Just got your authority? Your first 90 days.

1. Before your first load

• Insurance on file. Your insurer files proof of liability coverage with FMCSA. For general freight the federal minimum is $750,000; hazmat and some other loads need more, and many brokers want $1,000,000 plus cargo coverage.
• BOC-3 on file. A process agent files it, naming someone in each state who can accept legal papers for you.
• Authority active. Once both filings are in and any protest period has passed, your status changes to active. Check it in FMCSA's registration records under your USDOT number. Don't haul under your own authority until it says active.

2. Registrations and taxes

• UCR (Unified Carrier Registration). A yearly fee for interstate carriers, based on fleet size.
• IRP apportioned plates through your base state, for trucks running between states that weigh over 26,000 lbs or have three or more axles.
• IFTA license and decals for the same trucks, so fuel tax is shared between the states you drive in. You'll file every quarter.
• Form 2290 (Heavy Vehicle Use Tax) with the IRS for trucks at 55,000 lbs taxable gross weight or more. You'll need the stamped Schedule 1 to register the truck.
• State highway taxes, only if you run there: Kentucky (KYU, over 59,999 lbs), New York (HUT, over 18,000 lbs), New Mexico (weight-distance, over 26,000 lbs), Oregon (weight-mile, over 26,000 lbs) and Connecticut (highway use fee, 26,000 lbs and up).

3. Drivers, including you

• Drug and alcohol program. If you're an owner-operator, join a consortium, and designate it in FMCSA's Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse. Every driver needs a negative pre-employment drug test before their first load, and a pre-employment Clearinghouse query.
• A driver qualification file for every driver, you too: the employment application, motor vehicle record from each state licensed in, previous employer checks, road test or its equivalent, medical examiner's certificate, and an annual review of their record.
• Hours of service and an ELD, unless an exemption applies to you.

4. Trucks and trailers

• A maintenance record for every unit, from the day it starts working: what was done, when, at what mileage. Our free truck maintenance log covers it.
• Annual inspection current on each truck and trailer, with the report kept.
• Driver vehicle inspection reports written up when a defect is found, and the repair recorded.
• Registration, inspection and permits in the cab.

5. Getting set up with brokers

Every broker asks for a carrier packet before your first load: usually a W-9, a certificate of insurance naming them, your authority or registration details, and a notice of assignment if you factor. Many use carrier onboarding services that check your authority, insurance and safety record automatically.

Expect some brokers to want your authority to have been active for a while before they'll book you. Your first loads will likely come from brokers who work with new carriers, so do those well: on time, clean paperwork, invoice the same day.

6. Getting paid

• A separate business bank account. Your bookkeeper and your future self will thank you.
• An invoicing system before your first delivery, not after. Brokers pay on a clean packet: the invoice, the signed rate con and the signed POD. How to invoice a broker.
• Decide on factoring. Waiting 30 days for your first check is hard on a new company. Factoring or broker quick pay costs a few percent but fixes cash flow.
• Know your cost per mile so you don't take loads that lose money. Work it out here.

7. The New Entrant Safety Audit

Within your first 12 months, FMCSA audits every new carrier, on-site or remotely. It looks at the records this checklist has you keep:

• Driver qualification files
• Drug and alcohol testing, and Clearinghouse queries
• Hours of service records
• Vehicle inspection, repair and maintenance records
• Proof of insurance
• Your accident register

Carriers fail the audit on missing records far more often than on anything they did on the road. Start the files the day you start, and the audit is a formality.

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