A proposed FMCSA rule on non-domiciled CDL holders could soon disqualify nearly 200,000 non-domiciled CDL holders from driving in the U.S. If the rule goes into effect, many operators could face a shortage of experienced drivers — making truck driver retention a hot topic.
Beyond pay increases, the key to keeping the best drivers is removing the daily frustrations that push them toward the exit.
Learn four new strategies you can adopt with Motive to keep good drivers longer:
- Cut back on admin work for drivers.
- Protect drivers with fair and supportive technology.
- Personalize your coaching.
- Offer fair pay and benefits.
1. Cut back on admin work for drivers
Admin work for drivers — such as filling out paper inspection forms, calling back and forth with dispatch, or uploading fuel receipts — eats into paid time. When daily tasks are clear and lightweight, drivers can focus on what they signed up to do instead of wrestling with fragmented systems and paperwork. With Motive, you can:
- Simplify daily workflows. The Motive Driver App brings core tasks like logs, DVIRs, and document capture into a clean, intuitive interface so drivers can complete necessary tasks and get back to work.
- Tailor the in-cab experience. You can customize Driver Hub layouts by driver type or region, so local, long‑haul, and dedicated drivers each see the tasks and information that matter for their shift.
- Communicate effectively. Share information, reports, and route changes directly with drivers without having to call them.
- Streamline spend management. Motive Card puts card controls, transaction history, and support in one place, so fleet managers can give drivers a simple answer about a declined transaction or spending limit.
With the Motive Driver App, our drivers are safer and more engaged in performance. The app has given our drivers better visibility into their hours of service. Real-time alerts show them when they’re nearing their limits and keep them compliant.
2. Protect drivers with fair and supportive technology
Criminals target commercial vehicles as a payout opportunity – think swoop and squat scams and intentional collisions. If fleets don’t have technology in place to protect drivers, drivers are left unprotected in the event of a false claim.
AI dash cams detect unsafe driving behaviors and positive driving behaviors, and provide crucial evidence for driver exoneration.
Our drivers don’t look at these cameras as watchdogs — they’ve seen how these dash cams have their backs time and time again.
Motive combines industry-leading AI with human review so drivers are evaluated accurately. This is how Motive’s capabilities work:
- AI that sees more — and gets it right. The Motive AI Dashcam detects 15+ unsafe behaviors with up to 99% accuracy, helping prevent incidents without flooding drivers with false alarms.
- Positive driving. Motive automatically detects positive driving behaviors. For example, it can tell if a driver is cut off and then increases following distance, or avoids a collision with a quick reaction.
- Human-in-the-loop reviews protect drivers. Motive’s in-house safety team is made up of 400+ safety experts who watch every safety event video generated by the AI Dashcam. They remove false positives and improve the performance of our AI models.
- Safety Scores and coaching workflows build trust. The Motive Safety Score, coaching sessions, and targeted training are all fed by data, turning dash cams and telematics into tools for development and recognition.
- Dash cams exonerate drivers and cut incident downtime. The Motive AI Dashcam provides high-resolution HD video and integration with telematics so safety teams can quickly reconstruct what happened in a collision. This evidence is crucial for exoneration when drivers aren’t at fault, giving drivers confidence that the company has their back.
Did you know? Fleets using dual-facing dash cams see higher retention over time. When Motive compared fleets using dual-facing cameras (DFDCs) against those with only road-facing or no cameras, DFDC fleets saw about a 3% increase in driver retention after 75 weeks. And in individual fleets with 800+ vehicles, DFDCs were associated with longer driver tenure and sharply lower collision rates.
We had a safety incident shortly after installing dash cams that would have taken us months to resolve without Motive. With the Motive cameras, it took us about 17 seconds to understand what happened and exonerate our driver. Motive has taken the guesswork out of it. We did change that driver’s opinion. He’s happy he’s got a camera in his truck.
3. Personalize your coaching
When coaching is manual and hard to scale, fleets often have to resort to coaching drivers as a group and following up on incidents long after they’ve occurred.
Coaching is far more likely to help truck driver retention when it’s personalized, consistent, and respectful of drivers’ time. Dan Murray, senior vice president at the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI), said this about research ATRI released about DFDCs: “Our report showed that using dash cam video for proactive safety training not only had a benefit, but that drivers appreciated when the data was used to make them better drivers.”
Motive enables data-based, easy-to-deliver coaching. Rather than lumping drivers together, managers can coach underperforming drivers and recognize top drivers — all with time-saving tools. See how these Motive features work:
- Safety Scores and driver behavior data. Motive automatically scores drivers based on events like cell phone usage, close following, and stop sign violations, so managers can focus their time where it will have the biggest impact and recognize drivers who are consistently safe.
- Structured coaching workflows. Instead of coaching one event at a time, Motive groups coachable events, provides context, and tracks coaching history — making it easier to run structured, repeatable sessions and show drivers how they’ve improved over time.
- Automated and personalized driver coaching. Motive’s AI Coach is the first and only AI avatar that allows you to deliver weekly AI-generated coaching videos to drivers, summarizing key events and providing actionable feedback on safety performance.
Timely and consistent coaching is one of the biggest roadblocks to driver safety. Motive’s AI Coach changes that, allowing us to deliver personalized feedback instantly, and at scale, without overloading our team. In less than six months, by combining Motive technology with our safety program, we’ve already seen a 20% reduction in injuries — an exceptional achievement in this industry.
4. Offer fair pay and benefits
If you can prove to drivers financially and personally that they’re valued, you’ll be more likely to retain them. Consider ways you can improve in these areas:
- Wages. Research shows that predictable pay is the biggest reason (81.9%) for truck drivers looking for a new job. To keep drivers from hopping to a different company offering a better salary, ensure your pay scale for current drivers aligns with market rates.
- Benefits. If higher wages aren’t an option, offer better benefits or more paid time off. This supports a driver’s ability to balance professional demands with personal life.
- Home time. Erratic scheduling and last-minute changes makes it hard for drivers to plan when they’ll be home. Drivers looking for a new job cited better home time as the second highest reason (65.7%) for their search. Follow through on promises of consistent schedules and predictable home time.
Integrate operations to improve truck driver retention
The Motive Integrated Operations Platform is an all-in-one platform for safety, fleet, spend, workforce, and equipment. With these tools in one place, it’s easier to offer your drivers a safer and more rewarding driving experience.
Learn more about the Motive Driver Experience product or request a demo.
FAQs about truck driver retention
What is truck driver retention?
Truck driver retention is the ability of a carrier to keep its drivers over time, typically measured as an annualized turnover rate or as the percentage of drivers who stay beyond a given period (for example, 6, 12, or 24 months). High retention means lower recruiting and onboarding costs and more experienced drivers on your team.
Why do truck drivers quit?
Retention issues vary by fleet, but across the board, it can be hard to retain truck drivers because of these issues:
- Equipment, safety, and support. Aging equipment, lack of investment in safety technology, or a sense that leadership won’t back drivers when incidents occur.
- Culture and communication. Poor dispatcher relationships, inconsistent policies, or technology that feels punitive rather than supportive.
- Compensation and predictability. Pay that doesn’t keep pace with the market — or unpredictable pay when miles and hours swing wildly week to week.
- Home time and schedules. Unreliable routing, frequent last-minute changes, or constant weekend/holiday work without transparency.
How does driver retention impact your top line?
- Turnover is expensive. Replacing a single driver can cost $6,000 to $12,000 once you factor in recruiting, onboarding, and training — dollars that could otherwise fund growth initiatives or safety investments.
- Empty seats limit revenue. Lack of drivers makes it harder to accept new freight, maintain service levels, or expand into higher-value lanes.
- Experienced drivers can protect margins. Fleets with safer, more stable drivers see fewer collisions and violations — and better driving habits that improve fuel performance — which all helps keep insurance, legal, and operating costs in check.
Our drivers see that the Motive AI Dashcams are able to capture video of events that weren’t their fault, and it makes them feel valued. We’re investing in their safety, and it shows our drivers that we care about them.
By investing in a better driver experience — from paperwork and coaching to safety and integrated tools — companies can reduce churn, protect capacity, and unlock more profitable, sustainable growth.
Motive is the reason we’ve had so much growth in our number of drivers in the past year. When I talk to new agents and drivers about the process of onboarding with us and I say we use Motive, they’re like, ‘Thank goodness, that’s something I know.
