspension or whatever, you know, you show that you're on top of it by knowing it, by responding to it, and reacting to it. But I love the story you get to tell when you say we did more than the regulations required. So, if you say, hey, federal regulations only require this static assessment once a year. And we actually have a monitoring process going on where we'll look at the driver's record in real time, that's important. And being able to go above and beyond the rules is something, again, that's a story we like to tell.
Moderator: Brodie Lawson
Yes, it all sounds good, but of course, it always comes down to the line as it often does in business. So, for Tiana, how much does MVR monitoring usually cost?
Tiana Schowe
And that's a big question. And I'll tell you what it costs, but I think the big question is, what does it cost to not do MVR monitoring? And Rob can answer that for you. The actual cost is, about $2 per month per driver. So, you're talking about $24 a year to monitor your driver's MVRs.
The biggest question I have for Rob is: Rob, what is the cost of not doing MVR monitoring?
Rob Moseley
Definitely. There is no comparison to how much it would cost to find out in a court case that you had an unqualified driver and you could have learned that, but you didn't. And, as Todd was talking about, when you go to underwriters and you try to make a pitch about why underwriters should be interested in you. This is another story you get to tell just to show the underwriters. Hey, you know, you just ran through all the MVRs of our drivers and you didn't find anything we didn't already know.
On the other hand, Todd goes to the underwriters and says, you know, here's an accident, I'd like you to arrest, and they run a list of 25 drivers. They finally ran the MVRs and they said, you know, two of these guys you listed here are currently suspended. Not exactly putting your best foot forward with underwriters there. So, yeah, that's another advantage that you have is not, like going back to what Todd said, you know your drivers, you understand your fleet and you show the underwriters or the plaintiff's attorney, hey, we understand our fleet as well, and this is definitely under our control.
Moderator: Brodie Lawson
I'll turn that over to Todd to wrap it up here and let us know how PCF Transportation is using this tool to help customers.
Todd Lykke
Well, we offer it to our customers and that is the biggest advantage of using PCF. Many clients have never heard of this from other agencies when we bring this up. You're like, I didn't know this was possible. So that's a huge amount. So, not only will we help from a case point of view, we will also help from a cost point of view. And all of this goes back to, as I said before, reducing that exposure, controlling long-term and short-term costs for our customers.
Moderator: Brodie Lawson
Definitely. Thank you very much for your wisdom and for giving us a little information about MVR and all its benefits. This was really interesting and I know it will be beneficial to all who listen.
Thank you for joining PCF Transportation to discuss the importance of MVR monitoring for motor carriers and drivers.
To learn more about how PCF Transportation can help keep your business moving. Visit transportation.pcfins.com. Thank you so much for watching.
Learn more about PCF Transportation at transportation.pcfins.com.
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