Applying for Authority steps order

Doing mine was so ridiculously easy. I couldn't imagine paying someone else to do it.

 

Um, I got my insurance 3 days before my authority went active. You don't have to pay for 21 days of insurance while you wait for your authority. What you need is to make sure it's in place before your authority can go active.

No you don't. It just needs to be in place a couple of days before your authority goes active.

All of these services are asking you the exact things that are on your application anyways, all you're doing is basically giving them a poa so they can file on your behalf and they charge you a nice hefty fee for that. Don't use these services!

 

Thank you Red, learn something new every day. I have been doing consulting in conjunction with my car haul company for almost 10 years now. Old rules had 90 days to file insurance and BOC-3 from date of your initial application and they would not start the countdown until both filings were complete.

Seems the new rules require insurance and BOC-3 to be filed within 20 days of the application being published in the Federal Register vs. 90 from the application date, only require a 10 day protest period (wait) instead of 21 days, and they will start from the date published regardless of BOC-3 or BMC-91 being filed.

I like being challenged, no one person can possible remember it all, and operating authority applications is not something I do daily. I went and reread all the process rules, and a few things have changed. I was aware of the requirement for all new applications to go through the Unified Registration System, which really makes the process simple.

That said, I just did three new authority/DOT applications this month and all three took 25 calendar days from the time I filed until they showed active and authorized for property. In each case insurance was filed within a few days of the initial application so I had not noticed anything different from when I used to mail in paper OP-1 forms. All three were filed on the same day, really a fluke since I have not done an authority request for a client prior to that since 2014.

Thanks again, your comment made me go research and learn something new. Appreciate the feedback and agree with the services being overpriced. I usually do not do that type of compliance consulting, refuse to be one of the companies that purchase data for the new applicants and then bombard them with calls trying to sell my services. I get plenty of business from simply answering basic questions in public forums and writing for a few trade magazines.

 

For #14, you no longer need to put the MC number on the truck. From my understanding you only need Company Name as listed on Form MCS-150 and USDOT number. Colorado wants the last eight characters of the VIN on the passenger side.

 

Correct MC number is not required to be displayed, old habits die hard.

 

I suggest that you call the fmcsa a couple of weeks after you file your application and ask them when it's scheduled to go active. I did that and they were able to tell me to the day when it was going to go active if everything was in place by that date.

 

A whoops that would cost a big sack of money because you would essentially be paying for insurance for 20 days for nothing.