Motive TMS Integration for ELD and Fuel Card Data

Ask about a Motive TMS integration and you get one answer, the ELD feed. Hours of service, GPS pings, fewer check calls. Meanwhile the fuel card sits in a second portal, and nobody reconciles those transactions against the loads that burned the fuel. It connects as more than an ELD feed, and the card half is where the money hides.

A Motive TMS integration is three feeds, not one

Datatruck is a TMS for carriers, and its integration catalog lists Motive in three places, Fuel, Telematics and ELD. Most write-ups cover the third alone.

The feeds answer different questions. Telematics and ELD say whether the driver can legally take the next pickup. Fuel says what it cost.

• ELD, duty status and hours availability in the load view.

• Telematics, GPS position, odometer and mileage on the active load.

• Fuel, card transactions on the load and truck.

What the ELD and telematics feed brings into dispatch

This post defers to how ELD integration connects your fleet data for the general mechanics and stays Motive-specific. Position, odometer and remaining drive time sit beside the load record, so dispatch stops calling drivers for what the system knows.

Per FMCSA, a property-carrying driver may drive a maximum of 11 hours after 10 consecutive hours off duty, and may not drive beyond the 14th consecutive hour after coming on duty. A driver with two hours left does not get a 400-mile pickup, and the hours-of-service rules settle that before dispatch does.

Datatruck is a TMS, not an ELD

Stated plainly, Datatruck does not compute hours of service, set duty status, or replace Motive. Under 49 CFR 395.30(b)(1) the driver certifies their own records, and under 395.30(d) a carrier may only propose an edit the driver must confirm. That certification is why the log cannot live in a TMS.

So what is the TMS for. Hours availability and fuel spend beside load and settlement data, not two portals nobody reconciles. A different job from what the ELD mandate requires or which operations are exempt.

What crosses into the TMS and what stays in Motive

The fuel card half nobody writes about

Almost nobody connects the card to the load, where a carrier's real fuel question lives. Connected, a transaction lands on the load and truck, not a month-end statement, the discipline behind a working fuel tax strategy.

Then the rebate. Rebates often post days after the fill, so the number at the pump was never that load's real cost. Until it lands, gross fuel spend overstates the run and every margin built on it is wrong.

Datatruck applies those retroactive updates to the original transaction, not a separate credit line. That is why cost per mile is only as good as the transactions feeding it.

What to check before you connect

Most integration pages stop at "connect and you are done." These four checks show the difference.

• Does the fuel card sync, or only the ELD feed. Many integrations cover telematics alone, stranding card spend in a second portal.

• Do retroactive corrections update the original transaction. If a rebate posts as its own line, somebody matches it by hand.

• Do fuel timestamps reflect real fill time or batch import time. A mismatch assigns the fill to the wrong load.

• Who owns the log record for DOT. Per 49 CFR 395.8(k)(1), a carrier must retain records of duty status and supporting documents for at least 6 months from receipt. A TMS does not move that.

What a DOT auditor looks at first is retention. Picking trucking compliance software without settling ownership moves the gap, not closes it.

Setting up the Motive TMS integration

• Open the apps marketplace and select Motive.

• Authorize your credentials, once per feed.

• Map trucks and drivers so records attach to the right unit.

• Verify on a recent load: position, hours, one fuel transaction.

Datatruck runs 100+ integrations across loadboards, telematics, ELD, fuel, tolls, factoring and accounting, so your factor and toll tag follow the same pattern.

Where Datatruck Fits

Datatruck is an AI-native TMS built on one idea, a carrier should see what every truck and load actually earns. The biggest blind spots are not behind the trailer, they are behind the desk. Fuel in one portal and loads in another is that blind spot.

FAQs

Does Datatruck replace my Motive ELD

No. Datatruck is a TMS, not an ELD, and it does not compute hours of service or set duty status. Your ELD stays the system of record for the log. Datatruck reads availability and location so it sits beside the load.

Does the fuel card sync, or only the ELD feed

Both. The connection spans three feeds, Fuel, Telematics and ELD, so card transactions land on the load and truck alongside hours and GPS data.

What happens when a fuel rebate posts after the transaction

Datatruck applies retroactive rebate updates to the original transaction. A rebate landing days later changes what the load earned, and gross fuel spend overstates your cost until it posts.

Who is responsible for the ELD records during a DOT audit

The carrier is. Under 49 CFR 395.8(k)(1) you must retain records of duty status and supporting documents for at least 6 months, and under 395.30(b) the driver certifies the record in the ELD. A TMS does not transfer that.