USDOT Number & MC Authority Filing

FMCSA publishes your application in the FMCSA Register. Under 49 CFR § 365.115(a), interested persons then have 10 days from that publication date to file a protest. If nobody opposes it, the grant becomes effective when FMCSA issues the certificate, permit or license. Your insurance filing and BOC-3 also have to be on file before authority activates, and those are usually what holds a new carrier up. We track all three.

49 CFR § 390.19T(b)(2) sets it by your USDOT number. The last digit gives you the month — 1 is January, 2 is February, on through 0 for October. The next-to-last digit gives you the year: odd means you file in odd-numbered years, even means even-numbered years. You file before you begin operations and then every 24 months, whether or not anything changed.

Your USDOT number gets deactivated, and you are subject to penalties under 49 U.S.C. 521(b)(2)(B) or 14901(a). This is the most common way a carrier loses its authority without ever doing anything wrong on the road — the filing is free and takes minutes, and missing it shuts you down. We track the date for every client.

UCR fees are set by fleet size under 49 CFR § 367.50. For registration years beginning in 2025 the brackets are $46 for 0–2 vehicles, $138 for 3–5, $276 for 6–20, $963 for 21–100, $4,592 for 101–1,000 and $44,836 above that. FMCSA raised these by an average of 20 percent for the 2027 registration year and after, effective October 1, 2026: $55, $167, $333, $1,163, $5,548 and $54,165. Brokers and leasing companies pay the smallest-bracket fee no matter their size.

A BOC-3 designates the people who can accept legal papers on your behalf in each state. You need one on file before FMCSA will activate your authority. Under 49 CFR § 366.2 only one current form may be on file at a time, and it has to cover every state where a designation is required — you cannot file it piecemeal.