Operating authority, identified by an MC docket number, is what lets a for-hire carrier haul regulated freight across state lines for pay. Getting it is mostly paperwork in the right order: confirm you need it, apply in Motus with a business name and address that match your state records exactly, get through the protest window, and have two filings made by other people on your behalf. Once it’s granted, you enter an 18-month new-entrant monitoring period that includes a safety audit.
Do you need operating authority or just a USDOT number?
Every motor carrier of property or passengers needs a USDOT number before it begins interstate operations. For-hire carriers also need operating authority, unless they haul only freight that is exempt from federal registration. A private carrier hauling its own goods needs the USDOT number but not the authority.
FMCSA’s USDOT Wizard asks a short set of questions and tells you which you need. Brokers apply for their own broker authority, which is backed by a surety bond or trust fund rather than auto liability. Freight broker insurance and bonds.
Step 1: Apply in Motus
Since May 2026, new applicants apply for a USDOT number and operating authority online in Motus, which replaced FMCSA’s older Unified Registration System. Before applying, you create a user profile through Login.gov and complete identity verification with a smartphone or tablet, a valid government-issued ID and a photo of your face. FMCSA also verifies the business itself, including its legal name, principal place of business, ownership and officials.
Settle the business details first. FMCSA warns that the name and address in your pre-registration filings, such as with your secretary of state, must match your application exactly, and any difference delays the grant. The application also describes your operation, cargo and vehicles, which determines the level of insurance you will have to file.
MC numbers are still issued. FMCSA has proposed moving to the USDOT number alone, but it kept docket numbers when Motus opened to all users, and any change is to come through a proposed rule open for comment.
Step 2: Review, publication and the protest period
FMCSA reviews the application for completeness. Materially incomplete applications are rejected, and a rejection can be appealed within 10 days of the rejection letter. A summary of an accepted application is published in the FMCSA Register as a preliminary grant of authority. Along the way you receive your USDOT number and docket number, and your insurer needs the docket number to make its filing.
Anyone who wants to oppose the application has 10 days from publication to file a protest. For a general freight carrier, a protest can only argue that you aren’t fit, for example that you don’t meet financial responsibility or safety fitness requirements. How long activation usually takes.
Step 3: The insurance filing and the BOC-3
- BMC-91 or BMC-91X. Your insurer files one of these certificates with FMCSA to prove bodily injury and property damage liability at the required level: $750,000 for non-hazardous freight in vehicles of 10,001 pounds or more, $300,000 for fleets of only vehicles under 10,001 pounds, and $1,000,000 or $5,000,000 for hazardous materials depending on the load. A BMC-82 surety bond is the alternative. For trucks of 10,001 pounds or more, the policy also carries the MCS-90 endorsement.
- BMC-34 or BMC-83. Household goods carriers also file cargo liability security. General freight carriers have no federal cargo filing. Do you need cargo insurance anyway?
- BOC-3. Process agents are designated for every required state, usually through a blanket company. What a BOC-3 is.
The regulations call for both filings within 20 days of publication in the FMCSA Register. If the insurance filing isn’t in by then, FMCSA serves a decision that the application will be dismissed unless you comply within 60 days. FMCSA won’t grant authority until the required coverage is on file, so start the insurance search the day you apply, not when the protest period ends.
Step 4: After the authority is granted
Authority obtained this way doesn’t become permanent until you complete FMCSA’s New Entrant Safety Assurance Program. For 18 months your roadside safety performance is monitored, and FMCSA conducts a safety audit once you’ve operated long enough to have records to review, generally at least three months. Have the records the audit will ask for organized from your first load.
Authority is also only one registration. Interstate carriers generally owe UCR, heavy trucks running multiple states need IFTA and IRP, and trucks at 55,000 pounds or more file Form 2290. Keep the insurance filing in force: if the required insurance isn’t maintained on file with FMCSA, the authority is revoked or suspended.
Common questions
Is an MC number the same as operating authority?
The MC number is the docket number FMCSA uses to identify a carrier’s operating authority. The authority is the permission to haul regulated freight for hire across state lines; the number identifies it.
Is FMCSA getting rid of MC numbers?
It has proposed doing so, but when Motus opened to all users FMCSA kept MC docket numbers. Any elimination is to come through a proposed rule open to public comment.
Can someone block my application?
Anyone can file a protest within 10 days of publication in the FMCSA Register, but for a general freight carrier the only grounds are that you are not fit, such as not meeting financial responsibility or safety fitness requirements.
What insurance has to be filed for MC authority?
Liability, filed by your insurer on a BMC-91 or BMC-91X, or a BMC-82 surety bond. Household goods carriers also need a cargo filing. Cargo and physical damage for general freight are not federal filings.
What happens if my insurance isn’t filed in time?
If it isn’t on file within 20 days of publication, FMCSA serves a decision that the application will be dismissed unless you comply within 60 days.
Sources
- 49 CFR Part 365 (eCFR): rules governing applications for operating authority
- 49 CFR Part 385, Subpart D (eCFR): new entrant safety assurance program
- 49 CFR Part 387, Subpart C (eCFR): insurance filings, BMC-91/91X, minimum limits
- FMCSA: insurance filing requirements
- Federal Register, April 29, 2026: Availability of Motus, FMCSA’s new registration system
- FMCSA: Move into Motus
- FMCSA: About FMCSA registration modernization
General information about obtaining FMCSA operating authority as of October 2026, not legal or tax advice; FMCSA’s registration system and procedures change, so confirm current steps with FMCSA. Coverage depends on underwriting and the terms, conditions and exclusions of the policy actually issued.