How to start a trucking company: the filings, then the cash

The federal filings run in a fixed order because each one depends on the one before. Getting the order right is what keeps an application from stalling.

Step 1: Form the business and get an EIN

Form your LLC or corporation with your secretary of state first. The IRS says to do this before you apply for an EIN, or the application may be delayed. The EIN is free from the IRS, and you need one to file Form 2290, which doesn't accept a Social Security number.

Use one exact legal name and one physical address everywhere. FMCSA delays authority when the name or address on your filings doesn't match your state records, and it won't accept a P.O. box, private mailbox, or virtual office as your principal place of business.

Step 2: Apply for your USDOT number and authority in Motus

FMCSA's new registration system, Motus, launched on May 19, 2026, and new carriers apply there for both a USDOT number and operating authority. You create a user profile, pass identity verification with a smartphone or tablet, a government ID, and a face scan, then set up a company account, according to FMCSA's Motus notice.

Operating authority costs $300 for each type you request, and FMCSA doesn't refund application fees. New USDOT and MC numbers are now randomized to help prevent fraud. If you would rather not work through the forms yourself, our trucking authority packages cover the DOT number, MC, BOC-3, and UCR together.

Step 3: Have your insurance and BOC-3 filed within 20 days

FMCSA publishes a summary of your application in the FMCSA Register. From that date, your insurer and your process agent each have 20 days to file. If the insurance filing misses that window, FMCSA serves a decision giving you 60 days to comply before your application is dismissed.

The federal minimum for a for-hire carrier of general freight in vehicles of 10,001 pounds or more is $750,000 in liability coverage. Most hazardous materials require $1 million, and certain bulk and high-hazard loads require $5 million, under 49 CFR 387.9. Those are floors. See what commercial truck insurance costs, and our BOC-3 guide for choosing process agents.

Step 4: Clear the protest period and mark the truck

Anyone may protest an application within 10 days of its FMCSA Register publication. If no one does, the grant takes effect when FMCSA issues your authority, and it won't issue it without your minimum insurance on file. In Motus, a pending application now shows why, such as "Pending – Financial Responsibility Filings."

Before the truck rolls, mark both sides of the power unit with your legal or single trade name and your USDOT number, as covered in our guide to marking a commercial motor vehicle.

If your drivers need a CDL, you need a drug and alcohol testing program before anyone drives, and that includes you. Under 49 CFR 382.103, an owner-operator is both employer and driver and must be in a random testing pool of two or more drivers, which is why owner-operators work through a consortium or third-party administrator (C/TPA).

• Pre-employment test. A verified negative drug test before a driver's first safety-sensitive work.
• Clearinghouse registration. Register as an employer and designate your C/TPA. You can't take any action in the Clearinghouse until you do.
• Queries. A full pre-employment query for every new driver and an annual query for every driver, including yourself. Owner-operators must buy their own query plan.
• Hours of service. Drivers who must keep records of duty status log them on a registered ELD, with limited exceptions.

Our Clearinghouse guide walks through registration and queries step by step.

Enough to run the truck until customers pay you. The federal fees are small, and the operating costs are not.

ATRI, the trucking industry's research institute, put the average cost of operating a truck at $2.336 per mile in 2025, the highest in the report's history, and $1.854 per mile excluding fuel. Truckload and refrigerated carriers averaged operating margins below 1%.

Those averages come from established fleets, not startups, so treat them as a benchmark. They still make my point: when margins are that thin, a new carrier's biggest risk is timing. Fuel, insurance, and repairs are paid as they come, and revenue arrives when invoices are paid.

Build a cash plan before your first load

• Know your own cost per mile. Price every lane on revenue per mile against it, deadhead included.
• Fund the start-up items first. Authority fees, the first insurance payment, UCR, Form 2290, and IRP plates all come due before revenue does.
• Decide how you will bridge payment terms. Factoring sells invoices for cash now, at a cost. Read our factoring guide before you sign anything.
• Separate the money. Run the business through its own accounts from day one, so your cost per mile is a number you can actually see.