How to start a trucking company in 2026

Lease on, or your own authority? Leased on, the carrier's authority and usually its primary liability cover carry your truck: Logrock puts a leased-on owner-operator's insurance at about $250 to $1,000 or more a month, against $1,200 to $2,500 or more for a new authority's first year (Logrock). Your own authority keeps the whole rate, but new authorities also wait for freight: Amazon Relay, for one, asks for interstate authority that "has been active for minimum of 180 days" (Amazon Relay). Many owners lease on for a year or two, then go independent — owners explain why in the next section.

Drive it yourself, or hire drivers? Most one-truck companies start with the owner driving. Every driver of a commercial motor vehicle in interstate commerce needs a medical card that runs up to 24 months (49 CFR 391.45), and every driver you hire a driver file — plus, for CDL drivers, a pre-employment drug test and a Clearinghouse query — and an insurer who will cover them. No law sets a minimum of experience, but most lenders "want at least two years of CDL experience" (Bay Street Lending, October 2026), and as one insurance agency put it, "Most insurance carriers want to see two years of driving experience prior to covering a driver" (Deeley Insurance Group, 2015). Starting a trucking company without driving means hiring from day one, which makes the insurance harder still. Outside dispatch services charge a share of each load: one prices semi dispatch at 6% per load or $250 a week, and box truck and hotshot dispatch at 8% or $350 (Truck Dispatch Experts).

Interstate or intrastate? In the US a truck is a commercial motor vehicle once its gross vehicle or gross combination weight rating is 10,001 pounds or more (49 CFR 390.5). A carrier running one across state lines files Form MCS-150 for a USDOT number "before it begins operations" and updates it every 24 months (49 CFR 390.19T); FMCSA charges nothing for the number — its fee schedule has no line for one — and $300 for operating authority, which a for-hire carrier needs on top (49 CFR 360.3T). Some freight is exempt from the authority, though not from the USDOT number: ordinary livestock and unprocessed agricultural commodities, for example (49 U.S.C. 13506). Staying inside one state is a state's call, and the rules differ — two examples:

• Texas registers carriers hauling Texas-only loads in a truck over 26,000 pounds with a TxDMV number: $100 to apply for a year, $10 a truck and $100 for the insurance filing, with $500,000 of liability cover — and "before you begin you must have a valid USDOT Number", registered as intrastate (TxDMV).
• California requires a Motor Carrier Permit of "any person or business entity that is paid to transport property in their motor vehicle regardless of vehicle size, type, or weight", applied for before you begin operations (California DMV) — $120 plus a $130 inspection fee, $250 in all, for one for-hire truck for a year (California DMV fee chart) — with liability cover from $300,000 to $5,000,000 depending on the vehicle and the load.

Call your own state's transportation or motor vehicle department before you take an in-state load.

A semi, a box truck or a hotshot rig? The license draws the lines. A Class A CDL covers a combination with a gross combination weight rating of 26,001 pounds or more where the towed unit is rated over 10,000 pounds; a Class B covers a single vehicle rated 26,001 pounds or more (49 CFR 383.91).

• A semi. ACT Research's preliminary average retail price for a used Class 8 truck was $61,000 in September 2026, after $64,367 in August (ACT Research, October 13, 2026), and the average truck sold that August had 412,000 miles on it (Transport Topics, October 9, 2026). Bay Street Lending, a truck lender, prices a three- to five-year-old sleeper at $50,000 to $110,000, a six- to ten-year-old one at $25,000 to $60,000 and a new one at $160,000 to $240,000, and asks new authorities for 10% to 25% down at 6% to 22% APR; its own example, $85,000 financed at 14% over 48 months, is $2,320 a month (Bay Street Lending). Rent the trailer first: DAT says used dry vans "can often be hired for anywhere from $500 to $750 per month", and a used 53-foot van under a year old sells for $23,500 to $27,000 (DAT, December 2025).
• A box truck. Rated 26,000 pounds or less, it needs no CDL — but from 10,001 pounds it is still a commercial motor vehicle, so interstate for-hire work still takes the USDOT number, the authority and the $750,000 of liability cover. On October 18, 2026, Penske's used listings included a 2019 Hino 268 with a 24-foot body, a lift gate and 251,667 miles at $34,000 (Penske) and a 2022 Freightliner M2 rated at 26,000 pounds, "CDL Required No", with 238,982 miles at $49,500 (Penske). The trade-off owners name below: about half the payload of a semi, for running costs that aren't half.
• A hotshot rig. A one-ton pickup pulling a gooseneck flatbed for smaller, faster loads. Once the trailer is rated over 10,000 pounds and the combination 26,001 pounds or more, it is a Class A combination. O Trucking, a dispatch company, puts hotshot pay at roughly $1.00 to $2.00 a mile on standard flatbed freight and $2.00 to $4.00 or more on expedited, oilfield and oversize loads (O Trucking) — its figures, not a survey.

If your vehicle is a car or a cargo van and the work is same-day local delivery, that's a different business — read our guide to starting a courier business.

How to get an MC number (your operating authority). New carriers apply for the USDOT number and the authority in FMCSA's Motus system, which launched on May 14, 2026 (DAT, 2026) — the phase FMCSA said would make it "available to all regulated entities". FMCSA verifies every new applicant's identity and the business, says to expect "a minimum timeframe of eight business days" for the first review, and its May release did not eliminate MC numbers, which are still issued (Federal Register, April 29, 2026). Once the application is published in the FMCSA Register, the insurance filing (Form BMC-91 or 91X) and the BOC-3 naming your process agents are due within 20 days (49 CFR 365.109T), and anyone may protest within 10 days before the authority is granted (49 CFR 365.115). A process agent receives legal papers for you in each state (49 CFR part 366); blanket agents cost $25 a year (ProcessAgent.com), a one-time $30 (A Process Agents) or $129 a year plus a $39 enrollment fee (InCorp). Then Unified Carrier Registration, once a year for the whole company — $46 for one or two trucks for 2026 and $55 from 2027, "Fee per entity", not per state (Federal Register, September 1, 2026).

Insurance: the federal minimum, and what brokers ask. The federal minimum for a for-hire truck of 10,001 pounds or more hauling general freight across state lines is $750,000 of liability; oil and certain hazardous materials take $1,000,000, and the most dangerous bulk hazmat $5,000,000 (49 CFR 387.9). The federal cargo filing applies to household goods movers, not general freight (49 CFR 387.303T) — but brokers and shippers set their own floor. C.H. Robinson asks for "a minimum of $1 million in auto liability coverage" and $100,000 of cargo cover (C.H. Robinson, June 2026); Amazon Relay asks for $1,000,000 of auto liability, $100,000 of cargo and $1,000,000 / $2,000,000 of general liability, plus workers' compensation (Amazon Relay). Expect to pay ahead: American Truckers LLC, which sells owner-operator planning tools, tells a new authority to "expect 2–3 months upfront as a deposit ($2,500–$4,500) before your authority goes active" and $12,000 to $18,000 a year for full coverage (American Truckers LLC, March 2026). Get quotes from more than one insurer: one owner in the next section was quoted a third as much after moving states.

Plates, fuel tax and the use tax. A truck over 26,000 pounds on two axles, or with three or more axles, driven in two or more jurisdictions carries apportioned plates under the International Registration Plan (Wyoming DOT), priced by the share of miles in each state — OTR Solutions, a factoring company, estimates about $1,500 a year (OTR Solutions, January 2026); Texas charges $840 a year to register a truck of 70,001 to 80,000 pounds (Texas Comptroller) and $15 for a semitrailer (Tex. Transp. Code §502.255). The same trucks file one IFTA fuel-tax return a quarter with their base state, due the last day of the month after the quarter ends; Texas says "there are no fees associated with IFTA registration, licenses or decals" (Texas Comptroller). The federal heavy vehicle use tax starts at a taxable gross weight of 55,000 pounds — $100 a year plus $22 for each 1,000 pounds over, and $550 over 75,000 pounds (26 U.S.C. 4481) — filed on Form 2290 for July to June (IRS).

Drug testing, the ELD and hours. In the US a one-truck carrier is its own employer for drug and alcohol testing, and the rule says an employer "who employs only himself/herself as a driver shall implement a random alcohol and controlled substances testing program of two or more covered employees" (49 CFR 382.103) — in practice, a consortium. Consortium Pool charges $65.95 a year for one driver plus $75 for a pre-employment test (Consortium Pool); DOTConsortium.com charges $149 a year and $60 a test (DOTConsortium.com); a Clearinghouse query costs $1.25, the price FMCSA set in 2019 (FreightWaves, 2019). An electronic logging device records your hours unless the truck was built before model year 2000 or you keep logs on 8 days or fewer in 30 (49 CFR 395.8), or you stay within 150 air miles and are released within 14 hours (49 CFR 395.1). Motive generally starts at $25 a month with hardware around $150, in HOS247's price guide (HOS247, September 2025); Garmin's eLog is a one-time $249.99 device with no subscription (Garmin). The hours themselves: 11 hours driving inside a 14-hour window after 10 hours off, a 30-minute break after 8 hours of driving, and 60 or 70 hours in 7 or 8 days (49 CFR 395.3).

The new-entrant audit. A new carrier is monitored for 18 months, and a safety audit comes once it has enough records — "generally at least 3 months" (49 CFR 385.307) — and by law within 12 months of starting (49 U.S.C. 31144). Sixteen violations fail it automatically, among them no drug and alcohol testing program, no random testing, a driver without a valid CDL, no insurance in force, missing hours records and trucks never periodically inspected (49 CFR 385.321). Build the files before the first load, not before the audit.

The CDL, and the driver rules that changed in 2026. A first-time Class A applicant completes entry-level driver training, required since February 7, 2022 (49 CFR 380.600), from a provider on FMCSA's Training Provider Registry (49 CFR 380.703). Schools publish their prices: $4,000 at Central Alabama Community College for 2026–27 (CACC), $2,005 plus about $350 for the permit, physical and drug screen at Mitchell Community College in North Carolina (Mitchell CC), and $9,495 all-inclusive at SUNY Jefferson in New York (SUNY Jefferson, 2026); Texas charges $96 for the license itself (Tex. Transp. Code §522.029). Two rules moved this year. FMCSA's final rule limiting non-domiciled CDLs to holders of specific employment-based visas took effect March 16, 2026 (Federal Register, February 13, 2026); the D.C. Circuit refused to pause it in May, and the challenge was still undecided as of October 2026 (D.C. Circuit order, May 5, 2026). And English proficiency has been enforced at the roadside as an out-of-service violation since June 25, 2025, while FMCSA's proposal to write that into its own rules was still a proposal as of October 2026 — check its status (Federal Register, August 10, 2026).

Finding freight, and getting paid. New authorities start on load boards: DAT One's Enhanced plan, which DAT recommends for new owner-operators, is $149 a month and Pro $169 (DAT); Truckstop's dry van plan was $35 a month as captured in September 2026 (PricingSaaS). Most brokers pay on net 30 terms, about 30 days after the invoice, and some take 45 or 60 (TrueNorth, a freight software company), while you pay for diesel the day you buy it. Factoring closes the gap for a fee: Outgo, a factoring company, charges 3% for owner-operators invoicing under $18,000 a month and 2.5% for fleets invoicing $18,000 to $80,000 (Outgo); Apex Capital says factoring fees typically range from 1% to 5%, with 80% to 95% advanced (Apex Capital). Amazon Relay pays weekly but publishes no rates (Amazon Relay). A freight broker is a different license — its own broker authority and $75,000 of financial security, whatever its size (49 U.S.C. 13906) — so check a broker's authority before you haul for one. The better money is direct shippers — the companies whose freight you already carry — once your record earns it.

The business, and the money to start. Form the business — an LLC is $300 in Texas (Texas SOS) and $70 in California (California SOS), where every LLC also owes an $800 yearly tax (California FTB) — get the free EIN the federal filings ask for (IRS), and keep the truck's money in its own account. There are no federal start-up grants: "SBA does not provide grants for starting and expanding a business" (SBA); its 7(a) loans go up to $5 million (SBA), and truck lenders ask new authorities for 10% to 25% down. For one owner-operator with a used sleeper tractor and a rented 53-foot dry van, our free trucking business plan puts the start at $35,105–$72,912: the down payment, the first month's trailer rent, the authority and filings, plates and the use tax, the insurance deposit, drug testing, an ELD, registration, safety gear, the website and two months of running costs. Your own living costs come on top, and the plan's sample carrier — about $19,900 a month of revenue at DAT's September rate — keeps about $3,100 to $8,200 a month before the owner's pay. The transportation website templates include a trucking company, a hotshot carrier and a dispatch service, the transportation website design ideas show what good carriers put on the page, and Zarla's transportation website builder builds the site shippers find when they search for a carrier in your region.