Another Authority Question

greg334 · Jul 31, 2006

I am looking for comments and thoughts about a conversation I had with a T/T driver yesterday.

I met this really nice couple yesterday who drives for Pride. They were asking me about FedEx and Expediting in general.

The conversation turned to his idea of getting an authority and insurance to allow others to run under his authority and arrange the use of the load boards and factoring the loads for a small percentage (10%) of the loads they deliver.

His idea was to have maybe ten owners operate under his authority and make a little from the work. There is a lot more to his idea but I won't bore you.

So I understand some of the work involved getting and maintain the authority but he said a couple things that I wondered about;

1 â€“ All the trucks can run under his insurance for the small percentage of the loads delivered. I would assume that the insurance for each truck would be around $5500/year (this was the last quote I got) not $5500 for all trucks.

2 â€“ For the amount of work needed to maintain the Authority, the insurance and everything else, 10% sounds really low.

Outside of the percentage, what would it take to get this off the ground?

kwexpress · Jul 31, 2006

KW Express
o/o till i die

I think right now would be a good time to do this and 10% seems fair.

1 goto wwww.safersys.org
about half way down the page you see 3 headings with links under each. the first link under fmcsa services will say fmcsa registration and updates click there and fill out follow the prompts
you will need a valid credit card that will used for identifacation purposes of the person filling out the forms and you will be issued a tracking number and password so you can continue registration anytime within a 30 day period.tell him to keep that number he will need it to make changes to his mcs-150.after you complete the aplication you will be charged $300 for each type of authority you are apply for.you will get your dot# as you fill out the aplication.
it takes about 2 weeks for your mc number to show up as active.and they will mail you a copy of your authority.
if you have insurance and process agents in place when you file you can be rolling in two weeks.if you dont you will get a letter saying you have 30 days to come into compliance and once they receive you insurance and boc-3 "process agents" your authority will show as active.

for your process agents I would suggest using oklahoma truck plates and process agents because they just have a one time fee of $35 for the life of your company.
a process agent is someone that can be served papers if someone wants to sue you they just file a form with the fmcsa that list an agent in each state that papers can be served to and it counts as if papers were served directly to you as far as due process.and this is what they call your boc-3 filing.

mcs-150 is a list of vehicles and types of freight you haul you fill it out the first time with your ap and update it as needed.

op-1 is your actual application for authority.its filled out on line

when getting your insurance try and make sure they use electronic filing it will make the process go alot faster.

ssr "single state registration"
once you get your authority you are not ready to truck yet you need to set up your ssr that is permits for each state you are going to truck in and the cost of this depends on the amount of trucks you are going to have in a particular state at any given time.

even if you have 10 trucks you dont need to permit 10 trucks in each
state unless you plan on having 10 trucks in that state at the same time.
the cost of the ssr is around $375.00 for all 48 states for a 1 truck operation.each state charges a different fee per truck from $0.00 to like $14.00 so if you dont plan on doing northeast dont buy permits for northeast.

but the purpose is to let you pay the fees to just your state and they send out the money to each of the others.
this is a per year fee your ssr will expire every year and you must refile.

next you will need to set-up your fuel tax account "ifta" it doesnt cost much to set-up like maybe $3.00 per unit.but you have to calulate and file fuel tax returns every quarter.

and next you may or may not need to set up an IRP account this is licence plates for your trucks.you can do it for your drivers or have them do it in there own name either way.I always do it myself because its my truck and im not turning in my plate if I dont want to work for you.same with ifta owner ops can do there own ifta account also.

now you are ready to truck over the road.if you want to do intrastate freight in MI thats freight that picks up and delivers in MI then you will need to get mpsc sticker.

if your going to operate vehicles over 60,000# in KY then you will need to get a KYU#

dont be scared theres nothing to it.even your first in house inspection wont be that bad they will point out things to you that you are not doing correctly and give you so much time to correct it.

this is enough to get you started if you have anymore questions please feel free to send me a msg.information is always free and trucking has been deregulated.

raceman · Jul 31, 2006

Greg, Your insurance numbers sound low to me. Not sure what your 5500 got you but the figures I have been given for everything was about 12,000 a year. I have been down this road many times without ever pulling the trigger but I will say I went through, to some extent, everything KW mentions, just never did it.

I think having authority is something I will do sooner or later, I just plan on having all my ducks in row and learning all I can before I do it. Maybe a year from now maybe next month who knows.

Raceman
OTR O/O

highway star · Jul 31, 2006

KW mentioned registering in Oklahoma. Was'nt there a court case a while back that put a stop to this?

kwexpress · Jul 31, 2006

KW Express
o/o till i die

yes you are correct you can no longer get your base plates out of oklahoma.

but im talking about process agents and that just happens to be the name of the company I use for process agents just happens the name is oklahoma truck plates and process agents.

greg334 · Jul 31, 2006

Thanks for the replies. the explination helps a lot.

Raceman, $5500 was the qoute i got for my van, cheap I know. I was told today $1050 a month is what I will need.

wahoofan · Aug 1, 2006

WOW $1050 that sounds high what insurance company was that? Best to check around alot. In 2005 best rate i could find for a 1ton cargo van was $5500 a year. Email me for what company. Not sure i can mention the company in this forum. Primary liablity and cargo insurance is what you will need along with authority which is only a one time charge or $300.00. Good luck:+

, Plus the BOC-3 that KW mentioned. I do have my own broker authority also. But not contract or common carrier authority.