Obtaining Motor Carrier Filings for insureds was once as simple as sending a note to your underwriter stating what was needed. If you’ve requested one recently, however, you know that is no longer the case. What’s happened to complicate the process?

EPA requirements are placing additional businesses in categories requiring special filings for hauling potentially hazardous materials over public roads. Since this process is new to many insureds, often they are uncertain exactly what it is they need. Because it is often assumed the insurance agent automatically knows all things, when they contact you they often provide you with very little information. 

Subsequently, when you submit your request to us, we often come back with a number of questions to which you have no answers.

Here are a few tips which can make this a smoother process. Because some of these filings are required by the federal government, and some by the state, a good start is often to ask the insured for the following:

• Is this interstate or intrastate, or both?
• Is it for hire, or private?
• DOT# (Department of Transportation)
• MC# – if they have one (Motor Carrier)

For assistance in gathering the above, go to www.safer.fmcsa.dot.gov.  Under the column heading “FMCSA Searches” select “Company Snapshot” you can search by USDOT#, MC#, or business name.

Go to the website and take a look.  It will put you in a more confident position for your next conversation about Motor Carrier filings.  

In most cases, if we have this information with the original request the filings can be turned around the day of the request.