USDOT Number: Who Needs One and How to Get It in 2026

Who needs a USDOT number

Under federal rules, you need a USDOT number if you operate in interstate commerce with a vehicle that meets any one of these tests:

• A gross vehicle weight rating, gross combination weight rating, or actual weight of 10,001 pounds or more, whichever is greatest.
• Designed or used to carry more than 8 passengers, including the driver, for compensation.
• Designed or used to carry more than 15 passengers, including the driver, whether or not you are paid.

Interstate covers more than crossing a state line. A load that moves between two points in one state still counts if the freight started or will finish its trip in another state or country, such as a container pulled from a port to an in-state warehouse.

Carriers that haul hazardous materials in quantities that need a federal safety permit need a USDOT number even when they never leave their state.

The rule covers private carriers too. A landscaper running a 14,000-pound truck and trailer from Arizona into Nevada needs a USDOT number even though nobody pays them to haul freight.

States that require a USDOT number for intrastate trucks

Many states adopted the USDOT number for carriers that never leave the state. FMCSA's list includes Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. Each state sets its own weight threshold and rules, so check with your state's motor carrier agency before you assume you are exempt.

How to apply in Motus

FMCSA replaced its old Unified Registration System with Motus, the USDOT Registration System, which opened to all registrants in May 2026. Paper applications are gone. Here is the current process:

1. Create a Login.gov account. Motus uses Login.gov to sign you in. Use an email address you will keep, because it ties you to the company record.
2. Verify your identity. Motus shows a QR code. Scan it with a smartphone or tablet, photograph a government-issued ID, and take a selfie. FMCSA added this step to stop fake and hijacked registrations.
3. Enter your business details. Legal name, any DBA, principal address, EIN, company officials, and ownership. FMCSA also runs a business verification check, so the name and address must match your state records.
4. Describe the operation. Interstate or intrastate, for-hire or private, cargo types, hazmat, number of power units and drivers. These answers decide whether Motus also asks you to apply for operating authority.
5. Submit and save your number. Motus issues the USDOT number. New numbers are randomized, and new registrants see suffixes after the number in their account that show each registration type they hold.

A new USDOT number is issued inactive. You may not operate or mark a truck with it until FMCSA's written notice that the number is active. For a for-hire carrier, that happens when the operating authority is granted. The MC authority guide covers that part.

What a USDOT number costs

Nothing. FMCSA charges no fee for a USDOT number. Fees apply to operating authority ($300 per authority type), reinstatements, and name changes, and FMCSA now accepts only electronic payment for those. If a website wants money for the number itself, you are paying a filing service, which is optional.

The biennial update (MCS-150)

Every registered carrier has to update its registration every 24 months, even if nothing changed. The deadline follows your number:

• The last digit sets the month. A number ending in 1 is due by the end of January, 2 by the end of February, and so on through 9 for September. A number ending in 0 is due by the end of October.
• The next-to-last digit sets the year. Odd means odd-numbered years, even means even-numbered years.

So a number ending in 47 updates by July 31 of every even year. The update is the current version of the old Form MCS-150 and is now done in Motus. Report a change of legal name, form of business, or address within 30 days, separately from the biennial cycle.

2026 note. To reduce disruption during the Motus transition, FMCSA has temporarily suspended enforcement of the biennial update and the inactivation of USDOT numbers for registrants whose update came due on or after June 1, 2026. FMCSA says it will share more guidance. Do the update anyway when Motus lets you, so the pause ending does not catch you.

What makes a USDOT number inactive

A number can be active, inactive, or out of service. The common reasons a number goes inactive:

• A missed biennial update (deactivation, subject to the 2026 pause above).
• A missing BOC-3 or a lapsed insurance filing on a for-hire carrier.
• Failing the new entrant safety audit and not completing corrective action in time.
• The carrier reporting itself out of business.

An inactive number cannot legally run. Brokers vet new carriers and check status before they tender a load, and an officer at a scale house sees it on the first lookup during a roadside inspection. You can see your status on FMCSA's SAFER Company Snapshot or in the Motus public search.

Marking the truck

Once the number is active, each self-propelled commercial vehicle has to show your legal or trade name and your USDOT number on both sides, readable from 50 feet in daylight. Suffixes are not part of the vehicle marking. The number also goes into your ELD setup, because it appears on every log and in the data an officer receives at roadside. If you are setting up a new authority, our new authority ELD guide walks through what to enter, and the full launch order is in how to start a trucking company.