New Trucking Company Checklist: The First 90 Days

Getting authority is a sequence, and the order matters: some steps block everything behind them, and a few of the cheapest ones are the easiest to miss. Here is the first 90 days of a new trucking company, in the order we would do them.

Days 1 to 30: become a company and file for authority

• Form your business entity and get an EIN
• Apply for your USDOT number and motor carrier operating authority through FMCSA's registration system
• Line up insurance. Federal minimum for general freight in vehicles over 10,001 pounds is $750,000 in bodily injury and property damage coverage (49 CFR 387.31), and your insurer files the proof with FMCSA. No insurance filing, no active authority.
• File your BOC-3, the process agent designation. Every carrier needs one, and your authority cannot activate without it.
• Register for UCR. See our UCR filing guide. For most new carriers it is $55 for 2027.

Authority is not instant. Your filings have to be in, and FMCSA's process has to run, before you can legally haul your first load. Do not book freight against an authority that is not yet active.

Days 1 to 30, in parallel: the compliance stack

• Join a drug and alcohol consortium if you have CDL drivers, including yourself. This is not optional paperwork: having no testing program is an automatic failure at your new entrant audit. Our DOT drug and alcohol consortium guide covers who must join and how.
• Register in the FMCSA Clearinghouse and set up your queries.
• Apply for IFTA and IRP apportioned plates in your base state if you run interstate over 26,000 pounds. Our IFTA quarterly filing guide covers the rhythm.
• Set up your driver qualification files before the first dispatch, one per driver. Our driver qualification file checklist lists every document.
• Set up your maintenance records: annual inspections, repair records, and a vehicle maintenance log for each unit.
• Put an ELD in the truck if your operation requires one, and set your hours of service process.

Days 30 to 60: money and operations

• Sort your equipment financing if you have not already. What lenders check on a new authority is its own topic: truck financing for new authorities.
• Open your fuel card and bookkeeping system. Your IFTA records start with your first mile, and reconstructing them later is miserable.
• Build your rate and customer process: how loads get confirmed, how paperwork flows back, how you invoice.
• Calendar your recurring dates now: UCR every December 31, IFTA every quarter, annual vehicle inspections, Clearinghouse annual queries, and your MCS-150 biennial update, whose date hides inside your USDOT number.

Days 60 to 90: get audit-ready

FMCSA will audit every new entrant within its first 12 months. Treat day 90 as your readiness check:

• Every driver has a complete qualification file
• Your testing program is live and your consortium enrollment is documented
• Your Clearinghouse queries are done and documented
• Maintenance and inspection records exist for every unit
• Hours of service records are complete and kept
• Your registration data, insurance, and BOC-3 are current

Our new entrant safety audit checklist walks through everything the auditor reviews, including the violations that fail you on the spot.