I got a truck and trailers

To the OP here is some useful information for you as far as getting your own authority. There are over 400 thousand trucking companies in the US and 90% of them run 6 or less trucks. There is a driver shortage of approx 30 thousand and estimated to grow to over 100 thousand in the next 5 years. The trucking industry is a 600 billion dollar in gross freight revenue per year industry. If you want your own authority it is not hard to get and not all that expensive. You can go to get my authority a online company that as you see below can get everything you need for you. Good luck with whatever you choose to do.. It ain't rocket science it's trucking..

Express Package - USDOT #, MC #, BOC-3 & UCR registration
Includes all application and processing fees to obtain a new or update your current USDOT number, Common Carrier of Property authority (MC number), BOC-3 process agent filing and UCR registration. The UCR registration is required for all companies operating in interstate commerce. The fines for not having a current UCR registration are $300-$500. The package price is based on the number of trucks that operate interstate, across state lines.

 

Just rember to keep time sheets recording the time. And yes, here is a little twist, if you work over 12 hours in a day, then get the log book out for the entire week.

 

If you can limit your hauling to your home state it will simplify things for you. You won't need IFTA, apportioned plates or a MC number. You would just have to worry about operating authority in your home state.

Any type of operating authority (just means you can legally haul for hire) is going to require a commercial insurance policy which ain't cheap. I would expect your insurance costs to at least triple vs what you are paying for a farm plates truck. Then depending on who you haul for they may require cargo insurance.

Not trying to discourage you I more or less do the same thing. I bought my truck and trailer to haul my own equipment around for my business but I do for hire hauling on the side. It works but you have to do enough for hire hauling to outweigh the added insurance costs. My insurance was fairly high to begin with as I already had a commercial policy but when I added hauling for hire my rates went up 3k a year. I will more than pay for that with my hauling but you sure couldn't making just a few trips a year.

 

Dot# is all you need with road use tax and how ever your state does plates depending on weight if you stay within your state.
During my dot audits no one has ever said anything diffrent

 

Guess it depends on the state. For intrastate hauling for hire in Texas you need Texas DMV authority which requires a small fee and an insurance filing.

 

Yes you need a DOT number but no IFTA if not going out of state. All IFTA is for is to distribute your fuel taxes paid at the pump between the states you actually burn the fuel in. If you never leave the state there is no need for IFTA. We have a 54k dump truck we run locally and it doesn't have IFTA stickers on it.