Leased On vs. Own Authority: Compare Net Profit, Risk, and Control

Leased on vs own authority: the direct answer

The leased on vs own authority choice compares two operating models, not two paychecks. Leased on means you lease your truck — and usually your driving services — to an authorized carrier under a written lease that federal law requires and defines at 49 CFR Part 376, and that carrier runs the operation under its authority. Own authority means your business is the motor carrier, operating under its own active federal authority — which has to be obtained, not merely applied for — and carrying every carrier-level responsibility itself. Leasing on is generally the lower-administration, lower-control route. Own authority is the higher-control, higher-responsibility route. Neither is automatically more profitable: "keeping 100%" means nothing until you subtract insurance, compliance, load acquisition, billing, collection lag, deadhead, and the unpaid hours you spend running the business. The better path is the one that produces the stronger owner-labor-adjusted net per all mile at a risk level you can absorb — and "neither yet" is a legitimate answer.

Best fits at a glance:

• Best for a first-year operator with no direct freight relationships and no settlement history: leased on, under a written lease you have audited line by line — when the carrier's documented services (freight access, billing, compliance, plates, insurance handling) would cost more to replace than its complete deductions take.
• Best for an operator with about a year of settlements, repeat broker or customer relationships, and a funded reserve: own authority — if you can make your authority active and verify it, secure insurance and working capital without high-cost financing, name a repeatable freight plan, and the all-mile worksheet still wins after replacing every carrier-provided service.
• Best for an operator with strong gross revenue but an older truck and a thin maintenance reserve: leased on, or neither yet until the reserve is funded.
• Best for an operator without a funded reserve or a settlement they can read: neither yet — the answer whenever you cannot explain your current settlement line by line, have no maintenance reserve, or would need emergency financing to survive a slow month.

Wait — verify active authority through FMCSA's current registration system first if you are leaning toward your own authority: an MC number, a submitted application, or a paper certificate is not permission to operate.

On this page

• Leased on vs own authority: the direct answer
• Start with the governing gate, not the percentage
  • How to verify your authority status right now
• Side-by-side comparison
  • Terms used on this page
• Run the break-even comparison on all miles
  • Why gross percentage comparisons fail
  • How to build the comparison worksheet
  • A worked example
• Who carries responsibility, insurance, and control
  • What each path puts on your record
  • The lease audit checklist
• Load access, cash flow, and market risk
  • Who sets each rule that touches this decision
  • The registrations your own authority adds
  • States that charge a separate mileage tax
• Which path fits you?
  • Match your situation to a path
• If you are already in trouble
• How to switch without creating an operating gap
• Choosing a carrier or service stack at a glance
• Frequently asked questions
  • Can I keep my own authority while leased on to another carrier?
  • Does a leased-on owner-operator need their own insurance?
  • Is a 70/30 or 80/20 lease split a good deal?
  • Can I lease or buy someone else's MC number?
  • How long does switching between leased-on and your own authority take?
  • What is the federal filing fee for your own operating authority?
• Run your actual numbers next
• Sources and last verified date

Start with the governing gate, not the percentage

Federal references on this page were verified against the current eCFR text on August 9, 2026. FMCSA's registration systems are mid-transition, so the status-check section below carries its own verification and review dates.

"Leased on" is a regulated arrangement, not slang. Under 49 CFR 376.11, an authorized carrier may perform its authorized transportation in equipment it does not own only under a written lease that meets federal requirements. During that lease, 49 CFR 376.12 requires the carrier to have exclusive possession, control, and use of the equipment and to assume complete responsibility for its operation. The same clause states that this language does not by itself decide employee-versus-contractor status — a question outside this page.

Leasing your equipment to a carrier is entirely different from leasing a number. FMCSA's March 2026 bulletin warns that a USDOT number or operating authority may not be sold, purchased, rented, or leased outside a legitimate corporate transaction, and that FMCSA will move to inactivate numbers and revoke registrations when it finds such attempts. The same bulletin states that compliant equipment leasing under Part 376 remains permissible and distinct from that prohibited conduct. An offer to "lease you an MC" is the conduct the bulletin prohibits. It has nothing to do with the business model this page compares.

One more distinction before the comparison, because these two get confused constantly. Leasing your equipment onto a carrier under Part 376 is not a lease-purchase. In a Part 376 lease you already own the truck and you keep title to it; the carrier takes exclusive possession, control, and use for the term and returns the equipment at termination. In a lease-purchase you are buying a truck from or through a carrier while driving for that carrier — title passes only if you complete the payments, and one company controls your freight, your settlement deductions, and your equipment debt at the same time. That structure is not what this page compares, and the concentration of control inside it is exactly why a transportation attorney should read the agreement before you sign one. This page compares owning your truck and leasing it on against owning your truck and running your own authority.

Under your own authority, your business is the carrier. That means the applicable federal registration, a public liability insurance filing made by your insurer, a BOC-3 process-agent designation, annual UCR registration, and the safety, driver, and record systems a carrier must run. This page does not walk that sequence; how to get your trucking authority owns it.

Do not operate under your own authority yet. A USDOT number, an MC/docket number, a submitted application, a paper certificate, or a filing-service dashboard is not the operating gate. The operative rule is 49 CFR 385.305T(d): a for-hire motor carrier must comply with the Part 365 procedures and obtain operating authority before operating in interstate commerce. Obtaining is the gate. Applying is not.

How to verify your authority status right now

Three official surfaces report authority status, and during FMCSA's move into Motus they do not agree with each other. Checked August 9, 2026. Next review: September 8, 2026.

Surface	What it shows now	What it does not settle
Motus — FMCSA's registration system at motus.dot.gov	Your own company account: registration record, operating authority, and the filings made against it	What a broker or shipper sees, since they cannot log into your account
SAFER Company Snapshot — safer.fmcsa.dot.gov	The public view of operating-authority status, insurance on file, and safety data — the surface counterparties actually check	Filings that have not yet propagated to the public datasets
Licensing & Insurance (L&I)	FMCSA states that as of May 14, 2026 L&I is available only for reviewing historical motor carrier records, and that Motus filings are not reflected in it (AskFMCSA)	Anything filed through Motus — which now means anything current

What SAFER's status words mean. The public Company Snapshot reports one of three operating-authority statuses, and FMCSA defines them: AUTHORIZED FOR lists the specific authorities the carrier or broker may operate under — passenger, property, or household goods; NOT AUTHORIZED means the entity has no operating authority, or is not authorized to engage in interstate for-hire operations; OUT-OF-SERVICE means the carrier is under an out-of-service order and may not operate. FMCSA has updated the Company Snapshot specifically because the older NOT AUTHORIZED message was tied to USDOT Number status and was being misread as a lost authority. If SAFER shows NOT AUTHORIZED on a carrier you believe is active, read it as a prompt to check Motus and the underlying filings — not as a verdict.

The conflict, stated plainly. FMCSA's own status-check FAQ still instructs carriers to visit the Licensing and Insurance website and read the Authority Status column there. FMCSA's AskFMCSA registration guidance says L&I holds historical records only. Both are official FMCSA pages and they point in different directions. Until they agree, treat L&I as a historical archive and confirm current status in Motus.

The operating rule while that lasts — a First Load HQ rule, not an FMCSA statement. A blank or missing public record during a system cutover is not proof that a filing does not exist — and it is equally not proof that your authority is active. Do not read either conclusion into silence. Check your own record in Motus, check what counterparties see in SAFER, and if the two disagree with each other or with what your insurer and process agent tell you, call FMCSA's registration line at 1-800-832-5660. Do not clear this gate from a third-party lookup, a filing-service dashboard, or a paper certificate, and do not dispatch while it is unresolved. Watch Registration Alerts for changes.

One trap worth naming, because filing services and blogs repeat it: the widely quoted language at 49 CFR 385.305(c) — "may not begin operations… until after the date of the Agency's written notice that the USDOT Number has been activated" — sits in a section that has been suspended indefinitely since November 18, 2024. The operative text is 385.305T, which does not contain that sentence. The requirement to obtain authority before operating survives in 385.305T(d) and 385.301T(a). Cite the version that is in force.

First official action. If you are considering your own authority, start at FMCSA's current guidance for moving into Motus, and treat instructions on older pages as suspect until confirmed there. If you are evaluating a lease, your first action is paperwork, not a portal: request the complete written lease with all amendments, the current settlement and deduction schedule, insurance certificates or a written description of coverage, escrow terms, and termination instructions — before you compare any percentages.

The five gates, in order:

1. Legal/operating gate. Can you lawfully use the path today? Own authority requires verified active status. Leased on requires a complete written lease you have actually read, plus a check of the carrier's current registration and safety record.
2. Economic gate. Which path produces the higher owner-labor-adjusted net per all mile under the same month, miles, and freight mix?
3. Cash gate. Can you absorb insurance deposits, fixed overhead, slow collections, downtime, and a maintenance shock without high-cost financing?
4. Execution gate. Can you find and vet freight, run compliance systems, invoice, collect, and keep records — or does the carrier currently create more value than it takes?
5. Exit gate. Can you leave the lease, or pause the authority, without stranded escrow, an insurance gap, a plate or permit gap, or an interruption in lawful operation?

Side-by-side comparison

Your written lease and FMCSA's current records control your specific answer. The right-hand column names the class of rule behind each row and how far the evidence on this page actually goes.

Table: leased on, own authority, and neither yet, compared on the same eleven fields, with the rule class and evidence status behind each one.

Field	Leased on	Own authority	Neither yet	Rule class and evidence status
Operating identity	You lease equipment and services to an authorized carrier; the carrier operates under its authority and carries federal responsibility during the lease.	Your business is the motor carrier operating under its own active authority.	No change in who the carrier is. You stay leased on, or off the road, while you close one named gap.	Federal rule (49 CFR 376) plus editorial framing — verified against eCFR, August 9, 2026
Time to lawful operation	As fast as carrier onboarding and your own document review allow. No federal registration wait applies to you, because the operation runs on the carrier's authority.	Set by the slowest dependency: insurance procurement and the liability filing, the BOC-3 designation, any FMCSA processing or dispute window, and identity verification in Motus.	Immediate. It is the only path you can be on today without a filing or a signature.	Federal process plus private onboarding — FMCSA publishes no guaranteed processing time; treat any quoted timeline as a vendor estimate
Written instrument	A written lease with federally required terms, plus its amendments and settlement schedules.	Registration filings plus your customer, vendor, and insurance agreements.	Your existing lease, plus a dated readiness checklist with a rerun date on it.	Federal rule plus private contract — verified
Compensation	The contract method — percentage, mileage, or other — with the base, fuel-surcharge, and accessorial treatment the lease actually states.	Gross customer and broker revenue, minus every business cost and loss.	Whatever you earn today — which you must first be able to read line by line.	Federal disclosure rule plus contract — contract-specific, not verifiable from any article
Freight access	The carrier's network and dispatch, only to the extent actually provided.	You source, vet, and serve customers and brokers yourself.	Whatever you have today. The gap to close is often that you cannot yet name your counterparties.	Private market policy — varies by counterparty
Insurance	The carrier carries public liability responsibility during the lease; your own coverages, deductibles, and exclusions are contract- and underwriting-specific.	You must satisfy the applicable federal financial-responsibility filing plus any coverage your customers or contracts require.	Whatever you carry today. Get written evidence of coverage for the path you are considering.	Federal rule plus underwriting — federal minimum verified; your coverages contract-specific
Compliance administration	The carrier runs carrier-level systems; your driver, equipment, and lease obligations remain yours.	You own carrier-level compliance, records, filings, audits, and renewals.	Whatever you run today. Build the records the other two paths assume you already keep.	Federal and state rules — verified
Billing and cash timing	Settlement cadence and document conditions under the lease; deductions and escrow can change what you actually receive and when.	Invoice terms, collection lag, claims exposure, and any factoring cost you choose to pay.	Unchanged — and this is the period in which you build the 90 days of all-mile cost history the worksheet needs.	Contract plus operating economics — contract-specific
Control	Less customer, rate, and operating control; dispatch and refusal rights depend on the agreement and applicable law.	More customer, rate, lane, and system control — with the full execution burden.	Unchanged. You are buying information, not control.	Contract plus editorial framing — contract-specific
Fixed overhead	Often fewer carrier-level fixed costs, but carrier deductions may be substantial.	Insurance, compliance, sales, and software costs continue during idle weeks.	No new fixed cost. The cost is time and a date on the calendar.	Operating-cost observation — varies by operation
Exit	Notice, escrow return, equipment release, plates and permits, records, and a final settlement.	Authority suspension or reinstatement, insurance continuity, customers, records, and cash continuity.	None. The option is reversible by design — its only failure mode is becoming permanent.	Contract plus federal status — 45-day escrow return verified; the rest contract-specific

Three rows decide most one-truck cases. First, the compensation base: a percentage means nothing until you know the percentage of what, and who keeps fuel surcharge and accessorials. Second, billing and cash timing: a predictable weekly settlement with deductions can beat a higher gross that arrives slowly and unevenly under your own invoices. Third, exit: an operator who can leave cleanly — escrow returned, equipment released, no coverage gap — holds negotiating power that an operator locked into one-sided termination terms does not. Where a cell above is contract-specific in substance, that is the field to pull from your actual documents rather than from a forum thread.

Terms used on this page

Table: the settlement and lease vocabulary this decision runs on.

Term	What it means here
All miles, loaded miles, deadhead	Loaded miles are miles under a paying load. Deadhead is every other mile the truck moves. All miles is the two added together. Revenue is usually quoted per loaded mile; costs run on all miles.
Settlement	The periodic statement showing what you earned, what was deducted, and what you are actually paid. It is your primary evidence in this decision.
Compensation base	The dollar figure a percentage is applied to — gross linehaul, billed revenue, collected revenue, or something else the lease defines. Two leases with the same percentage and different bases are not the same deal.
Charge-back	Any amount the carrier deducts from your settlement. Section 376.12 requires the lease to identify each charge-back item and how it is computed, and to give you access to the documents behind it.
Escrow	Money the carrier holds out of your settlements against future obligations. Section 376.12(k) governs the amount, the permitted uses, the accounting, any interest, and the return.
Fuel surcharge	A separately stated charge that moves with fuel prices. Who receives it is a contract term, not a rule.
Accessorials	Charges beyond linehaul — detention, layover, stop pay, lumper reimbursement, tarping. The lease decides who receives each one.
Bobtail and non-trucking liability	Commercial insurance products covering the tractor when it is not being operated for the carrier's business. Neither is a federal requirement; the lease and your policy decide whether you carry them.
Occupational accident coverage	A commercial product sold to independent contractors in place of workers' compensation. It is not workers' compensation and does not carry the same statutory protections.
BOC-3	The process-agent designation naming who may accept legal papers on your behalf in each state where you operate. It is required for your own authority, it is filed with FMCSA by a process agent rather than by you, and it is a designation, not insurance.
New-entrant registration	The 18-month monitoring period a newly authorized carrier enters, during which FMCSA conducts a safety audit. It attaches to the carrier — which is you, under your own authority, and the other company when you are leased on.

Run the break-even comparison on all miles

Why gross percentage comparisons fail

Gross-percentage comparisons fail for two reasons. First, they compare different bases: a lease percentage is applied to a defined compensation base after the lease's own pass-through rules, while "100% of the load" under your own authority is billed revenue you have not yet collected and have not yet paid expenses from. Second, they hide the denominator. Revenue quotes are usually per loaded mile; your costs run on every mile the truck moves, empty or loaded. Comparing a loaded-mile rate to an all-mile cost flatters whichever number you want to believe.

Define the terms once and hold them: loaded miles are miles under a paying load; deadhead (empty) miles are everything else the truck drives; all miles are the two added together. This worksheet compares both paths on net per all mile for the same period, the same miles, and the same freight mix, with your management hours priced in. For the underlying cost method, see how to calculate cost per mile.

How to build the comparison worksheet

There is no download on this page. You build this in a spreadsheet, and what follows is the whole specification: seven input groups, seven formulas, and a worked example that shows the finished thing running. Build it in this order.

1. Set the period — one month or one quarter — and enter your workload: loaded miles, deadhead miles, days worked, unpaid admin hours.
2. Enter revenue, marking each figure billed or collected. Do not mix the two.
3. Enter the leased-on terms from the settlement and the lease, not from memory.
4. Enter the own-authority costs you would actually pay, from written quotes where you have them.
5. Enter the truck costs you carry on either path. These cancel out of the comparison, but you need them for the per-mile figures.
6. Enter risk, cash, and owner labor. Price your management hours on both paths.
7. Compute the seven formulas below in order, ending with the break-even carrier take.

Table: the seven input groups the comparison needs.

Input group	What to enter
Workload	Period; loaded miles; deadhead miles or deadhead percentage; days worked; unpaid admin hours.
Revenue	Linehaul, fuel surcharge, accessorials, other freight revenue — and whether each figure is billed or collected.
Leased-on terms	Compensation method and base; carrier percentage; fixed and variable deductions; escrow; settlement cadence; services actually included.
Own-authority costs	Insurance; registration and filing fees amortized; load boards, dispatch, or sales; compliance; ELD and software; accounting; billing and collections; factoring only if you would actually use it.
Shared truck costs	Net fuel price and actual MPG; maintenance and tires; truck and trailer payment; permits, tolls, taxes; parking and washes; repair reserve; depreciation or replacement reserve.
Risk and cash	Collection days; reserve target; expected downtime; bad-debt and claim allowance; deductible exposure.
Owner labor	Unpaid business-management hours multiplied by an hourly value you choose; treat driving labor the same way on both paths.

The formulas:

• All miles = loaded miles + deadhead miles.
• Revenue per all mile = total attributable freight revenue ÷ all miles.
• Fuel cost per all mile = net diesel price ÷ actual MPG.
• Leased-on net = lease compensation + fuel surcharge and accessorials you keep − truck costs you pay − every carrier deduction − insurance, tax, and compliance items you pay − owner management labor.
• Own-authority net = collected (or probability-adjusted) freight revenue − truck costs − insurance − compliance and administration − customer acquisition, dispatch, and load-board costs − financing or factoring actually used − bad-debt and claim allowance − owner management labor.
• Owner-labor-adjusted net per all mile = path net ÷ all miles.
• Break-even carrier take = the total leased-on deductions at which leased-on net equals own-authority net after you have priced replacing every function the carrier provides.

The break-even carrier take is the single most useful output. If a carrier's complete take — percentage plus every deduction — is below your break-even figure, the lease is buying its services for less than you could replace them; above it, own authority earns its extra work, provided the cash and execution gates also pass.

A worked example

The worksheet is easier to trust once you have watched it run. Below is one month, one truck, worked end to end. Every input is either a dated published figure with its source, or a scenario setting you replace with your own number.

Sourced input. Diesel at $5.348 per gallon, the U.S. average on-highway price for the week of August 3, 2026, published by the EIA Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Update. That figure changes weekly and your region, discounts, and taxes differ — enter your actual net pump price.

Scenario settings — replace every one of these. One month; 10,000 all miles at 15% deadhead (8,500 loaded, 1,500 empty); 6.0 miles per gallon; truck payment $2,200; maintenance and tires reserve $0.20 per all mile; replacement reserve $0.10 per all mile; own-authority-only stack of $3,350 (liability, cargo and physical damage insurance $1,400; trailer $700; plates, permits and apportioned registration $450; compliance, ELD, accounting and software $250; load board, dispatch and sales $300; the carrier fuel discount you would give up, valued at $250); owner management labor at $30 per hour, 30 hours a month under own authority and 10 hours a month leased on; bad-debt and claim allowance at 1% of revenue.

Table: one month, one truck, at three revenue levels. All other inputs are held constant across the three columns.

Line	Low	Base	High
Freight revenue the truck generates	$18,000	$22,000	$26,000
— per all mile	$1.80	$2.20	$2.60
— per loaded mile	$2.12	$2.59	$3.06
Fuel (10,000 mi ÷ 6.0 MPG × $5.348)	$8,913	$8,913	$8,913
Maintenance and tires reserve	$2,000	$2,000	$2,000
Truck payment	$2,200	$2,200	$2,200
Replacement reserve	$1,000	$1,000	$1,000
Truck costs you carry on either path	$14,113	$14,113	$14,113
Own-authority-only stack	$3,350	$3,350	$3,350
Bad-debt and claim allowance	$180	$220	$260
Owner management labor, own authority	$900	$900	$900
Owner management labor, leased on	$300	$300	$300
Own-authority net, cash view	$1,357	$5,317	$9,277
Own-authority net, economic view	−$543	$3,417	$7,377
Own-authority net per all mile, economic view	−$0.05	$0.34	$0.74
Break-even carrier take, dollars per month	$4,130	$4,170	$4,210
Break-even carrier take, as a share of revenue	22.9%	19.0%	16.2%
What this model is not	Not a market average	Not a rate benchmark	Not a projection for your lane

The cash view excludes the replacement reserve and owner labor; the economic view includes both. A path that only wins in the cash view is borrowing from your future truck and your unpaid time.

One line drives the whole gap: revenue per all mile. Every other input is identical down the three columns, and the $8,000 revenue spread produces a $7,920 swing in economic net. The low column is not a rounding difference — it is a month in which a fully costed one-truck operation loses money on its own authority while still covering cash.

The break-even take is nearly fixed in dollars and very unfixed as a percentage. Across the whole revenue range it moves $80 — from $4,130 to $4,210 — because it is simply the cost of replacing what the carrier does, plus your extra unpaid management time, plus your credit risk. As a share of revenue it moves nearly seven points. That is the arithmetic behind a fact most percentage arguments miss: a fixed-percentage lease costs you least, relative to what it replaces, in your worst months, and most in your best ones. The percentage is a risk transfer, and risk transfers are worth most when things go badly.

Read the base column carefully before drawing a conclusion. Break-even sits at a 19.0% complete take. A 25% complete take at that revenue costs $5,500 — about $1,330 a month more than replacing the carrier would cost in this scenario. That does not mean own authority wins. It means the money question is usually not the one that decides this, which is why the cash, execution, and legal gates come first in the list above. Run your own numbers before you accept or reject that conclusion.

What this model deliberately leaves out. Collection lag and the working capital it consumes. Any difference in the freight each path can actually get, and at what rate — the single largest real-world asymmetry between them. Downtime, and how many weeks of it each path survives. Income tax treatment, which depends on your entity, differs materially between the two paths, and is not a per-mile line — take that one to a CPA who handles owner-operator returns. State-specific fees and taxes beyond the flat plates-and-permits figure. Each of those is a gate question, not a spreadsheet question.

A sanity check from outside your own records. ATRI's 2026 Analysis of the Operational Costs of Trucking, published July 15, 2026, put the industry-average cost to operate a truck at $2.336 per mile in 2025 and $1.854 per mile excluding fuel. The base column above runs about $1.86 per all mile including fuel — so the figure to compare it against is ATRI's $2.336, not its $1.854, which excludes fuel entirely. The near-match between $1.86 and $1.854 is a coincidence of two different measurements. Two further cautions before you read anything into the comparison. ATRI's figure is fleet-reported and includes paid driver wages and benefits, which an owner-operator driving their own truck does not pay out — this example prices only management time, because driving time is the same on both paths and cancels out of the comparison. And it is an average across Class 8 operations of every size and sector, not a benchmark for a single truck. Use it to ask whether your own all-mile cost is in a believable range. It cannot replace measuring it.

Check your work before trusting a result. Reject zero or negative miles and deadhead percentages that exceed your total. Never divide loaded-mile revenue by all miles in one path and by loaded miles in the other. Use one period and label every figure monthly or annual. Do not double-count items — insurance, trailer, permits, dispatch, fuel surcharge, or accessorials — as both "included by the carrier" and "paid by you." The worksheet is a decision aid, not a profitability promise; keep your figures in your own records.

Who carries responsibility, insurance, and control

The written lease is where leased-on economics actually live, and federal law dictates much of what it must contain. Under 49 CFR 376.12, the lease must state the compensation amount or the method for computing it; specify the payment period, with payment due within 15 days after you submit the required delivery documents; give you the right to see the rated freight bill or equivalent when you are paid on percentage; itemize every charge-back with how it is computed and give you access to the supporting documents; bar the carrier from forcing you to buy products or services from it as a condition of the lease; state which coverages the carrier provides and which are your responsibility; and account for any escrow fund, including itemized deductions, interest, and return within 45 days of termination. If a lease is silent or vague on any of these, that is not a detail — it is your audit finding.

Title is worth stating explicitly, because it is the line between this arrangement and a lease-purchase. Under a Part 376 lease you keep title to your equipment; the carrier holds exclusive possession, control, and use for the term of the lease and releases the equipment at termination. What the lease binds is your compensation, your deductions, your escrow, and your exit, for as long as it runs. Because those terms are binding and their enforceability is a legal question rather than a reading-comprehension question, have a transportation attorney review the agreement before you sign it. The checklist below tells you what to look for. It does not tell you whether what you find will hold up against you.

Insurance splits differently on the two paths. Leased on, the carrier is responsible for the public liability coverage protecting the public during the lease; everything else — physical damage on your truck, bobtail or non-trucking liability, occupational accident versus workers' compensation, deductibles, and cargo-related charge-backs — is allocated by the contract and priced by an underwriter, so no article can tell you what your lease says. Under your own authority, your insurer must file evidence of the required public liability coverage directly with FMCSA; for for-hire carriers of non-hazardous property in interstate or foreign commerce with a gross vehicle weight rating of 10,001 pounds or more, the federal minimum is $750,000, set out in Table 1 to 49 CFR 387.9 and administered through FMCSA's insurance filing requirements. Higher minimums apply to hazardous commodities. Federal cargo-insurance filings apply to household-goods carriers; for most other property carriers, cargo coverage is demanded by brokers, shippers, and contracts rather than by a federal filing — a market requirement, not a legal one. The full requirement picture, including how filings activate authority, belongs to new authority insurance requirements.

One more allocation matters: the carrier's federal responsibility during a lease does not erase yours. Hours of service, your medical certificate and CDL, equipment condition, and safe operation stay with you — and a carrier with a weak compliance program exposes you rather than shielding you. Nothing here is a conclusion about employment status; the regulation itself says the control clause does not decide that question.

What each path puts on your record

Own authority starts a clock that a lease does not. A newly authorized carrier is subject to an 18-month new-entrant monitoring period, during which FMCSA conducts a safety audit once the carrier has been operating long enough to have records to examine — generally at least three months (49 CFR 385.307). Sixteen violations fail that audit automatically, most of them on a single occurrence, including operating without the required levels of financial responsibility, knowingly using a driver without a valid CDL, and operating a vehicle placed out of service before repairs are made (49 CFR 385.321). Failing the audit and not correcting within the period stated in the notice means revocation of the new-entrant registration and an out-of-service order (49 CFR 385.325), and re-application cannot be made sooner than 30 days after revocation (49 CFR 385.329T).

Leased on, that exposure sits with the carrier whose authority you run under. Roadside inspections during the lease attach to its safety record, because it is the carrier — you do not have a carrier record to damage. What follows you either way is personal: your CDL, your medical certificate, your hours-of-service record, and the driver-level violations from any inspection you are in the seat for. Choosing own authority means adding a permanent entity record on top of the personal one, and that entity record is public. The inspections, violations, and audit outcome from that period stay attached to the entity in FMCSA's public data — which is what brokers and shippers read in SAFER before they book you.

The lease audit checklist

Table: what to confirm in the written lease before comparing any percentage.

Audit field	The question to answer from the documents
Parties, equipment, duration	Are the legal parties, equipment, start and end dates, and every amendment in hand?
Control and responsibility	Does the lease state the carrier's possession, control, and responsibility as the regulation requires?
Title and return	Does the lease confirm you keep title, and state the condition and timing of equipment release at termination?
Compensation base	Percentage of what — gross linehaul, billed revenue, collected revenue, mileage, or something else?
Fuel surcharge and accessorials	Who receives detention, layover, stop pay, lumper reimbursement, and the fuel surcharge?
Payment documents	What must you submit, when does the payment clock start, and which billing documents can you inspect?
Charge-backs and services	Is every deduction listed with its calculation method and supporting documents?
Insurance and claims	Which coverages does the carrier provide, what do you carry, and what is the claim process?
Escrow	Amount, permitted uses, accounting, interest, and the return timeline.
Plates, permits, tolls, fuel tax	Who obtains, pays for, owns, and returns each item — including IRP, IFTA, and any separate state mileage-tax accounts?
Trailer, equipment, technology	Trailer, ELD, cameras, tracking, maintenance, damage, and return conditions.
Termination and records	Notice, immediate-termination events, equipment release, data export, final settlement, and disputes.
Independent review	Has a transportation attorney read the termination, escrow, charge-back, and any forced-purchase clauses?

Load access, cash flow, and market risk

A lease's value is whatever the contract and settlements prove it is — no more. Dispatch, customer access, billing and collection, permits and plates, a trailer, a fuel program, claims handling, and compliance infrastructure all count only if they are actually provided and you can see what they cost you in deductions. The same test cuts the other way under your own authority. Customer selection and rate control are real gains. So are customer acquisition, broker and customer vetting, payment delay, claim exposure, and fixed overhead that keeps running while the truck sits.

Market access under new authority is governed by private policies, not by law. Brokers and shippers may set minimum authority age, inspection and safety-history thresholds, insurance limits, tracking or equipment requirements, and customer-specific rules — and each counterparty sets its own. There is no statutory 30-, 60-, or 90-day waiting period; treat any specific day count as one company's written policy, or as folklore, until the counterparty confirms it in writing. What that means for a first month of freight is the job of how to get loads with new authority.

Cash timing deserves its own line in the worksheet. If you are leased on, ask for the settlement cadence and the documents that trigger payment. Running your own authority, you model it yourself: invoice terms, real collection lag, and a reserve for the gap; if you would factor invoices to close it, enter the factoring fee as a cost input and read the contract's recourse, reserve, and term conditions — "non-recourse" is normally limited by contract conditions rather than absolute.

Who sets each rule that touches this decision

Table: the rule classes behind every claim on this page.

Rule class	Who sets it	What it changes for you
Federal legal or registration requirement	FMCSA / USDOT under the CFR	Fines, out-of-service orders, or inactivated registration if violated.
Authority status	FMCSA's current registration records	Whether you may lawfully operate as a carrier at all.
Broker or shipper market-access policy	Each private counterparty	A denied load or account — not a legal penalty.
Insurer underwriting or policy term	Your insurer	Premium, deductible, exclusions, and whether coverage exists at claim time.
Lease or vendor contract term	You and the carrier or vendor	Your compensation, deductions, escrow, and exit — enforceable as contract.
First Load HQ editorial framework	This publisher, labeled as such	A decision method — the five gates and the worksheet — not a rule of law.

The comparison matrix above tags each row with these same classes and states how far the evidence behind it goes. A claim is only as good as the source and date behind it.

The registrations your own authority adds

Federal operating authority is not the whole registration picture. Under your own authority you also pick up obligations administered by other bodies — and this page does not carry per-state rates, thresholds, or filing mechanics. What it does is name each obligation, say which layer sets it, and route you to the body that governs it, so you can reach your own base jurisdiction's rules directly. Leased on, several of these are commonly handled by the carrier; which ones is a lease term, not a rule, and the audit checklist above is where you confirm it.

Table: the registrations and taxes that follow federal authority, with the governing body for every jurisdiction.

Obligation	Layer	What it covers	Where to start
Apportioned registration (IRP)	Multi-jurisdiction agreement, administered by your base jurisdiction	Registration fees apportioned across the jurisdictions you run in; issues the apportioned plate and cab card	IRP, Inc. — plan documents and a directory of every member jurisdiction's contacts
Fuel tax reporting (IFTA)	Multi-jurisdiction agreement, administered by your base jurisdiction	Quarterly fuel-use tax reporting across member jurisdictions; issues the license and decals	IFTA, Inc. carrier page — select your base jurisdiction to reach its rules
Unified Carrier Registration (UCR)	Federal-state program, administered by your base state	Annual fee by fleet size. The 0–2 vehicle bracket, where a single truck sits, is $46 per company for the 2026 registration year	UCR fee brackets and registration
Heavy Highway Vehicle Use Tax (Form 2290)	Federal	Annual tax on vehicles at or above 55,000 pounds taxable gross weight; the stamped Schedule 1 is normally required to plate the truck	About Form 2290 — IRS
Intrastate authority, weight-distance taxes, emissions rules	State	Some states require separate intrastate authority, a mileage or weight-distance tax, or emissions compliance. Rates and thresholds differ in every state and are not covered on this page.	Your base state's DOT, DMV, or revenue department. The IRP and IFTA jurisdiction directories above list the responsible agency and contact for every member jurisdiction.

The UCR figure above is the 2026 registration-year fee, unchanged from 2025, checked against the UCR fee brackets on August 9, 2026. FMCSA has proposed an increase averaging 20 percent for the 2027 registration year and later years, so confirm your bracket before you budget a renewal rather than carrying this year's number forward.

States that charge a separate mileage tax

One state-layer item catches new own-authority carriers more often than the rest, because it survives every credential they just bought: a handful of states charge a mileage-based tax in addition to IFTA, with its own account, its own credential, and its own quarterly return. Leased on, the carrier commonly holds these; which ones is a lease term, and the audit checklist above is where you confirm it. Under your own authority they are yours, and a missed filing is due even in a quarter you ran no miles there.

What this list covers, and what it does not. Below are the four jurisdictions First Load HQ has verified against the governing agency, checked August 9, 2026. It is not presented as a complete national list, and it carries no rates, weight thresholds, or filing mechanics — those belong on a state page and are not published here until every field clears verification. Confirm every state on your actual route through the IRP and IFTA member-jurisdiction directories, which name the responsible agency and contact for each member jurisdiction.

Table: the four separate mileage-tax jurisdictions verified for this page, with the agency that governs each.

Jurisdiction	What it is called there	Governing agency	Where to start
Kentucky	Weight distance tax (KYU)	Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, Division of Motor Carriers	Kentucky Weight Distance (KYU)
New Mexico	Weight distance tax (WDT)	New Mexico Motor Vehicle Division, Commercial Vehicle Bureau	Weight Distance — NM MVD
New York	Highway use tax (HUT)	New York State Department of Taxation and Finance	Highway use tax — NYS Tax
Oregon	Weight-mile tax	Oregon Department of Transportation, Commerce and Compliance Division	Motor carrier requirements to operate in Oregon

Each of these is a state tax account, not federal authority, and none of them is optional because you already hold IFTA. Set the filing dates on the same calendar as your IFTA quarters.

Which path fits you?

Leased on. Best when the carrier's complete service bundle creates measurable value you cannot yet replace at its price; the lease is complete and understandable; the carrier's current registration and safety record check out; and you want to run a truck rather than build a carrier back office. Not ideal when settlements are opaque, escrow terms are one-sided, the carrier's record is weak, or the all-mile worksheet shows the complete take exceeding your break-even figure. Confirm before signing: the exact compensation base and fuel-surcharge treatment; every charge-back and its documentation; escrow use and the return timeline; the termination terms in full. Next action: run the lease audit checklist above against the actual documents, and send them to a transportation attorney. Revisit when: the deduction schedule changes, or you reach twelve months of settlements that quantify the carrier's complete take.

Own authority. Best when your authority can be made active and verified through FMCSA's current system; insurance and working capital are secured without predatory financing; you have a repeatable freight and customer plan; your compliance, billing, and records systems exist; and the all-mile worksheet still wins after pricing every replaced carrier function. Not ideal when the plan depends on one unverified "high-rate" assumption, on a paper certificate standing in for active status, or on high-cost emergency capital. Confirm before committing: active status through the current official path; your insurer's filing and effective date; a reserve that covers your collection lag plus a maintenance shock. Next action: start at how to get your trucking authority, then work the authority-to-first-load checklist. Revisit when: the new-entrant monitoring period closes, insurance renews, or a full quarter of real costs is in hand.

Neither yet. Best when you cannot yet explain the economics or pass an operating gate — and it is a decision, not a failure. The readiness sprint: collect the full lease and your last settlements; build a 90-day all-mile cost history; obtain written insurance evidence for the path you are considering; fund a cash runway that covers collection lag and downtime; map the customers or freight sources you would actually use; verify the current official registration path; then rerun the worksheet with real numbers. Not ideal as a permanent parking spot. Confirm before you set the date: that the gap you named is the one that actually failed, that the evidence closing it is obtainable inside the window you are giving yourself, and that the rerun date is on a calendar rather than in your head. Next action: start the sprint with the documents you can request today. Revisit when: the specific gap you named is closed — and put the date on the calendar now, so the gates decide rather than inertia.

Match your situation to a path

Table: the eight situations readers most often arrive in, mapped to a path, the gate that governs it, the evidence still missing, and a next action.

Situation	Best-fit path	Why	Not ideal when	Eligibility dependency	Evidence still needed	Next action
First-year operator, paid-for truck, no direct customers, no settlement history	Leased on, audited	No evidence yet about freight-replacement cost or downtime; the execution and cash gates fail for own authority	The lease is opaque, escrow is one-sided, or the carrier's safety record is weak	The carrier's own registration and safety record check out in SAFER	Complete lease with every amendment; current deduction schedule; insurance certificates	Request the five documents, then run the audit checklist
Leased on about twelve months, repeat broker relationships, funded reserve, working systems	Own authority, if the worksheet wins	The execution gate is met, so the question is genuinely economic	Exit terms would strand escrow or create a coverage gap	Authority obtainable and verifiable; insurance bindable at a premium you can carry; lease exit clean	Six months of settlements rebuilt under own-authority assumptions; written quotes for every replaced carrier function	Rebuild your last six months in the worksheet under own-authority assumptions
Strong gross revenue, older truck, thin maintenance reserve	Leased on, or neither yet	The cash gate decides; fixed overhead and customer commitments run through a two-week breakdown while collections stall	The reserve already matches the truck's realistic repair risk	None — this is a cash question, not an eligibility question	Your own maintenance history converted to a per-mile reserve and a worst-case repair figure	Fund the reserve to your own maintenance history, then set a rerun date
Cannot read your current settlement line by line	Neither yet	No path choice is possible on numbers you cannot read	Never — this gap closes first	None	The settlement itself, read line by line, with every deduction traced to a lease clause	Work the readiness sprint; put a rerun date on the calendar
Already in a lease you cannot afford to leave	Neither — get review first	Section 376.12 gives you specific entitlements; whether the termination terms bind you is a legal question	Not applicable — this row is a stop, not a preference	Not applicable	Lease, all amendments, last six settlements, and the escrow accounting	See the failure-path section below, then call a transportation attorney
Authority suspended, revoked, or showing nothing at all	Stop dispatching; resolve status	An absent public record during the Motus transition is not proof either way	Not applicable — this row is a stop, not a preference	Not applicable	Your Motus record, the SAFER Company Snapshot, and your insurer's and process agent's confirmations, compared against each other	Work the verification steps above before assuming anything is wrong
Cannot obtain an insurance quote you can afford	Leased on, or neither yet	Own authority cannot activate without the filing; premium is the binding constraint, not the $300 fee	Not applicable — this row is a stop, not a preference	This row is the eligibility dependency: no filing, no active authority	Written quotes against your actual radius, commodity, and driving history	Get quotes against your real radius and commodity before pricing anything else
Currently dispatching on a submitted application	Stop	A for-hire carrier must obtain authority under Part 365 before operating in interstate commerce	Never	Not applicable	Current authority status from the official system	Stop dispatching today; verify status before the next load

If you are already in trouble

Four situations bring readers to this page in the middle of something rather than at the start of it. None of them is answered by a comparison.

• You are in a lease you cannot afford to leave. The regulation gives you specific entitlements: an itemized accounting of the escrow fund with its return no later than 45 days from termination, documentation supporting every charge-back, and the right to see the rated freight bill when you are paid on percentage. Whether the termination, forced-purchase, or equipment-return terms are enforceable against you is a legal question that no article can answer. Take the lease, its amendments, and your last six settlements to a transportation attorney before you give notice.
• Your authority shows suspended, revoked, or nothing at all. Work the verification steps above first, because a blank public record during the Motus transition is not the same thing as a lost authority. Where the record is genuinely wrong or a filing is missing, the fix is usually the underlying filing — insurance or BOC-3 — rather than a new application. Call FMCSA's registration line at 1-800-832-5660. Do not dispatch while the status is unresolved.
• You cannot get an insurance quote you can afford. This is the most common reason own authority never activates, and paying the $300 federal filing fee sooner does not solve it. Work it with a commercial insurance agent against your actual radius, commodity, and driving history, and get in writing who makes the federal filing and what date it takes effect. If the number will not work, that is the cash gate answering — leasing on and waiting are both legitimate responses to it.
• You are already dispatching on a submitted application. Stop. A for-hire motor carrier must obtain operating authority under Part 365 before operating in interstate commerce, an application in progress is not authority, and operating without the required levels of financial responsibility is one of the sixteen violations that fails a new-entrant safety audit on a single occurrence. Verify status, then start.

How to switch without creating an operating gap

Switching is a continuity problem before it is a paperwork problem. Leaving a lease, work the exit terms you already audited, in the order the table below sets out, and hold the carrier to the escrow accounting and return the regulation requires within 45 days of termination. Moving to your own authority, sequence the start before the first dispatch rather than alongside it: insurance has to be bound with the filing effective on the right date, and everything else — BOC-3, UCR, state registrations, customers, billing, cash runway — has to be in place before a load moves, not during one. Do not dispatch until you have verified the authority is in effect. That is the one warning on this page worth repeating.

Moving the other direction can be temporary. FMCSA's registration-changes documentation describes a voluntary-suspension option in Motus for a carrier that is seasonal or wants to temporarily lease onto another carrier, and states that the authority can be reinstated in Motus up to one year after the suspension date. Confirm the insurance and registration consequences before you rely on it: suspending authority does not suspend your insurer's filing obligations or your lease's terms, and the two need to be sequenced together. And whichever direction you move, remember the bulletin above — you cannot solve a transition by "leasing" anyone's MC number, in either direction.

Table: continuity checks by workstream.

Workstream	Continuity checks
Contract	Notice, termination events, equipment release, escrow, final settlement, claims, records.
Authority status	Current-system actions; live status check; suspension or reinstatement consequences; no dispatch before lawful status.
Insurance	Bind and effective dates, filings, certificates, deductibles, cancellations, owner coverages.
Plates, permits, taxes	IRP and IFTA obligations, any separate state mileage-tax accounts and credentials, carrier plates, decals, toll and fuel accounts, return or transfer.
Technology and data	ELD and HOS records, cameras, tracking, fuel and toll data, maintenance records, customer documents.
Customers and cash	Broker and customer setup, payment paperwork, invoicing, collection lag, reserve, downtime plan.

Choosing a carrier or service stack at a glance

What travels well whichever path you choose is the profile of a good counterparty.

• Best for a leased-on shortlist: a carrier whose lease itemizes every deduction with its calculation method, states the compensation base and fuel-surcharge treatment plainly, documents escrow accounting and return, and whose current registration and safety record you have checked yourself in SAFER.
• Best for own-authority insurance shopping: an insurer or agency that quotes against your actual radius, commodity, and driving history, confirms in writing that it makes the required federal filing, and states the down payment and cancellation terms before you pay.
• Best for an own-authority ELD shortlist: a device whose exact model appears on FMCSA's current registry as provider-self-certified and registered, with month-to-month terms and a published hardware cost — never a brand reputation alone, since registered devices can later be removed.
• Wait — verify active authority first: no own-authority purchase is urgent before the authority is verified in effect; anyone pressing you to sign or pay ahead of that gate is selling urgency, not service.

Table: what to compare, and what to confirm before money moves.

Your situation	Shortlist move	Confirm before you sign or pay
Pre-authority, evaluating leases	Compare two or three actual leases on the audit checklist above — never on the headline percentage.	Compensation base; complete deduction schedule; escrow return terms; termination notice.
Newly authorized, building the stack	Buy only what the first dispatch requires; add the rest after revenue starts.	Contract length and early-termination fees; hardware and add-on costs; who makes the insurance filing and when it is effective.
Leased on, considering the switch	Price every carrier-provided function from written quotes before giving notice.	Cancellation terms on anything you sign; data and fuel-card lock-ins; whether quoted prices are contract rates or teaser rates.

Use the same scorecard for every option: the lease audit checklist is the per-carrier scorecard, and the confirm-before-you-pay questions above are the per-vendor scorecard — ask every candidate the same ones, and treat an answer you cannot get in writing as a finding. One note on filing help: obtaining authority is a direct filing with FMCSA, and a paid filing service adds data entry and document coordination, not speed of federal review and not activation — the trade-offs are covered in what trucking authority packages actually sell.

This page names no vendors, by design: no symmetric, first-party evidence set — current terms, pricing, and status for every candidate on equal fields — was gathered for it, and a comparison without one would be decoration. Named provider comparisons belong on pages built from current, dated, first-party evidence, not here.

Frequently asked questions

Can I keep my own authority while leased on to another carrier?

Sometimes, but it is a contract and cost question first: many leases restrict outside operation, and your fixed authority costs continue either way. FMCSA's registration-changes documentation describes a voluntary-suspension option in Motus for carriers temporarily leasing on to another carrier, with reinstatement available in Motus up to one year after the suspension date. Confirm the insurance and registration consequences with FMCSA before acting, and check the lease before you assume you may keep it at all.

Does a leased-on owner-operator need their own insurance?

Usually yes, for something. The carrier is responsible for public liability coverage during the lease, but the written lease allocates everything else — physical damage, bobtail or non-trucking liability, occupational accident versus workers' compensation, deductibles, and cargo-related charge-backs. Those allocations are contract- and underwriting-specific, so read the lease and the actual certificates rather than assuming either extreme.

Is a 70/30 or 80/20 lease split a good deal?

The split alone cannot be evaluated. You need the compensation base (percentage of what), who keeps fuel surcharge and accessorials, the complete deduction schedule, escrow terms, and which services are actually included. Two leases with the same headline percentage can differ by thousands of dollars a month. Run the complete settlement through the worksheet on this page before judging any number — and compare the carrier's complete take against your own break-even figure, not against another carrier's percentage.

Can I lease or buy someone else's MC number?

Not as a shortcut. FMCSA's March 2026 bulletin states that USDOT numbers and operating authority may not be sold, purchased, rented, or leased outside a legitimate corporate transaction, and that discovered attempts trigger inactivation and revocation proceedings. Buying an entire company is a different, professionally advised transaction. Leasing your equipment to a carrier under Part 376 is the lawful arrangement this page compares.

How long does switching between leased-on and your own authority take?

There is no fixed timeline; the slowest dependency sets the clock. Toward own authority, that is usually insurance procurement and the liability filing, the BOC-3 designation, any FMCSA-stated processing or dispute window, identity and account verification in the current registration system, and applicable state registrations — see how to get your trucking authority for the sequence. Toward a lease, carrier onboarding and your own document review set the pace. Either way, do not operate before the path is lawful.

What is the federal filing fee for your own operating authority?

FMCSA charges $300 per operating-authority registration, per its Get Operating Authority page. Two federal numbers are fixed and knowable in advance: that $300, one time per authority, and annual UCR registration at $46 per company in the 0–2 vehicle bracket for the 2026 registration year. Everything else is quoted, not posted. Insurance down payments, the BOC-3 designation, state items, and working capital sit on top, and in most real cases the insurance down payment is the largest single number by a wide margin — the authority cost guide itemizes the verified breakdown line by line.

Run your actual numbers next

One task decides this page: run the worksheet with the complete lease, your most recent settlements, and your last 90 days of all-mile costs — real figures, not remembered ones. If the legal, cash, execution, and economic gates all pass for own authority, verify the status, then start the official process and sequence the transition so no day is uninsured or unlawful. If they do not, that is information, not defeat: audit the lease you have, or work the readiness sprint and put a rerun date on the calendar this week.

Sources and last verified date

Last verified: August 9, 2026 Next review: September 8, 2026, or sooner if FMCSA issues a registration alert affecting authority status.

• 49 CFR 376.11 — General leasing requirements (eCFR) — Written-lease requirement for authorized carriers using non-owned equipment.
• 49 CFR 376.12 — Lease requirements (eCFR) — Required lease terms: control and responsibility, compensation, the 15-day payment period at paragraph (f), documents, charge-backs, insurance allocation, the escrow provisions and 45-day return at paragraph (k), and the employment-status disclaimer.
• 49 CFR Part 385 Subpart D — New Entrant Safety Assurance Program (eCFR) — The operative 385.301T and 385.305T text requiring for-hire carriers to obtain operating authority before interstate operation; the suspension of 385.305 effective November 18, 2024; the 18-month new-entrant monitoring period and safety audit at 385.307; the sixteen automatic-failure violations at 385.321; revocation and out-of-service consequences at 385.325; and the 30-day re-application rule at 385.329T.
• 49 CFR 387.9 — Financial responsibility, minimum levels (eCFR) — Table 1 setting the $750,000 public liability minimum for for-hire carriers of non-hazardous property in interstate or foreign commerce at 10,001 pounds GVWR or more. Section amended July 21, 2026 (91 FR 45660); the property minimum was unchanged.
• Insurance Filing Requirements — FMCSA — How the insurer's filing is made and its relationship to granting operating authority registration.
• DO NOT Sell, Purchase, or Lease a USDOT or MC Number — FMCSA — March 2026 bulletin distinguishing prohibited authority-number transactions from permissible Part 376 equipment leasing.
• Move into Motus — FMCSA — Current official registration entry point and available registration actions.
• About FMCSA Registration Changes — FMCSA — Motus feature set, including the voluntary-suspension option for seasonal carriers and carriers temporarily leasing onto another carrier, with reinstatement available up to one year after the suspension date.
• AskFMCSA registration topics — FMCSA — Statement that as of May 14, 2026 Licensing & Insurance is available only for reviewing historical records and does not reflect Motus filings.
• How can I check the status of my operating authority — FMCSA — The FAQ still directing carriers to Licensing & Insurance; cited to disclose the conflict with the AskFMCSA guidance above.
• Safety and Fitness Electronic Records (SAFER) — FMCSA — Public Company Snapshot showing operating-authority status, insurance on file, and safety data.
• Why is my operating authority status shown as "NOT AUTHORIZED" in SAFER — FMCSA — FMCSA's definitions of the three Company Snapshot operating-authority statuses, and its statement that the earlier NOT AUTHORIZED message tied to USDOT Number status caused misunderstandings.
• Registration Alerts — FMCSA — Official notices on registration status, identity verification, and system transition.
• Get Operating Authority (Docket Number) — FMCSA — Operating-authority applicability and the $300 per-authority registration fee.
• Process Agents (BOC-3) — FMCSA — Process-agent designation requirement for own-authority operation.
• UCR Fee Brackets — Unified Carrier Registration Plan — Annual UCR registration fees by fleet size for own-authority carriers, including the $46 per-company fee for the 0–2 vehicle bracket for the 2026 registration year.
• Fees for the Unified Carrier Registration Plan and Agreement — Federal Register, April 7, 2026 — FMCSA's statement that 2026 fees were unchanged from 2025 and its proposed increase averaging 20 percent for the 2027 registration year and later years.
• IRP, Inc. — International Registration Plan — Apportioned registration plan documents and member-jurisdiction contacts.
• Carrier Information — IFTA, Inc. — Base-jurisdiction directory for International Fuel Tax Agreement licensing and quarterly reporting.
• About Form 2290, Heavy Highway Vehicle Use Tax Return — IRS — Federal annual tax on vehicles at or above 55,000 pounds taxable gross weight.
• Kentucky Weight Distance (KYU) — Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, Division of Motor Carriers — Governing agency and application route for Kentucky's separate weight-distance tax license.
• Weight Distance — New Mexico Motor Vehicle Division — Governing agency, annual electronic permit, and quarterly return for New Mexico's weight-distance tax.
• Highway use tax — New York State Department of Taxation and Finance — Governing agency, certificate of registration, and decal requirement for New York's highway use tax.
• Motor Carrier Requirements to Operate in Oregon — Oregon Department of Transportation, Commerce and Compliance Division — Governing agency and account and enrollment route for Oregon's weight-mile tax.
• Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Update — U.S. Energy Information Administration — Source of the worked example's diesel input: $5.348 per gallon, U.S. average on-highway, week of August 3, 2026.
• Analysis of the Operational Costs of Trucking, 2026 Update — American Transportation Research Institute — Fleet-reported industry-average marginal operating cost of $2.336 per mile for 2025, and $1.854 per mile excluding fuel; used only as an external sanity check, with its driver-wage inclusion and fleet-average scope stated.