Guides written from FMCSA's own data

For trucking companies getting their authority, and for the insurance agents who serve them. Every number is recomputed from FMCSA's daily files each feed day.

For trucking companies

How long authority takes, what to do once it is granted, how the insurance filing works, and why the phone will not stop ringing. Free, with a launch checklist for your own USDOT number.

• How long does it take to get your MC authority?

  Measured from FMCSA's own daily files: how long new trucking companies really wait between applying for operating authority and being granted it, what the wait is made of, and what shortens it.

• What to do after your MC number is approved

  Your MC number is active. Here is what FMCSA and the states expect in the first month, in the order that keeps you legal on the road, with the official page for each filing.

• Insurance for a new trucking authority: what FMCSA requires and how the filing works

  What FMCSA requires before it grants operating authority, who files it, how long the filing takes, and the coverage shippers and brokers ask for on top of it. CarrierDaily does not sell insurance or give insurance…

• Why you get so many calls after applying for an MC number

  Applied for an MC number and your phone has not stopped? Here is why: what FMCSA publishes about every applicant, who reads it, what you can do about the volume, and how CarrierDaily fits in.

• USDOT number vs MC number: which one does your trucking company need?

  Two numbers, two different jobs. Which trucking companies need only a USDOT number, which need an MC number too, and what each one costs and commits you to.

For insurance agents

How to find new trucking companies, what new authorities must file, and how to time your calls.

• How to find new trucking companies before they buy insurance

  New trucking companies show up in FMCSA data twice before they can haul: when they apply for operating authority (an MC number) and when FMCSA publishes the application in its Register. Applicants must file liability…

• New authority trucking insurance requirements

  A new for-hire trucking company needs a liability (BIPD) filing on record with FMCSA before its operating authority is granted: at least $750,000 for general freight in vehicles of 10,001 lbs or more, more for oil and…

• BMC-35 trucking insurance cancellations: a guide for agents

  A BMC-35 is the insurer's notice to FMCSA that it is cancelling a carrier's liability filing. The cancellation takes effect no sooner than 30 days after FMCSA receives the notice. If the carrier has no replacement…

• Trucking insurance X-dates from FMCSA filings

  An X-date is the day a carrier's current policy expires. For trucking companies you can estimate it from FMCSA's public insurance filings: the filing shows the insurer and the policy's effective date, and most…

• How to sell trucking insurance to new authorities

  Selling trucking insurance to new authorities comes down to timing and preparation: reach the carrier between its FMCSA Register publication and its grant, when it has to buy a policy to start hauling, ask the…

Looking for counts? See new MC numbers by state and the weekly state and market reports.