MOTUS GUIDE · UPDATED JULY 2026
How to get a USDOT number in Motus
First things first: a USDOT number is free. FMCSA charges nothing. What follows is the honest walkthrough of the new system — and where people get stuck.
Before you start: what you'll need
- A Login.gov account with identity verification completed — this is the step that takes longest if you've never done it. Start at login.gov.
- Your legal business name exactly as the IRS knows it — name mismatches against IRS records are a top rejection cause.
- EIN (or SSN for sole proprietors). No EIN yet? The IRS issues them free in minutes at irs.gov — never pay anyone for this.
- A street address for your principal place of business — PO boxes get rejected.
- Your operation facts: what you haul, for-hire or private, interstate or intrastate, truck weights, vehicle and driver counts, CDL counts.
The application, step by step
- Sign in to Motus via Login.gov from FMCSA's registration page. Complete identity verification if prompted — you can't file without it.
- Check whether you already have a number. Search SAFER for your name and any prior business names. A dormant duplicate registration is the classic rookie failure — it must be resolved, not duplicated.
- Classify your operation carefully. For-hire vs. private and interstate vs. intrastate drive everything downstream — authority requirements, insurance, state obligations. Misclassification here causes authority problems weeks later. Unsure? The free quiz maps your answers to the federal definitions.
- Enter fleet and driver counts accurately. These set your UCR bracket and audit profile. Guessing high costs you money; guessing low is a violation.
- Certify and submit. The certification is a federal attestation — it's yours, so read what you're signing.
- Confirm your number is live. When issued, verify your record shows correctly (our free lookup reads the federal data). You're now also enrolled in the New Entrant program — audit self-check here.
What happens after
- New Entrant Safety Audit within your first 12 months — failure revokes your registration.
- MCS-150 biennial update — your deadline is derived from your new number's digits. Decode it free and put it somewhere you'll see it in two years.
- If you're going for-hire interstate: the USDOT number is step one of several — authority, BOC-3, insurance filing, Clearinghouse, consortium, UCR. That full stack is our New Authority Package.
Rather have it handled?
$99 flat — duplicate check, correct classification, guided through the identity steps only you can do, verified in the federal record.
Straight answers
▸How much does it cost to get a USDOT number in Motus?
The government fee is $0 — same as it's always been. Your costs are time and, if you choose one, a filing service's fee (ours is $99, shown up front).
▸Why does Motus make me verify my identity?
Registration fraud — stolen identities registering fake carriers — got bad enough that FMCSA rebuilt identity-proofing into the new system. Expect Login.gov's verification steps before you can file. It's friction with a purpose.
▸Can someone else file my USDOT application for me?
Services (including us) can prepare everything and guide the filing, but Motus's identity verification ties parts of a new registration to you personally. Any service promising you'll never touch the system is glossing over steps that are yours alone. We're explicit about which clicks are yours.
▸I already had a USDOT number under the old portal — do I need to re-register?
No. Existing numbers carried over. What you need is Motus access to your existing record for future updates — set that up before your next MCS-150 deadline, not the week it's due.