How to Sell Commercial Truck Insurance to New Trucking Companies

A new for-hire trucking company cannot haul its first interstate load until an insurance company files proof of its liability coverage with the FMCSA. That puts the insurance agent on the short list of people a new carrier has to deal with before it hauls a paid load. As of October 28, 2026, 11,218 active motor carriers had registered with the FMCSA in the previous 30 days, and 73.4% of the 178,190 active carriers registered since October 1, 2025 marked themselves authorized for hire.

This guide is for commercial truck insurance agents and agencies who want those new ventures as clients. It covers the federal filing rules that put you in the carrier's launch path, the liability minimums and the MCS-90, when FMCSA requires cargo coverage, the timeline from USDOT number to active authority, how to split a new-carrier list into groups you can quote, a worked month of Texas registrations, an outreach sequence with templates and a call script, the intake checklist for a new-venture submission, and how to keep the account at renewal. Each rule links to the FMCSA page or regulation it comes from. This is not legal or insurance advice. Check the current rule with FMCSA, your markets and your own counsel before you rely on it.

Why a new for-hire carrier needs an insurer before it can run

FMCSA keeps two registrations apart. A USDOT number identifies a company that runs commercial vehicles in interstate commerce. Operating authority, the MC number most agents ask about, is permission to haul regulated freight for hire across state lines. FMCSA's registration forms page says for-hire interstate motor carriers, brokers and freight forwarders must have operating authority in addition to a USDOT number. The same page lists who does not need authority: private carriers that haul their own cargo, for-hire carriers that haul only exempt commodities, and carriers that run only inside a federally designated commercial zone.

First-time applicants register through the Unified Registration System and pass an identity check. For motor carriers that check includes a selfie of the applicant holding a government ID and photos of the ID itself. The application for operating authority (Form OP-1 for property carriers) costs $300 for each type of authority requested.

Filing the application does not let the carrier operate. FMCSA's OP-1 instructions set out six steps:

1. The applicant submits the OP-1.
2. The applicant receives an MC number. Online applicants get it at once; a mailed application gets a grant letter in about four weeks.
3. FMCSA publishes the application in the FMCSA Register, which starts a 10-calendar-day protest period.
4. An insurance company files the required insurance forms with FMCSA.
5. The applicant or a process agent files Form BOC-3.
6. The applicant starts operating only after FMCSA issues the authority.

Two lines in those instructions matter most to an agent. The first: applicants "may not file insurance forms on their own behalf." An authorized representative of an insurance company has to make the filing, which is why the carrier needs you or a market you place with. The second: an MC number "does not represent Operating Authority." The carrier may not operate until the grant is published in the FMCSA Register and its status shows ACTIVE in FMCSA's Licensing and Insurance (L&I) system.

The liability filing is Form BMC-91 or BMC-91X. FMCSA's insurance forms FAQ says insurance forms "must be filed by the insurance company, not the carrier or broker," and that FMCSA does not hand out the forms; insurers keep their own and many file electronically. The BOC-3, the designation of process agents, works differently. Per FMCSA's BOC-3 FAQ, the applicant or its process agent files it, only one can be on file, and it has to cover every state where an agent designation is required. The OP-1 instructions add that, for a fee, commercial companies will arrange a process agent in any state, and some offer blanket coverage of every state.

Vetting can add time. FMCSA's vetting FAQ says an authority application is typically granted within 25 business days, but it can take longer when the application needs more review. During vetting the application shows as "Suspended." When it changes to "Accepted," the carrier still has to file the BOC-3 and proof of insurance, and only then does FMCSA grant authority.

The rule underneath all of this is 49 CFR 387.7(a): a motor carrier may not operate a motor vehicle until it has the minimum financial responsibility set in 387.9. For an agent the point is simple. A carrier with a fresh MC number and no insurance filing has a deadline and a reason to read your letter. A carrier that already has a filing on record has picked someone, at least for this policy term.

The federal liability minimums in 49 CFR 387.9

Table 1 of 49 CFR 387.9 sets the minimum public liability limits. Four rows cover nearly every quote you will write for a new carrier:

Three points follow for a new-venture quote.

• Weight sets the first row. The $750,000 row applies to vehicles rated 10,001 pounds GVWR or more. Get the gross vehicle weight rating of every power unit at intake instead of guessing from the body type. A pickup pulling a trailer and a Class 8 tractor are different questions.
• The hazmat rows reach private carriers. A company that moves its own fuel or chemicals is not for hire, but rows two to four still apply to it, and rows two and three also reach intrastate bulk loads.
• The minimum is a floor. A broker or shipper can write a higher limit into its contract. Ask the carrier for the limits its brokers and shippers want, in writing, before you pick one.

The census file gives you a first sort. Its Hazmat column marks carriers that checked hazardous materials when they registered: 12,225 of the 178,190 active carriers registered from October 1, 2025 to October 28, 2026, or 6.9%. Those are the accounts where a $750,000 quote is likely the wrong quote. The file does not say which hazmat class a carrier hauls or whether the load is bulk, so that question belongs on the first call.

What the MCS-90 endorsement does

Proof of the 387.9 limits has a fixed form. Under 49 CFR 387.7(d), a carrier keeps proof at its principal place of business in one of three ways: Form MCS-90, an insurance endorsement; Form MCS-82, a surety bond; or a written FMCSA authorization to self-insure. For almost every new venture, the proof is the MCS-90 attached to the auto liability policy.

FMCSA's MCS-90 page describes it as an endorsement required by 49 CFR 387.15 under Sections 29 and 30 of the Motor Carrier Act of 1980. It is not issued for individual vehicles. It attaches to the policy and applies to every vehicle under that policy that is subject to the federal financial responsibility rules.

The wording of the form is what a new owner needs explained, because it is not ordinary auto coverage:

• The insurer agrees to pay, within the endorsement's limits, any final judgment against the insured for public liability caused by negligent operation, maintenance or use of covered vehicles, whether or not each vehicle is described in the policy and whether or not the accident happens on a route the carrier is authorized to serve.
• No condition, provision or limitation in the policy relieves the insurer of that payment, whatever the insured's financial condition, insolvency or bankruptcy.
• The insured agrees to reimburse the insurer for any payment the insurer would not have owed under the policy except for the endorsement.
• The public liability it guarantees does not cover injury to the insured's own employees on the job, or the cargo the insured carries.
• Cancellation takes 35 days' written notice to the other party, counted from mailing, and, for carriers subject to FMCSA registration, 30 days' notice to FMCSA, counted from the day FMCSA receives it.

Say the reimbursement clause out loud when you sell the policy. If the new owner puts an unlisted truck on the road, or lets a driver the policy excludes take a load, the endorsement can still pay an injured member of the public, and the insurer can then bill the owner for that money. A one-truck owner who hears that at the start is less likely to make the mistake that leads to the bill. It is also a quick way to show a prospect that you know trucking, not just auto.

When FMCSA requires cargo insurance

Liability is the filing every for-hire authority needs. Cargo is narrower. FMCSA's OP-1 instructions (the edition that expires July 31, 2027) say motor common carriers of property, motor common carriers of household goods and U.S.-based enterprise carriers must also keep cargo insurance, filed on Form BMC-34, of at least:

• $5,000 for loss of or damage to property carried on any one motor vehicle, and
• $10,000 for loss of or damage to property at any one time and place.

The same instructions say motor contract carriers file proof of liability only: cargo insurance is not required of them. Common carriers that haul low-value goods, as defined in 49 CFR 387.301(b), can ask FMCSA for an exemption from the cargo requirement. Household goods carriers must also keep at least $750,000 of liability coverage whatever the weight rating of their vehicles.

FMCSA's own pages do not all describe cargo the same way. The insurance forms FAQ calls Form BMC-34 the cargo filing for household goods carriers and does not mention general freight. So before you tell a new general freight carrier that federal cargo coverage does not apply, look up the type of authority it applied for (common or contract, property or household goods) and confirm the current requirement with FMCSA. Whatever the federal answer, a broker or shipper can set its own cargo limit in its contract, so ask the carrier which agreements it has signed or expects to sign.

Household goods is the segment where the cargo filing is clear on every FMCSA page, and the census file flags it. Among carriers registered in the 90 days to October 28, 2026, 1,239 checked household goods as a cargo type. A carrier can check several cargo types, so some of them haul other freight too. Give them their own list and their own letter. Movers deal with consumers, and their questions are not a flatbed owner's questions.

The timeline from USDOT registration to active authority

Here is the sequence with only the periods FMCSA publishes. Where FMCSA gives no period, the table says so.

Read the table from the agent's side. The OP-1 instructions say the insurance step can begin any time after the applicant receives an MC number and does not wait for the protest period to end. The hard stop is 90 days after publication, with a warning letter at 20 days if nothing has been filed. The most useful thing a new owner can hear from you is not a price. It is that you know where the 90-day clock starts and what the insurer has to file before it runs out.

Now the limit of any list built from registrations. The census file's Registered date is the date FMCSA added the carrier to its census, which is the USDOT registration. The file does not show the date authority was granted, whether an insurance filing exists, inspections or crash history. In our file, 71,307 of the 178,190 carriers carry an MC, MX or FF docket number, which means they filed for authority. A docket is not proof that the authority is active. An application can still be pending, can be dismissed if the filings miss the 90-day deadline, or can already have an insurer's filing on record by the time you call.

In this guide, a carrier with new authority is one that has an MC docket and whose authority shows ACTIVE in L&I after a recent grant. A newly registered carrier is one whose census add date is recent. Keep the two labels apart in your CRM, because they need different first messages.

Two free FMCSA lookups close the gap before you spend a stamp. The SAFER Company Snapshot is the official carrier lookup; FMCSA names it as the genuine SAFER address on its fraud alerts page. The L&I system at li-public.fmcsa.dot.gov is where FMCSA posts the FMCSA Register and where authority shows as ACTIVE once it is granted. FMCSA also publishes separate datasets of active and pending insurance and of insurance history on the DOT data portal. The census file does not include them.

How to segment a new-carrier file

A raw list of new registrations mixes moving companies, dump truck owners, hazmat tankers, farm operations and private fleets that will never need authority. Split it before anyone writes a letter. The table shows the whole file as of October 28, 2026 and what each column tells an insurance agent.

Contact fill is high across the file: 177,751 carriers (99.8%) list a phone and 177,954 (99.9%) list an email address on their registration. Those are the details the carrier gave the FMCSA, not appended data.

The cargo column adds the commodity layer. Among carriers registered in the 90 days to October 28, 2026, the cargo types checked most often were general freight (22,005), building materials and construction (6,615; the census sets both flags together, so they count once), machinery and large objects (2,045), grain, feed and hay (1,614), motor vehicles (1,503), agricultural and farm supplies (1,452), garbage and refuse (1,429), drive away and towaway (1,428), logs, poles, beams and lumber (1,381), paper products (1,330), household goods (1,239), dry bulk commodities (1,230) and metal sheets, coils and rolls (1,159). A carrier can check several boxes, so these are counts of checks, not of carriers.

Five segments cover most agency workflows:

1. For-hire general freight, one truck. The largest group. The $750,000 row applies if the truck is rated 10,001 pounds or more and the carrier runs interstate. Route it to the producer who writes owner-operator business every day.
2. Hazmat. Small (6.9% of the file) and harder to place. The first call is a qualifying call about classes and bulk loads, because those decide whether the minimum is $1,000,000 or $5,000,000.
3. Household goods. A cargo filing, $750,000 of liability regardless of weight rating, and a consumer-facing business. Separate letter, separate checklist.
4. Small fleets of two to 20 power units. 54,005 carriers, or 30.3% of the file (46,926 plus 7,079). More drivers, more motor vehicle records, more underwriting questions. A better fit for an account manager than for a high-volume producer.
5. Intrastate for-hire. Federal authority may not apply, but state filing rules and the hazmat rows can. Learn your state's rules for intrastate carriers before you mail this group.

Estimating one month

At the 90-day pace the file adds about 13,297 carriers a month (39,891 in 90 days divided by 3). For the 11,218 that registered in the 30 days to October 28, 2026, applying the whole-file shares gives these estimates:

• For hire: 11,218 x 130,839 / 178,190 = about 8,237
• MC docket: 11,218 x 71,307 / 178,190 = about 4,489
• Hazmat: 11,218 x 12,225 / 178,190 = about 770
• One power unit or none: 11,218 x 122,643 / 178,190 = about 7,721

These are estimates. They assume the newest month looks like the whole year, and they cannot be multiplied together. Private carriers do not need operating authority, so MC dockets cluster among for-hire carriers, and "for hire and MC docket" is not 73.4% times 40.0% of anything. Pull the combined filter instead of multiplying shares.

Worked example: one month of new Texas carriers

Texas had more new registrations than any other state. As of October 28, 2026, 20,972 active Texas carriers had registered since October 1, 2025: 4,860 of them in the last 90 days and 1,305 in the last 30. At the 90-day pace that is about 378 a week (4,860 divided by 90, times 7). Texas held 11.6% of the country's 30-day registrations (1,305 of 11,218). The live counts are on the Texas new trucking companies page.

The table applies the shares of the whole Texas file to the 30-day list. Each estimate is the 30-day count times the Texas count, divided by 20,972.

Texas leans further toward for-hire than the country: 86.5% of its file against 73.4% nationally. It is a little lighter on hazmat, at 5.8% against 6.9%.

Where they are. In the 90 days to October 28, 2026, the Texas cities with the most new carriers were Houston (620), Dallas (215), San Antonio (187), Austin (176) and Fort Worth (155), followed by Katy (121), Odessa (118), Laredo (118), El Paso (100), Spring (77), Midland (76) and Arlington (59). Houston alone was 12.8% of the state's 90-day count (620 of 4,860). If the 30-day list splits the same way, an agency that works only Houston addresses would see about 166 new carriers a month (1,305 x 620 / 4,860), an estimate.

What they haul. Among Texas carriers registered in the same 90 days that checked a cargo type, the most common named types were general freight (3,065), building materials and construction (882), machinery and large objects (281) and dry bulk commodities (262).

Here is how one agency licensed in Texas could turn that month into work:

1. Start with the roughly 1,129 for-hire carriers. Put the other 176 or so (1,305 minus 1,129) in a separate, lower-priority file. They registered without the authorized-for-hire classification. Private carriers need no operating authority, so read each one's classification before you decide which filings and which 387.9 rows apply.
2. Pull out the roughly 76 hazmat carriers and give them to the producer who knows your hazmat markets. One letter, one call, and the class question first.
3. Split the rest by power units. About 911 of the 30-day list report one power unit or none. For-hire carriers with two or more units go to an account manager.
4. Look up the roughly 526 carriers with an MC docket in L&I before you mail. A carrier that is already ACTIVE with a filing on record gets a letter about service and renewal, not a new-venture letter.
5. Do the capacity math with your own number. Say a producer can research and work 25 new accounts a day (an assumption; use yours). The 526 MC-docket carriers take about 21 working days (526 / 25 = 21.0). All 1,129 for-hire carriers take about 45 (1,129 / 25 = 45.2). One producer cannot keep up with a month of Texas for-hire registrations, so narrow by city and fleet size or split the list across producers.
6. Work it weekly. At about 378 Texas registrations a week, a Monday pull keeps each batch small enough to finish while the carriers are still setting up.

The same method works in any state. The six states with the most registrations in the 30 days to October 28, 2026 look quite different from each other:

New York stands out. Fewer than half of its new carriers registered for hire, so an agent who filters New York for for-hire carriers keeps about 235 of the 524 (524 x 3,639 / 8,122, an estimate). Florida has the highest hazmat share of the six, which makes a separate hazmat letter worth writing there first.

How to build the list yourself from the free census file

You do not have to buy anything to start. FMCSA's Company Census File is published on the U.S. DOT open data portal, data.transportation.gov, as dataset az4n-8mr2. It is free, needs no login, and as a U.S. government work it carries no copyright. It is also large: a count on October 29, 2026 found 4,522,888 USDOT records, so filter it instead of downloading all of it.

1. Open the dataset page and read the column list. The fields an insurance agent needs include add_date (the date FMCSA added the carrier, stored as text such as 20261028), status_code (A for active), classdef (the classification, such as AUTHORIZED FOR HIRE or PRIVATE PROPERTY, several joined by semicolons), carrier_operation (A interstate, B intrastate hazmat, C intrastate non-hazmat), hm_ind (hazmat), power_units, total_drivers, phy_city and phy_state, phone, email_address and company_officer_1.
2. Filter through the portal's API. A query for one state's active for-hire carriers added since a date looks like the line printed after this list. Paste it into a browser and it downloads a CSV.
3. Change the date and the state each week. Always set $limit: without it the API returned 1,000 rows when we tested it on October 29, 2026, which silently cuts off a big state.
4. Clean the file. Decode classdef and carrier_operation, split the cargo, format phones, and remove carriers you already worked last week.
5. Scrub every phone number against the National Do Not Call Registry and your own do-not-call list before anyone dials.

https://data.transportation.gov/resource/az4n-8mr2.csv?$where=add_date >= '20260929' AND phy_state = 'TX' AND status_code = 'A' AND classdef like '%AUTHORIZED FOR HIRE%'&$limit=5000

The free route costs time rather than money: writing and checking the query, tracking which carriers you already mailed, decoding the classification strings, and running it again as FMCSA adds carriers. The full walk-through, with more filters, is in our guide on how to get a list of new trucking companies from FMCSA data.

An outreach sequence for new carriers

Order the channels by legal risk and by what a new owner can handle in a busy month: mail first, then email, then a call placed by a person after the number has been scrubbed.

Mail goes first for three reasons. It is the lowest-risk channel, with no Do Not Call or autodialer rules to trip. The owner may be on the road, and a letter waits. And a letter that names the carrier's USDOT number and registration date shows you looked the company up before you wrote.

Never look like the government

FMCSA's fraud alerts page documents emails that impersonate FMCSA and its SAFER system, a bogus "Notice of Carrier Status" telling carriers their profile is not authorized, a fake audit request that tries to collect carrier and personal information, and fake Motus portal links asking carriers to update their profile. New owners are being taught to distrust anything that looks like an agency notice. A letter that looks like one gets thrown away, or reported. So:

• No seals, eagles, flags, or words like notice, compliance alert, action required or final notice.
• Keep DOT, FMCSA and USDOT out of your agency name, sender name, email address and envelope.
• Say in the first paragraph that you are an independent insurance agency and not part of any government office.
• Never ask for a USDOT PIN, a Social Security number or bank details in a first contact.
• Say where you found the carrier. FMCSA's OP-1 instructions tell applicants that a sole proprietor's home address, phone and email can become public on FMCSA websites when they double as business contacts. Saying so up front answers the question before the owner has to ask it.

The sequence

Rules for each channel

• Email. The FTC's CAN-SPAM guide says the law makes no exception for business-to-business email. Use accurate header information and a subject line that matches the message, say the email is an advertisement, include a valid physical postal address, give a clear way to opt out, and honor opt-outs within 10 business days. If a vendor sends for you, the responsibility stays with you. The FTC lists penalties of up to $53,088 for each email that breaks the law.
• Calls and texts. The phone on a new carrier's registration is often the owner's own mobile. Under the FCC's TCPA rules at 47 CFR 64.1200, calls to cell numbers with an autodialer or an artificial or prerecorded voice need prior express consent; telephone solicitations may not go to a subscriber whose number is on the National Do Not Call Registry; those protections extend to calls and texts to wireless numbers; and solicitation calls are limited to 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the called party's local time. In practice: dial by hand, no prerecorded, artificial or AI voices, no texts without consent, and scrub against the national registry and your own list first. State laws can add more.
• Mail. The lowest-risk channel. Keep it plain and keep your return address and license number on it.

The full set of calling, texting and email rules for this audience is in our guide to the rules for calling, texting and emailing new trucking companies.

Letter and email templates

Fill the bracketed fields from the carrier's row and your own agency details. Keep every claim in them true for your agency; delete any line you cannot stand behind.

Day 0 letter

Re: Insurance filing for [Legal name], USDOT [number]

Dear [Company officer],

I am writing because [Legal name] registered with the FMCSA on [Registered date]. Carrier registrations are public records, and that is where I found your company. [Agency name] is an independent insurance agency licensed in [state]. We are not part of the FMCSA, the DOT or any government office, and this letter is not a notice you are required to answer.

If you have applied for operating authority, FMCSA will not activate it until an insurance company files proof of your liability coverage and a BOC-3 process agent form is on file. FMCSA's instructions give you 90 days from the date your application was published in the FMCSA Register to get both filed.

If you already have an insurer, please disregard this letter. If you are still comparing, I can help with the liability limit your freight calls for (for interstate general freight in trucks rated 10,001 pounds or more, the federal minimum is $750,000; hazardous materials are higher), the insurer's filing with FMCSA, and the cargo and physical damage coverage your brokers may ask for.

The enclosed one-page checklist shows what I need for a quote. Call or email me, or write back to the address below.

[Name], [title], [Agency name], license [number], [street address], [phone], [email]

Day 3 email

Subject: Insurance quote for USDOT [number]

Hi [first name],

[Agency name] is an independent insurance agency in [city]. I saw that [Legal name] registered with the FMCSA on [date]; registrations are public. We are not affiliated with the FMCSA or the DOT.

If you are setting up operating authority, an insurer has to file your liability form with FMCSA before the authority can go active. If you want a quote, reply with what you plan to haul, how many trucks you run and which states you will drive in, and I will send the short list of documents I need.

[Name], [Agency name], [street address, city, state, ZIP], [phone]

This is an advertisement from [Agency name]. To stop these emails, reply STOP or use [unsubscribe link] and we will remove you.

Day 12 email

Subject: One thing to know about the MCS-90 on a truck policy

Hi [first name],

When a truck insurance policy is your federal proof of coverage, it carries an MCS-90 endorsement. It lets the insurer pay an injured member of the public even when the policy itself would not cover the loss, for example an unlisted truck or an excluded driver. The catch is that the insurer can then ask you to pay it back. Listing every truck and driver is how you stay out of that situation.

One question: will you haul anything that counts as hazardous material? It changes the federal minimum from $750,000 to $1,000,000 or $5,000,000.

[Name], [Agency name], [street address, city, state, ZIP], [phone]

This is an advertisement. Reply STOP or use [unsubscribe link] to opt out.

Day 21 closing email

Subject: Closing your file

Hi [first name], I have not heard back, so this is my last note. If you want a quote later, or a second look at renewal time, my direct line is [phone]. Good luck with the first loads.

[Name], [Agency name], [street address, city, state, ZIP]. Reply STOP or use [unsubscribe link] to opt out.

A short call script

Before you dial: the number has been scrubbed against the National Do Not Call Registry and your own list, it is between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. where the carrier is, you have looked the carrier up on SAFER and in L&I, and a person is dialing by hand.

Open. "Hi, is this [officer name]? This is [name] with [agency], an independent insurance agency in [city]. I'm not with the FMCSA or any government office. Are you driving right now?"

If driving. "Then I'll let you go. Is there a better time to call, or would you rather I email?"

Purpose. "I saw [company] registered with the FMCSA recently. I help new carriers get the insurance filing their authority needs. Have you already lined up an insurer?"

If yes. "Good. Can I send my details for when the policy comes up for renewal?" Then stop.

If no, qualify. "What will you haul, and is any of it hazmat? How many trucks, and are they rated over 10,001 pounds? Will you run interstate or only inside [state]? Under your own authority or leased on to another carrier? When do you want to start?"

Next step. "I'll email a one-page checklist. Can we take 15 minutes on [day] to go through it?"

Voicemail (left live, by you). "This is [name] with [agency], an independent insurance agency. I'm calling about insurance for [company]'s new registration. My number is [phone]. If you'd rather not hear from us, tell me and I'll take you off our list."

Three answers to have ready:

• "Are you from the DOT?" No. You are an independent agent, the registration is public, and you will take them off your list now if they prefer.
• "Take me off your list." Do it during the call and record it in your internal do-not-call list the same day.
• "How much will it cost?" Do not guess. Say you cannot price it until you know the trucks, drivers and freight, and that the checklist is how you get there.

The intake checklist for a new-venture quote

A new venture has no loss history to lean on, so the submission rests on what you collect at intake. This list says what to collect. It does not say what any market will charge or accept; those decisions belong to your markets and change by state, driver, truck and freight.

Business and filings

• Legal name exactly as filed with the Secretary of State, and any DBA. FMCSA's vetting FAQ tells corporations to match that name, and sole proprietors to use their personal legal name with the trade name as the company name.
• Entity type and who signs for the company.
• USDOT number, MC docket number and the type of authority applied for (common or contract, property or household goods).
• The date the application was published in the FMCSA Register, since it starts the 90-day clock, and whether FMCSA has sent a 20-day warning letter.
• BOC-3 status: filed or not, and by which process agent.
• Principal place of business and garaging addresses. FMCSA's vetting tips say a P.O. box or a UPS Store address is not a valid principal place of business.
• Any common ownership, management, control or family ties to other FMCSA-regulated companies in the last three years. FMCSA asks applicants this on the authority application, so ask it too and avoid surprises.

Operation

• Interstate or intrastate, the states and lanes, and the usual radius.
• Own authority, or leased on to another motor carrier.
• Every commodity, hazmat classes and whether loads are bulk, and any household goods.
• The brokers, shippers or load boards the carrier will use, the limits in their agreements, and who needs certificates or additional insured status.
• The date the carrier wants to start running.

Equipment

• Each power unit: year, make, model, VIN, GVWR, value, and whether it is owned, financed or leased, with any lienholder.
• Each trailer: type, year, VIN, value, and whether it is owned or picked up under a trailer interchange agreement.
• The ELD or telematics in use, if any.

Drivers

• Every driver: name, date of birth, license number and state, CDL class, years of CDL experience, accidents and violations, and whether the driver is an employee or a contractor.
• The owner's own driving and business experience, and any earlier authority the owner held.

Coverage lines to discuss

• Auto liability with the MCS-90 endorsement and the BMC-91 or BMC-91X filing (required for for-hire authority).
• Cargo, with the BMC-34 filing where FMCSA requires it, and any cargo limit a contract requires.
• Physical damage on owned or financed equipment.
• Non-trucking liability if the truck is leased on to another carrier.
• Trailer interchange, if the carrier pulls trailers it does not own under an interchange agreement.
• General liability, occupational accident or workers' compensation under your state's rules, and reefer breakdown for refrigerated freight.

Documents

• The FMCSA grant letter or MC assignment confirmation.
• Copies of driver licenses.
• Titles, bills of sale or lease agreements for each unit.
• Loss runs from any earlier commercial policy.
• Signed broker or shipper agreements.

One thing stays off the checklist and out of every letter: a price. A premium printed before you have trucks, drivers and freight is a number the owner will hold you to.

Retention and renewal in a carrier's first year

A new venture's first year is full of events that change its policy. Each one is a reason to call that is not a sales call.

• The week after binding. Confirm that the BMC-91 or BMC-91X filing posted and that the authority shows ACTIVE in L&I. The OP-1 instructions make following up with the insurance company the applicant's job; doing it for them saves the owner a step at a busy time.
• The first month. Certificates of insurance for each new broker, sent the day they are asked for.
• From month three. 49 CFR 385.307 puts a new entrant under 18 months of safety monitoring, with a safety audit once it has run long enough to have records, generally at least three months. Ask whether the owner is ready, and point them to a compliance service if not. Our guide on how DOT compliance services find new carrier clients shows who works that side.
• Any time. New trucks, new drivers and new commodities. A move into hazmat changes the federal minimum, and an unlisted truck is the exact case the MCS-90 reimbursement clause is about.
• A missed payment. The MCS-90 needs 35 days' notice to the insured and 30 days' notice to FMCSA to cancel, and 387.7(b) requires coverage to stay in force continuously until it is terminated. Call on the first missed payment, not after the notice goes out.
• The biennial update. FMCSA's registration forms page lists the MCS-150 biennial update as a two-year requirement that carriers can file online through the FMCSA Portal. A reminder costs you nothing.
• Renewal. Start early with a year of loss runs, the current driver and unit lists and the carrier's actual lanes, and remarket if the account has outgrown its first placement.

Retention runs the other way too. A carrier that bought elsewhere at launch is a prospect at its first renewal. Keep its file, note the policy dates if the owner shares them, and send one letter before the term ends. FMCSA publishes active and pending insurance and insurance history as separate datasets on the DOT data portal; the census file does not carry them.

New carriers also meet other vendors in the same weeks: dispatchers, factoring companies, lenders and compliance services. Those firms work the same registrations, so a referral arrangement with one of them can be worth more than another mail drop. Our guides on how truck dispatchers find carriers, freight factoring clients from new carriers and truck financing leads show how each of them approaches the same carriers.

Mistakes to avoid

1. Treating registered as uninsured. The census add date says when FMCSA added the carrier. It says nothing about insurance. Check L&I before you call it a new-venture lead.
2. Calling a docket active authority. As of October 28, 2026, 71,307 carriers in the file had a docket. A docket means the carrier applied; L&I shows whether the authority is active.
3. Mail that looks official. FMCSA is warning carriers about impersonators. Look like an insurance agency, because that is what you are.
4. Dialers and texts. No autodialers, prerecorded or AI voices, and no texts without consent to numbers that are often personal mobiles. Scrub against the Do Not Call Registry first.
5. Quoting $750,000 to every truck. Hazmat moves the minimum to $1,000,000 or $5,000,000, and the $750,000 row only covers vehicles rated 10,001 pounds or more.
6. One answer on cargo for everyone. FMCSA's OP-1 instructions and its forms FAQ read differently for general freight. Check the authority type and confirm with FMCSA.
7. Calling the MCS-90 full coverage. It protects the public, not the owner, and it comes with a reimbursement promise.
8. Prices in the first letter. You do not know the trucks, drivers or freight yet.
9. Buying rows you cannot write. Filter to the states your agency is licensed in before you pay for or mail anything.
10. Slow opt-outs. CAN-SPAM gives you 10 business days. Faster is better.
11. Writing off private and intrastate carriers. 42.6% of the file runs intrastate. They need a different conversation, not none.

Where a filtered new-carrier file fits

Everything above works from the free census file. What costs time is the weekly routine: the query, the deduping, the decoding and the state filter. Lead Mining Company sells that step done. Our new trucking companies file is pulled from the FMCSA Company Census File every six hours and keeps active carriers registered since October 1, 2025. Its columns are the USDOT number, MC docket, legal and DBA names, company officer, phone, cell phone, email, physical and mailing address, Registered date, operation, for hire, power units, drivers, hazmat and cargo.

It is a copy of public records, not a government product. We are not the FMCSA or the DOT, and the file does not show insurance status, authority grant dates, inspections or crash history.

There are two ways to buy it, both on the pricing page: $99 a month for new trucking companies in every state, up to 25,000 rows a month, or $149 once for carriers registered in the last 90 days, downloadable for 7 days after payment. The page for insurance agents shows the filters agents use most. Agencies that want registrations piped into their own CRM or alerts can look at custom lead-generation software, from $1,500.

Questions and answers

Can a new trucking company get operating authority without insurance?

No. FMCSA's OP-1 instructions say an insurance company must file the carrier's liability form (BMC-91 or BMC-91X) and the carrier or its process agent must file a BOC-3 before authority is issued. The carrier may not operate until its authority shows ACTIVE in FMCSA's Licensing and Insurance system. The MC number alone is not authority.

Who files the BMC-91 or BMC-91X with FMCSA?

The insurance company. FMCSA says insurance forms must be filed by the insurer, not the carrier or broker, and applicants may not file insurance forms on their own behalf. The BOC-3 is different: the carrier or its process agent files it.

How long does a new carrier have to get its insurance filed?

FMCSA's OP-1 instructions give 90 days from the date the application is published in the FMCSA Register. FMCSA sends a warning letter if the filings have not arrived within 20 days. If they miss the 90 days, the application is dismissed and the $300 fee is not refunded. The insurer can file any time after the MC number is assigned.

What liability limit does a new for-hire carrier need?

Under 49 CFR 387.9, $750,000 for for-hire interstate carriers of nonhazardous property in vehicles rated 10,001 pounds GVWR or more. Oil, hazardous waste and many hazardous materials require $1,000,000, and certain bulk and highly hazardous loads require $5,000,000. Household goods carriers need at least $750,000 whatever the vehicle weight. Brokers and shippers can require more in their contracts.

Does a new carrier need cargo insurance?

It depends on the authority type. FMCSA's OP-1 instructions require common carriers of property and of household goods to file cargo insurance on Form BMC-34 ($5,000 per vehicle, $10,000 per occurrence), and say contract carriers do not need it. FMCSA's forms FAQ describes BMC-34 as the household goods filing. Check the authority type and confirm with FMCSA; contracts may also require cargo limits.

Does the FMCSA census file show whether a carrier already has insurance?

No. The Company Census File shows registration details such as the add date, classification, operation, fleet size, hazmat flag, cargo and contacts. It does not show insurance filings, authority grant dates, inspections or crashes. Look the carrier up in FMCSA's L&I system or on SAFER before you treat it as a new-venture lead.

Can I call new trucking companies from FMCSA registration data?

The records are public, but contacting carriers is regulated. Many registration phones are personal mobiles. The TCPA and the National Do Not Call Registry apply: no autodialers, prerecorded or AI voices, no texts without consent, calls only between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. local time, and scrub first. Email must follow CAN-SPAM. Mail is the lowest-risk first touch.

Sources

• FMCSA Form OP-1 instructions (OMB 2126-0016, expires 07/31/2027)
• FMCSA Registration Forms
• FMCSA FAQ: What is the vetting process and what do I need to do?
• FMCSA FAQ: What forms are required for insurance and where can I find them?
• FMCSA FAQ: Who files the Form BOC-3 (Designation of Process Agent)?
• FMCSA Form MCS-90 page
• FMCSA Form MCS-90 (OMB 2126-0008, expires 06/30/2027)
• FMCSA Fraud Alerts
• 49 CFR 387.9, Financial responsibility, minimum levels
• 49 CFR 387.7, Financial responsibility required
• 49 CFR 385.307, New entrant safety monitoring
• FMCSA Company Census File, U.S. DOT open data portal (az4n-8mr2)
• FTC CAN-SPAM Act: A Compliance Guide for Business
• 47 CFR 64.1200, Delivery restrictions (TCPA and Do Not Call rules)
• FMCSA SAFER Company Snapshot