--- title: "Trucking authority glossary" url: "https://rookiefeed.com/glossary" --- # Trucking authority glossary > The FMCSA vocabulary around new trucking authority in plain language: what an MC number, USDOT number, BOC-3 or BMC-91 is, what makes authority active, and what revocation and reinstatement mean. Each main term has its own page with sources. ## Terms with their own page - [BIPD](https://rookiefeed.com/glossary/bipd.md): Bodily injury and property damage liability insurance, the public liability coverage FMCSA requires a for-hire carrier to keep on file. - [BMC-34](https://rookiefeed.com/glossary/bmc-34.md): The Household Goods Motor Carrier Cargo Liability Certificate of Insurance, which an insurer files with FMCSA for household goods carriers. - [BMC-91 and BMC-91X](https://rookiefeed.com/glossary/bmc-91.md): Certificates an insurer files with FMCSA proving a motor carrier carries the required bodily injury and property damage liability coverage. - [BOC-3](https://rookiefeed.com/glossary/boc-3.md): The designation of process agents form, naming someone in each required state who can accept legal papers for a carrier, broker or forwarder. - [Broker authority](https://rookiefeed.com/glossary/broker-authority.md): FMCSA operating authority to arrange transportation of regulated freight by authorized carriers for compensation, without hauling it. - [For-hire carrier](https://rookiefeed.com/glossary/for-hire-carrier.md): A motor carrier that transports goods or passengers for compensation, as opposed to a private carrier that moves its own goods. - [MC number](https://rookiefeed.com/glossary/mc-number.md): The docket number FMCSA assigns to a motor carrier's operating authority, written MC followed by digits. - [MCS-150](https://rookiefeed.com/glossary/mcs-150.md): The Motor Carrier Identification Report carriers use to register and update their USDOT information, including fleet size and cargo. - [Motus](https://rookiefeed.com/glossary/motus.md): FMCSA's USDOT Registration System, where carriers, brokers and forwarders register and apply for operating authority since May 2026. - [New venture](https://rookiefeed.com/glossary/new-venture.md): Insurance term for a motor carrier with new operating authority and little or no history running its own trucks. - [Operating authority](https://rookiefeed.com/glossary/operating-authority.md): FMCSA's permission for a company to transport regulated freight or passengers for hire in interstate commerce, or to arrange that transport. - [Power units](https://rookiefeed.com/glossary/power-units.md): The trucks and tractors a carrier reports owning or leasing on its FMCSA registration; the standard measure of fleet size. Trailers don't count. - [Process agent](https://rookiefeed.com/glossary/process-agent.md): A person or company designated on a BOC-3 to accept service of legal process for a carrier, broker or freight forwarder in a state. - [Reinstatement](https://rookiefeed.com/glossary/reinstatement.md): Making an inactive operating authority active again, usually after the missing insurance or BOC-3 filing is back on record. - [Revocation](https://rookiefeed.com/glossary/revocation.md): FMCSA ending a carrier's operating authority, which makes it inactive; often tied to lapsed insurance or process agent filings or a failed safety audit. - [USDOT number](https://rookiefeed.com/glossary/usdot-number.md): The registration number FMCSA assigns to companies operating commercial motor vehicles, used to track their safety record. ## Numbers and identifiers - Docket: FMCSA's name for an authority record. MC, FF (freight forwarder) and MX (Mexico-domiciled) are docket prefixes, and one company can hold more than one docket. - Legal name and DBA: The registered company name, and the "doing business as" name the carrier may actually use on its trucks and phone. ## Authority types - Private carrier: A company that hauls its own goods in its own trucks, such as a builder moving its own materials. It needs a USDOT number but not for-hire authority. - Interstate and intrastate: Interstate means crossing state lines or part of a trip that does; intrastate stays within one state and is mostly regulated by that state. - Owner-operator: A driver who owns their truck. Some lease onto another carrier's authority; others get their own MC number and run as one-truck carriers. ## Filings that make authority active - BMC-35: The insurer's notice to FMCSA cancelling a liability filing. Coverage on the record ends 30 days after it's filed. ## Statuses and events - Initial Status: The status that marks a new application on the docket. The carrier has applied and is waiting. - Granted: The event that marks authority being approved and made active. It's the date a new carrier can start hauling for hire. - Days to grant: Calendar days from Initial Status to Granted. The median first-time carrier recently waited 25 days. See [how long MC authority takes](https://rookiefeed.com/guides/how-long-does-mc-authority-take). - Active, inactive and pending: The authority's current state. Active can haul; pending is waiting on review or filings; inactive has been revoked, suspended or voluntarily ended. See [MC authority status explained](https://rookiefeed.com/guides/mc-authority-status-explained). - Revocation and involuntary suspension: FMCSA ending or pausing authority, for example when the insurance filing is cancelled and no replacement is on record. - First-time vs returning authority: A first-time authority's docket never held active authority before; a returning one did. See [first-time vs returning authority](https://rookiefeed.com/guides/first-time-vs-returning-authority). ## Systems and data - L&I: Licensing and Insurance, FMCSA's older system for authority and insurance filings, replaced by Motus for registration in May 2026. - FMCSA Register: The daily publication of authority decisions. See [is the FMCSA Register gone](https://rookiefeed.com/fmcsa-new-authority-list). - Cargo classes: The boxes a carrier checks on the MCS-150 for what it hauls, like General Freight or Refrigerated Food. Equipment type is usually inferred from them.