FMCSA insurance requirements

How to get your FMCSA insurance filing done

The filing comes from your insurance company, never from you or a broker. FMCSA says only the insurer can submit the forms, and FMCSA does not give out blank copies. Insurers hold their own stock of the forms, and plenty of them file electronically.

Watch the clock here. Once your authority application shows up in the FMCSA Register, your insurer gets 20 days to file, or the application gets dismissed. Every new application also goes through a 10-day protest period once it is published.

Here is the order of the steps:

1. Send in your operating authority application (your MC number); the FMCSA charges a one-time $300 fee for it.
2. Purchase a liability policy that hits the required amount for the freight you carry and the weight of your trucks.
3. Have your insurer submit the liability form to FMCSA inside the 20 days.
4. Get a process agent to file your BOC-3.

After coverage starts, it must stay in effect continuously until it ends the right way. Ending a required policy calls for written notice 35 days ahead, from either you or your insurer, and the count starts on the day the notice goes out.

What is the BMC-91X?

Your insurer files the BMC-91X to prove to FMCSA that you hold the bodily injury and property damage liability the rules call for. The BMC-91 does the same thing, and some insurers use it instead. A carrier can also show liability through a BMC-82 bond instead of a policy.

Other filing forms cover particular kinds of operations:

• BMC-34: cargo coverage that household goods movers need
• BMC-84: the surety bond required of freight brokers

A surety bond works as a promise from a bonding company that claims get paid, and it stands in for a regular policy.

The MCS-90 endorsement explained

Think of an endorsement as an extra page attached to a policy, one that alters or confirms its coverage. The MCS-90 is the endorsement FMCSA requires on every motor carrier liability policy, and it serves as proof you satisfy the financial rules.

This one protects the public, not you. With the MCS-90 in place, the insurer pays a claim even if the accident sits outside your policy terms, and then you owe the insurer that money back. So a hole in your own coverage can still cost you.

Who files the BOC-3?

Your process agent handles it. This agent is a person or business located in a given state who can receive legal documents for you when a lawsuit lands there. Only a process agent may file Form BOC-3 with FMCSA, and every state you run in has to appear on the form.

Federal trucking insurance minimums by load and weight

How much coverage the federal government demands shifts with your freight and your vehicle's weight rating. That rating is the maximum your truck, or your truck and trailer as a unit, is designed to carry loaded, and the manufacturer sets it. It has nothing to do with what the truck happens to weigh today.

References: FMCSA, 49 CFR 387.9, and 49 CFR 387.303.

Each of these figures is a combined single limit, so one total amount covers injuries to people and property damage together. As primary coverage, it is the first layer of liability on your truck and responds before any excess policy.

Freight carriers face no federal cargo insurance rule; that rule applies to household goods movers alone. Movers carry $5,000 in cargo coverage per vehicle, plus $10,000 for losses from a single incident.

DOT insurance rules versus broker demands

If you run a commercial vehicle over state lines and its weight rating is 10,001 lbs or more, you need a USDOT number. The federal minimum turns your authority on, but most big brokers want higher limits before they hand you a load.

Broker	Liability	Cargo coverage
Amazon Relay	$1,000,000 each occurrence	$100,000
Uber Freight	$1,000,000 for every occurrence	$100,000 for each shipment
C.H. Robinson	$1,000,000 in liability	$100,000 in cargo
TQL	Liability of $1,000,000	Cargo of $100,000
J.B. Hunt	The federal floor of $750,000	Nothing required at the federal level

A few brokers stack extra requirements on top. Amazon Relay asks for general liability of $1,000,000 each occurrence with a $2,000,000 aggregate, plus $50,000 in trailer interchange coverage when you run a semi. Your MC number also needs 180 days or more of active history. Uber Freight only works with insurance companies holding an AM Best rating of A-VII or higher.

Hauling within a single state means that state decides the minimum and the filing. Alabama, for instance, relies on a Form E, while Maine requires just $350,000 for in-state property carriers.

When you run under another carrier's lease, that carrier's filing protects you during its dispatch. You still hold bobtail coverage (also called non-trucking liability) plus physical damage coverage for your own truck.

Common questions