Can I get MC number if I do not own any truck ?

MC's are history.....but yes you can get a DOT number before you find a truck. Get all of your stuff together and you will not have to pay taxes on the truck.

 

You don't need a truck to get motor carrier authority. However, you do need liability insurance and most insurance companies won't insure a carrier without attaching the coverage to a specific truck. You can apply for your MC number at any time. It takes from 3-6 weeks. But, paying insurance for authority you are not able to use would be a waste of money. Why would you want to get your authority before you buy a truck?

 

The way I understood this, as I spoke to several people that do the paper work, and several that handle the insurance, you need a truck. It's like G/MAN said, they want a VIN. And the way I understand it you need to list at least one VIN on your application. Might be different if you just want to broker.

 

Because he doesn't want to pay for a truck for 3-6 weeks without being able to run it or sign it on somewhere else.

 

It doesn't make a difference whether you use brokers or deal direct with shippers. Insurance companies usually require that a vehicle be listed on the application. The reason is that they don't want policyholders to have several trucks running under their authority and not paying premiums.

 

I understand that no one wants to be making truck payments until they can be making money. But, that is the way insurance companies work. You may not have to make a payment before receiving your authority. It should take 3-6 weeks to get your authority from the time you apply. That could mean the possibility of having to make one payment. But, if anyone plans on getting their authority and cannot afford to make a payment or two, they should probably wait to go out on their own until they have more money saved. It is very risky to get your authority without having at least a few thousand dollars set aside for emergencies.

 

MC numbers do not become active until insurance(BMC-91) is attached, once an MC is issued you will have 20-25 days to attach insurance, after that your MC will be placed as suspended for 60 days and after that if you still do not have insurance you will end up having to re-apply which cost for OP-1 filing is $300, no need to waste money on expenses you can avoid, you will have plenty of other areas to spend,starting off your not gonna need a gold mine, you could even make your initial O/O trip without a dime, its taking a chance but most of all you need to be money smart, figure out all trucking cost and pay your truck as an employee and youd much rather overpay your truck than you would overpay yourself, O/Os with no reliability in there truck very quickly become O/Os out of business