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Trucking insurance glossary

Short, plain definitions of trucking insurance and filing terms, each with an official source.

  • MCS-90: The MCS-90 is a federal endorsement on a for-hire motor carrier's liability policy. It makes the insurer pay final judgments for public liability up to the federal minimum, even when the policy would not otherwise cover the claim.
  • BOC-3: The BOC-3 is the FMCSA form a motor carrier, broker or freight forwarder files to name a process agent in each state who can accept legal papers for the company.
  • Non-trucking liability (NTL): Non-trucking liability is coverage for a leased owner-operator's liability while driving the truck for personal use, when it is not hauling for or under dispatch by the motor carrier.
  • Bobtail: Bobtail means driving a tractor with no trailer attached, and bobtail insurance covers liability while a leased owner-operator drives that way.
  • Motor truck cargo insurance: Motor truck cargo insurance covers a trucking company's legal liability for loss of or damage to the freight it hauls for others.
  • CSA (Compliance, Safety, Accountability): CSA is FMCSA's safety compliance and enforcement program, which uses inspection, crash and investigation data to measure carriers in seven safety categories called BASICs.
  • UCR (Unified Carrier Registration): UCR is a yearly federal registration that interstate motor carriers, brokers and freight forwarders pay, with the carrier fee set by fleet size.
  • IRP (International Registration Plan): The IRP is an agreement among U.S. states and Canadian provinces that lets an interstate carrier register a truck in one base jurisdiction and pay registration fees split by the miles driven in each one.
  • IFTA (International Fuel Tax Agreement): IFTA is an agreement among the 48 contiguous U.S. states and 10 Canadian provinces that lets an interstate carrier hold one fuel tax license and file one quarterly fuel tax return in its base jurisdiction.
  • MCS-150: The MCS-150 is the FMCSA Motor Carrier Identification Report, the form a carrier uses to get a USDOT number and must update at least every 24 months.

General information. We are not licensed in any state yet. Our Michigan license is pending.