What Is a BMC-91 or BMC-91X Filing?
Reviewed
A BMC-91 or BMC-91X is the certificate an insurer files with FMCSA to prove a motor carrier carries the bodily injury and property damage liability coverage its operation requires. The carrier doesn't file it; the insurer does, electronically. FMCSA won't activate for-hire operating authority without one on record, which makes it one of the two filings every new carrier waits on.
BMC-91 vs BMC-91X
Under 49 CFR 387.313, a BMC-91 certifies the full required limit from one insurer. A BMC-91X can represent full coverage or any level of aggregation, which is how coverage stacked from more than one insurer, or one insurer's layer of it, gets filed. Either one satisfies the federal liability filing requirement.
The coverage being proven is BIPD liability. Cargo coverage is a different filing, the BMC-34, required mainly for household goods carriers.
What the filing tells you
In the 30 days ending October 19, 2026, 98.9% of newly granted carriers had a BIPD amount on file when we last read FMCSA's records, and United Financial Casualty Company was the insurer on 12.2% of them. Rookiefeed puts the insurer, amount and effective date on every new carrier's row.
The full walkthrough, with the federal minimums by cargo, is in BMC-91 filings explained.
- The insurer that wrote the carrier's liability policy.
- The effective date, a hint at when a renewal may come up.
- The amount on file, at the federal minimum or above it.
- Cancellation: the filing stays in effect until the insurer gives FMCSA 30 days' notice on Form BMC-35.
Questions
- Does a BMC-91 expire?
- No. The filing stays in effect until it's cancelled. Under 49 CFR 387.313 an insurer has to give FMCSA 30 days' written notice on Form BMC-35 before cancelling, so a cancellation notice on the record is the sign coverage is ending, not a date on the original filing.
Every newly granted carrier, by 7am
MC and USDOT numbers, owner name, phone, email, trucks, equipment and the insurer on file, for each carrier FMCSA authorized yesterday.
Go deeper
Related terms
- BIPD Bodily injury and property damage liability insurance, the public liability coverage FMCSA requires a for-hire carrier to keep on file.
- BMC-34 The Household Goods Motor Carrier Cargo Liability Certificate of Insurance, which an insurer files with FMCSA for household goods carriers.
- BOC-3 The designation of process agents form, naming someone in each required state who can accept legal papers for a carrier, broker or forwarder.
- New venture Insurance term for a motor carrier with new operating authority and little or no history running its own trucks.
Sources: 49 CFR 387.313, forms and procedures · FMCSA: insurance filing requirements