Federal guide
How to get your own authority
To get your own trucking authority, apply through FMCSA for a USDOT number and operating authority, pay the $300 application fee per authority type, have your insurer and process agent make their filings, then wait out FMCSA vetting and the 10 calendar day protest period before your authority becomes effective.
By Evan Reid, Founder of Haul Handbook · Updated Sep 7, 2026
Step 1: Confirm you need interstate operating authority
FMCSA draws the line by cargo, compensation, and where you cross state lines. Here is the trigger in the agency's own terms:
Companies that transport passengers in interstate commerce for compensation, or transport federally regulated commodities owned by others (or arrange their transport) for compensation in interstate commerce, need interstate operating authority in addition to a USDOT number.
The carve-outs matter just as much. Private carriers hauling their own cargo, for-hire carriers hauling exclusively exempt (not federally regulated) commodities, and carriers operating exclusively inside a federally designated commercial zone do not need interstate operating authority.
Planning to arrange loads for other carriers instead of hauling them? That calls for broker authority, a separate filing with its own bond requirement. And if you will only ever run inside one state, start with your state's intrastate authority rules instead. The state USDOT-number requirements table covers the separate identification requirement for intrastate carriers.
Step 2: Create or claim your Motus account
Motus collects company information for USDOT registration and operating authority in its online application. A USDOT number identifies the company; operating authority is a separate registration that depends on the operation.
Create a user profile, complete identity verification, and create a company account in Motus to apply for a USDOT number and the registrations your operation needs. The full trigger rules, and what the number is actually for, live in our USDOT number guide. Once you have the number, it needs a biennial MCS-150 update every two years, even if nothing changed.
Step 3: Apply for authority and pay the fee
Operating authority is identified as an MC, FF, or MX docket number depending on the type granted. A company may need multiple operating authorities to cover its planned operations; each authority type dictates the operation, the cargo, and the insurance level required. Our MC number guide breaks down the docket types one by one, and operating authority vs USDOT number untangles the two registrations.
The application fee is $300, charged per authority type, so applying for two authority types costs $600. FMCSA does not refund application fees, even for mistaken or dismissed applications. Later changes carry their own charges: a name change costs $14 and reinstating a revoked authority costs $80.
The application is filed under your legal business name, so settle the entity question before this step. Whether that name should be your own or an LLC's, and what each state charges to form one, is covered in LLC for a trucking company.
Claim your existing USDOT record in Motus using the company official’s Login.gov email, then manage registrations or apply for additional authority. Set up or claim your Motus account before submitting registration changes.
Step 4: Get insurance filed on your docket
A financial responsibility provider (insurance or surety company) must file the required forms on the applicant's behalf. Applicants may not file insurance forms for themselves. FMCSA will not grant operating authority registration until the registrant has the minimum levels of financial responsibility (insurance) on file with FMCSA. Authority is issued as a certificate (motor carrier), permit (freight forwarder), or license (broker) only after FMCSA has approved the application, the insurance filing, and the process agent (BOC-3) filing, and the protest period has ended without protests.
For a for-hire property carrier, non-hazardous (general freight) running vehicles at GVWR 10,001 lb or more, the liability minimum is $750,000, filed on BMC-91, BMC-91X, or BMC-82. Hazmat and passenger operations carry higher floors; the form-by-form breakdown lives in our BMC-91 and BMC-34 insurance filings guide.
All for-hire interstate motor carriers and all hazmat safety permit carriers need the MCS-90 endorsement on their insurance policy (or MCS-82 on a surety bond) under 49 CFR 387.15. Watch the clock here: A financial responsibility provider must file the required insurance forms on the applicant's behalf after the docket number is assigned. If the entity fails to comply within 20 days from the date of publication in the FMCSA Register, FMCSA serves a decision notifying the entity that the application will be dismissed unless it complies within 60 days.
Step 5: Designate process agents with Form BOC-3
Form BOC-3 (Designation of Agents for Service of Process) designates a process agent in each state in or through which the carrier, broker, or freight forwarder operates, per 49 CFR 366. Only one completed form may be on file and it must include all states for which agency designations are required. A post office box is not acceptable as an agent address.
Only a process agent, on behalf of the applicant carrier, can file Form BOC-3 with FMCSA. A broker or freight forwarder applicant without commercial motor vehicles can file the BOC-3 on its own behalf. Either individual or blanket designations may be made. The BOC-3 must be filed within 90 days of the date the operating authority application is published in the FMCSA Register. Missing the deadline results in dismissal of the application and loss of the application fee. FMCSA sends a warning letter if the filing has not arrived within 20 days. The form itself is covered in our BOC-3 filing guide, and the blanket companies with published prices are compared in BOC-3 process agents: cost and how to choose one.
Step 6: Wait out vetting and the protest period
The protest period runs for 10 days after publication in the FMCSA Register. If the application is unopposed, the published grant becomes effective when FMCSA issues the certificate, permit, or license.
FMCSA’s current Motus start page gives no single application-processing estimate. Track the application in Motus and allow for agency review and the required supporting filings. Follow the stages in how long it takes to get authority.
The 10-day protest period starts at FMCSA Register publication. It is one part of the authority process; a docket number or an elapsed number of days does not establish that authority has been issued.
Step 7: Wait for the certificate, then start operating
FMCSA grants authority by issuing a certificate, permit, or license. An assigned docket number alone does not establish an effective grant. Confirm the authority has been issued and remains active before hauling under it. Review registration actions and current filings in Motus. FMCSA also publishes authority records and daily decisions through its registration pages. If the agency’s records disagree, contact FMCSA before relying on the status.
After the grant: the filings that keep you legal
After the grant, four federal obligations apply around it:
- UCR registration: Every entity subject to UCR must register annually with its base state and pay the annual fee to that state. The fee bracket table covers motor carriers, freight forwarders, brokers, and leasing companies.
- Form 2290 heavy vehicle use tax: The federal Heavy Vehicle Use Tax (HVUT) is reported on IRS Form 2290 for highway motor vehicles with a taxable gross weight of 55,000 pounds or more.
- The new entrant safety audit: FMCSA monitors every new interstate carrier for an initial 18 months, with a safety audit inside the first year.
- The Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse: All employers of CDL drivers must register in the FMCSA Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse and purchase a query plan; query plans are sold only by the FMCSA Clearinghouse. Consortia and third party administrators (C/TPAs) cannot purchase queries on an employer's behalf.
Two more planning reads before you commit: whether your setup even requires a CDL, in CDL vs non-CDL trucking, and the full startup budget, in how much it costs to start a trucking company.
The same steps, tuned to your truck type
The federal sequence above applies to every for-hire carrier, but the details shift with the equipment you run: insurance minimums, endorsements, extra registrations, and which steps you can skip. Each guide below covers only the delta from this page for one setup: hotshot trucking, box trucks, dump trucks, car hauling, reefer freight, tow trucks, and hazmat loads. If you would rather arrange freight than haul it, the freight broker authority hub walks the broker version of this process.