Authority
Lease on or get your own authority: what each costs
Updated
Leasing on puts you under another carrier's authority, insurance and broker setups from your first day, and the carrier keeps a share of each load for it. Your own authority costs $300 to file, plus a BOC-3, UCR and the insurance you buy, and published broker waits on a new MC run from seven days to one year. The choice comes down to whether you can carry those costs while your authority ages.
At a glance
- Leased on
- The carrier's authority, insurance filing and setups from day one
- Own authority filing
- $300 per authority type
- Broker waits on a new MC
- 7 days to one year (published rules)
- Amazon Relay
- 180 days of active authority
Leasing on and own authority side by side
| Leased on | Own authority | |
|---|---|---|
| Whose authority and insurance filing | The carrier's | Yours |
| Broker setups on day one | The carrier's | Yours, with each broker's wait starting once your authority is active |
| What it costs you | A share of each load, set in your lease | $300 MC fee, a BOC-3, UCR and your own insurance |
| Insurance owners report | $175 a week leased on to Schneider (2022). $7,000 to $8,000 a year for truck and trailer | Hotshot owners: median about $16,100 a year across eight reports |
What leasing on costs
The carrier keeps a share of each load, and your lease sets the percentage and the deductions. Get both in writing before you sign.
Leased-on owners still report insurance bills of their own:
- about $175 a week, leased on to Schneider, in October 2022
- roughly $7,000 to $8,000 a year for truck and trailer insurance
- $2,900 from a leased-on hotshot owner, with no period given
What your own authority costs
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| MC authority | $300 per authority type, nonrefundable |
| USDOT number | $0 |
| BOC-3 | $20 one-time to $125 a year (three published prices) |
| UCR | $46 for 2026, $55 for 2027 at zero to two power units |
| Insurance | Hotshot owners report $4,200 a year to $2,700 a month across eight reports |
| Insurance down payment | $2,000 to $6,000 across seven owner reports |
Those are October 2026 fees, and your authority stays active only while your insurance filing and BOC-3 stay on file.
When an insurer cancels, it files a BMC-35 with FMCSA, and the notice ordinarily runs 30 days from the day FMCSA receives it. Those 30 days come before the cancellation, so there's no grace period after it.
If FMCSA revokes your authority, reinstatement costs $80 once your filings are back, your USDOT number is active and any out-of-service order or open safety case is resolved. A new authority also has FMCSA's new entrant safety audit ahead of it, within 12 months after operations begin.
You also carry the gap until brokers pay: J.B. Hunt's standard terms are 21 business days, and TQL and C.H. Robinson pay in 28 days. See quick pay and factoring for the cost of getting paid sooner.
Compare both on your numbers. The startup cost estimator takes your truck, state and insurance quote and shows the cash each path needs before the first check. Startup cost estimator
How long brokers make a new MC wait
Brokers and load programs set their own authority-age rules. These come from their own carrier pages, checked October 17, 2026.
| Broker or program | Authority age it asks for |
|---|---|
| C.H. Robinson | 7 days active |
| OpenRoad Global | 30 days |
| Ryder | 60 days active |
| Armstrong Transport | 90 days active |
| CEVA Logistics | 90 days since the first grant or a reinstatement |
| Flock Freight | 90 days in service |
| Buchanan Logistics | Three months |
| Transportation One | Three months |
| PLS Logistics | Six months |
| Amazon Relay | 180 days active |
| Mode Global | One year of continuous active authority |
| Penske Transportation Management | One year active |
| Averitt | 365 days active |
CEVA counts from the first grant or a reinstatement, and Mode Global counts continuous active authority. A lapse can restart the clock with brokers like these.
Leasing on skips these waits because you haul under the carrier's setups. One owner on the forums reported getting set up with a broker in the first month. The full list is on the broker pages.
How to decide
- Leasing on fits when you need to haul in the first months and want the carrier's insurance filing and broker setups. The cost is the share the carrier keeps.
- Your own authority fits when you can carry insurance, the filings and about a month of broker pay terms while your authority ages past the 90-day and 180-day marks.
- Holding your own MC while leased on means keeping your own insurance filing and BOC-3 in place, because FMCSA revokes authority that loses them.
If you go your own way, the MC number page walks through the application, and how to get loads with new authority covers the first months.
See which brokers open up and when. If you already have an MC, enter it and the load-ready check shows which brokers' age rules you meet today and which open at 90 and 180 days. Load-ready check
Frequently asked questions
Should I lease on or get my own authority?
Leasing on fits when you need to haul in the first months and want the carrier's insurance filing and broker setups, and the cost is the share the carrier keeps. Your own authority fits when you can carry insurance, the filings and about a month of broker pay terms while your authority ages.
How much does your own authority cost?
MC authority costs $300 per authority type, and the USDOT number is $0. Add a BOC-3 at $20 one-time to $125 a year, UCR at $46 for 2026 or $55 for 2027 and your own insurance.
How long do brokers make a new MC wait?
Published rules run from seven days of active authority at C.H. Robinson to one year at Mode Global and Penske Transportation Management and 365 days at Averitt, with Amazon Relay in between at 180 days of active authority.
Do leased-on owners still pay for insurance?
Leased-on owners report insurance bills of their own, such as about $175 a week leased on to Schneider in October 2022 and roughly $7,000 to $8,000 a year for truck and trailer insurance. Get your lease's percentage and deductions in writing before you sign.