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Home > Forum > How To Start Your Trucking Company Part 2

How To Start Your Trucking Company- Part 2

Oct 03, 2024 at 03:08 PM CST
+ 2
Posted by a private FlatLoads.com member.
Posted by a private FlatLoads.com member.

I wanted to follow up on Part 1 of this series with a few more less known steps you'll need to get out on the road! 

UCR

    1. Motor carriers involved in interstate commerce, and other businesses (brokerages) subject to Unified Carrier Registration (UCR) are required to submit annual fees based on fleet size to supplement funding for state highway motor carrier registration and safety programs.
    2. You can check your status at UCR.gov. 

Activate your authority

      1. Filing of Liability Insurance ($750,000 minimum)
      2. BOC-3- Designation of Process Agents
        1. Once you apply for your authority you have 90 days to satisfy the following requirements: 
        2. Each new authority goes through a mandatory 20-25 day waiting period for review. After you have met the requirements and passed the 20-25 day waiting period it should show you are "Authorized for Property" 

 

 

Final Steps that are sometimes forgotten:

Signing up for the FMCSA Clearinghouse Drug and Alcohol Testing

    1. The FMCSA requires all new carriers to be registered in their Clearinhouse database and set up with a local consortium for drug and alcohol testing. You can find more info here: https://clearinghouse.fmcsa.dot.gov/ 
    2. This can also link up with your portal account where you can update records, run queries, and check Data Q's. Create one here: https://portal.fmcsa.dot.gov/login

Intrastate Authority

    1. Do you plan on hauling loads that start and end in your home state? If so, you will need an intrastate authority. Each state has a different process and cost, but you should be able to ask someone at the IRP office as they are usually handled together.  

Permits for KY, NY, OR, NM

    1. If you plan to haul in these states you will need a special permit. They each have a highway use or mileage tax. You can either buy a trip permit or if you plan to go in often, you can get set up with an annual permit. All require regular filings just like IFTA even if you don’t travel there in that quarter. 

 

 

If you ever have questions on how to get started or if you are current with all of your paperwork, don't hesitate to reach out to me! 

 

-Tanner 

[email protected]

417-262-5511
Replied on Tue, Oct 08, 2024 at 10:37 PM CST
- 1
Posted by a private FlatLoads.com member.
Posted by a private FlatLoads.com member.
Seems like there are plenty of resources to help people get into trucking, but none to help them get out of it, sometimes family members get sick or something like a hurricane wipes their house out and it’s just not possible to keep trucking, sometimes you have to put family first, would be nice to see someone address this in a podcast.
Replied on Wed, Oct 09, 2024 at 08:46 AM CST
Posted by a private FlatLoads.com member.
Posted by a private FlatLoads.com member.
Quote: "Seems like there are plenty of resources to help people get into trucking, but none to help them get out of it, sometimes family members get sick or something like a hurricane wipes their house out and it’s just not possible to keep trucking, sometimes you have to put family first, would be nice to see someone address this in a podcast."

Dave, that's a good point. If anyone has experience in this or knows someone who can shed light on this topic, please let us know. We'll also be looking for a guest to come on the show to discuss this.

As always, any ideas for podcasts topics or guests, please send to [email protected]
Replied on Wed, Oct 09, 2024 at 01:12 PM CST
Posted by a private FlatLoads.com member.
Posted by a private FlatLoads.com member.
Quote: "Seems like there are plenty of resources to help people get into trucking, but none to help them get out of it, sometimes family members get sick or something like a hurricane wipes their house out and it’s just not possible to keep trucking, sometimes you have to put family first, would be nice to see someone address this in a podcast."

This would be an intresting podcast no doubt. I have had "busniess brokers" call me in the past looking to market our company. A random cold call asking to see all of your books to put a value on a company has never seemed legit to me. Other issues to address would be the lack of long term written contracts in most situations for small and medium sized fleets. I have also read many articles regarding the mass quitting of drivers as soon as ownership changes. One term that shows up quite a bit is EBITA to fainalize a value, but there seem to be many ways of calculating it. There also seems to be quite a few companies that transition to "Employee-Owned" when the owner decided to exit the industry.