New Authority Starter
New trucking authority? Get compliance set up right the first time
Standalone price, credited in full to a plan you start within 60 days. Included on the annual plan. You pay government and third-party fees directly.
What has to be in place before your first load
- Operating authority active, if you haul for hire across state lines, with your insurer's filing and your BOC-3 both on file. A pending status is not authority (49 CFR 392.9a).
- In a random testing pool, through a consortium if you are the only driver, with a negative pre-employment drug test on every CDL driver, yourself included (49 CFR 382.301).
- Registered in the Clearinghouse as an employer, with a C/TPA designated if you drive under your own authority, and a pre-employment full query run on every CDL driver (49 CFR 382.701).
- A driver qualification file on every driver, including yourself (49 CFR 391.51).
- UCR paid for the current year, if you operate interstate.
- A periodic inspection on every truck within the last 12 months, with the documentation on the vehicle (49 CFR 396.17).
- IFTA license and decals, and apportioned plates, if your truck qualifies and runs in more than one state.
Every filing, in order, with who files it and what it costs, is in the free new authority checklist.
Exactly what the Starter includes
Your compliance profile
What applies to your operation, mapped once: authority type, trucks and drivers, and the records and renewal dates that come with them.
BOC-3
An approved blanket process agent covering every state, set up in your name, the filing confirmed. You pay the agent's own fee directly.
UCR
The right bracket and year, prepared for you to submit at ucr.gov, where you pay the government fee directly.
MCS-150 review
Your registration data checked against how you actually operate, so the record FMCSA holds is right from the start.
Clearinghouse registration
Walked through in your own account, with your consortium named as your C/TPA where you drive under your own authority.
Consortium enrollment
We tell you which consortium to join, complete the enrollment and do every form. You pay the consortium's own fee directly.
A twelve-month calendar
Every date your first year brings, from the IFTA quarters and the UCR renewal to each driver's medical card and MVR anniversaries, on one calendar.
What it does not include
Insurance, which your agent sells and files; your ELD; legal advice; permits, IRP plates and state registrations, which are quoted by the hour; and the government and third-party fees themselves, which you pay directly: FMCSA’s $300 application fee, the UCR fee, the process agent’s one-time fee, the consortium’s own membership fee and your drug tests.
Your first eighteen months, in order
- 1
When you apply
You file for your USDOT number and operating authority in Motus, under your own Login.gov, and pay FMCSA's $300 application fee. The same week, start the insurance filing with your agent and designate your process agent: both are needed soon.
- 2
Publication, then 20 days
FMCSA publishes the application in the FMCSA Register, anyone may protest within 10 days (49 CFR 365.115), and your insurance filing and BOC-3 must be on file within 20 days of publication (365.109T). Motus names which one it is waiting on; we confirm each posts.
- 3
Before the first load
Authority active, the consortium joined and your pre-employment test back negative, the Clearinghouse registered and queried, your driver file built, UCR paid and the truck's inspection current. The list above, complete.
- 4
Months 3 to 12
The new entrant safety audit. It comes once you have operated long enough to have records worth reviewing, generally at least three months, and FMCSA's guidance is to expect it within your first twelve. Audit preparation is part of member onboarding.
- 5
Month 18
New entrant monitoring ends (49 CFR 385.307). From here the calendar simply repeats: the biennial MCS-150, UCR every October, IFTA every quarter, each driver's anniversaries.
The audit in your first year
Every new carrier gets a new entrant safety audit, and sixteen findings fail it on their own, most of them on a single occurrence: no drug and alcohol program, no random pool, no insurance in effect, a medically unqualified driver. For a one-truck carrier those are all about you, which is why the Starter builds them first.
Members get new entrant audit preparation as part of onboarding: a mock audit against your records, the automatic-fail items fixed and the binder handed over. Want to check where you stand now? Print the DOT audit checklist or take the new entrant audit readiness score.
What it costs, and how the credit works
- Standalone: $199 once. If you start a membership within 60 days, the full $199 is credited to it.
- On the annual plan ($99 a month for the first truck, billed $1,188 up front): included, at no charge.
- On the month-to-month plan ($119 a month for the first truck): the Starter is the one-time $199 onboarding, credited in full if you move to annual within 60 days.
The whole first year, including the fees nobody can discount, is set out in first-year compliance costs, and every price we charge is on the DOT compliance services pricing page.
Standalone price. Included on the annual plan; credited to any plan you start within 60 days.
New authority questions
What is the New Authority Starter?
The compliance setup for a brand-new authority, done once and done right: your compliance profile, the BOC-3, UCR, a review of your MCS-150, Clearinghouse registration, consortium enrollment and a twelve-month calendar. The filings are prepared for you to sign and submit where the agency requires it.
How much does it cost?
$199 once, as a standalone purchase, credited in full to a membership you start within 60 days. On the annual plan it is included at no charge. On the month-to-month plan it is the one-time $199 onboarding, credited in full if you move to annual within 60 days. Government and third-party fees are paid directly: FMCSA's application fee, the UCR fee, the process agent's fee, the consortium's fee and your tests.
How long does a new trucking authority take?
FMCSA publishes no processing time. The structure is a 10-day protest window after your application publishes in the FMCSA Register (49 CFR 365.115) and 20 days from publication for your insurance and BOC-3 filings to be on file (365.109T). An application still pending after a month is usually waiting on one of those two filings, not on FMCSA.
When will my new entrant safety audit happen?
There is no fixed date. You are monitored for 18 months from registration under 49 CFR 385.307, the audit comes once you have operated long enough to have records to review (generally at least three months), and FMCSA's guidance is to expect it within your first twelve months of operating. Be ready from month four.
Does the Starter include insurance or an ELD?
No. Insurance is bought from your agent, who also makes the insurance filing with FMCSA, and the ELD from your ELD provider. We read the ELD's exports for IFTA and hours of service; we do not resell the device or the policy. The Starter also does not include legal advice, permits, IRP plates or state registrations, which are quoted by the hour.
Can I start hauling while my authority says pending?
No. 49 CFR 392.9a prohibits operating without the required operating authority, and a vehicle found doing it is ordered out of service. A pending status is not authority, however close the application looks to done.
Start the authority right, once.
The New Authority Starter is $199 on its own, credited to a plan within 60 days, and included on the annual membership: $99 a month for the first truck, every driver included.
No contracts and no term commitment. You pay government fees directly, never through us. Every price on this site is the price you pay.