Being a 'personal O/O without incorporating first can cost you time and money later?

From the way things have been explained to me so far, I don't understand why you would need 'authority,' or how it would benefit you to be registered that way with DOT, if you are going to drive under another company's authority. The way I understand now, you can't even do that. I may be wrong, but here's what I've gathered SO FAR....

Every rig on the road has to be registered, licensed, whatever, with the government, i.e. DOT and/or state, their grandma, whoever. Once that happens, numbers get placed on the vehicle for all the world to see.
Whatever business or individual operating their own business who does that, has been granted 'authority' by the government to even be on the road. Hence the word, 'authority.'

An O/O can just be someone who bought a truck, then entered into an agreement to partner up with another company who has the authority to contract with another truck owner and have that person operate under their authority instead of the truck owner's authority. The law allows them to do that.

It's impossible for a truck owner to point to their truck and accurately say, "I'm operating on the road today under both the authority of myself and XYZ Trucking Company." They have to pick one or the other. If they pick themselves by gaining authority with the government, they aren't even partnering with XYZ. They don't need to.
But if they've HAD authority in the past and choose to give it up, or set it aside somehow for now, they can still contract with XYZ, operating under XYZ's authority.

Which leads me back to my point....why on earth would she benefit by having Werner recognizing her as a driver with authority, or having had it in the past? Do they somehow pay better when they're contracting with a driver who has had authority sometime in the past and that can properly document that experience, even though that current or previous status has NOTHING to do with how she's going to operate while she drives under contract with Werner? She's operating under THEIR authority, not her own. Why does it matter if Werner recognizes her authority, or says 'drive for us for X months and we'll recognize it.' To pay her more then? The whole thing seems ridiculously complicated. I expect the government or the insurance companies or both have something to do with it. The politicians, insurance companies, and banks all share the same bed. They run the world and never lose. Can you say 'bailout?'

 

Reading too much into it? Show me a contract between a major trucking company and an O/O and tell me I'm putting too much into it. How many pages is it? Fine print? Single spaced? Have you ever signed one? Have you ever seen one? Did you read it? How much law on the books, at every level of government, factors into what's going on? I don't even have to ask to know the answer. A MEGATON. I know how the FAA regulates pilots, certification, ratings, endorsements, airplanes, maintenance, inspections, airlines, air traffic control, fares, everything you can imagine and more. Trucking may not be as in depth as aviation, but if if involves transportation and the government, it has to be thick.

And you can bet good money that once I understand it, I'll be able to explain it to anyone, in a way that they'll understand too. If this discussion board paid for answering questions, and I knew what I was talking about, I'd be the number one go to source for answers.

Again, why on earth would she benefit by having Werner recognizing her as a driver with authority, or for having had it in the past?
We'll see if someone tries to answer it. I suspect the people who can answer it are busy making money.

 

HOS? Dang, another acronym.