New motor carriers face a dense thicket of federal and state requirements in their first 18 months. This report walks the full compliance stack — from MC authority application through the New Entrant Safety Audit — quantifies costs, and provides a checklist-format audit prep guide.
Insurance Minimums
Federal minimum primary liability for general freight is $750,000. Hazmat haulers face $1M–$5M, and household goods carriers $300k cargo. Most shippers and brokers require $1M liability + $100k cargo as a contractual baseline.
- Lowest quote
- Highest quote
ELD & Hours of Service
All commercial drivers operating CMVs across state lines must use a registered ELD (Electronic Logging Device). The current HOS framework caps daily driving at 11 hours within a 14-hour on-duty window, with a 30-minute break required after 8 cumulative hours of driving.
New Entrant Safety Audit Prep
FMCSA conducts a New Entrant Safety Audit within the first 12 months of operation (typically months 6–11). The audit reviews driver qualification files, drug & alcohol testing program, HOS compliance, vehicle maintenance records, and accident register.
| Параметр | What FMCSA reviews | What to have ready |
|---|---|---|
| Driver Qualification files (49 CFR 391) | Application, MVR, road test, medical card | One file per driver, organized chronologically |
| Drug & Alcohol program (49 CFR 382) | Pre-employment + random testing pool | C/TPA enrollment cert, MIS report ready |
| Hours of Service (49 CFR 395) | ELD records last 6 months | Logbook export ready, no falsifications |
| Vehicle maintenance (49 CFR 396) | Annual inspection, repair records | Periodic inspection cert, DVIR per shift |
| Accident register (49 CFR 390.15) | All DOT-recordable accidents | Register form even if zero accidents |
| Insurance | Active BMC-91 on file | Current declaration page + cert |
Brobas Capital Partners Research. (2026). FMCSA Compliance for New Carriers. Report BCP-2026-006. Retrieved from https://brobascap.com/publications/fmcsa-compliance-new-carriers