By Evan Reid, Founder of Haul Handbook · Updated Sep 26, 2026
Utah does not issue a state intrastate operating authority for property carriers. UDOT's own Motor Carrier Operating Authority page walks carriers through the federal FMCSA registration (MCS-150 and OP-1 at $300) and describes intrastate commerce only as a trigger for the federal safety rules; the Motor Carrier Safety Act (Utah Code Title 72, Chapter 9) creates safety enforcement, not an economic authority, and no intrastate authority application, fee, or certificate appears anywhere in the chapter or on the Motor Carrier Division's registration-credentials pages. A Utah-only carrier's real state obligations are the USDOT number UDOT requires for intrastate operations, combined-gross-weight registration through the Utah DMV (Utah Code 41-1a-201), the intrastate safety and insurance rules in R909-1, and the Special Fuel User permit for fuel tax.
The Utah requirements table
- Agency
- Utah Department of Transportation, Motor Carrier Division (safety regulation and permits); vehicle registration through the Utah State Tax Commission, Motor Vehicle Division (DMV)
- Application
- There is no state intrastate authority application to file. The filings a Utah-only carrier actually makes are the free federal MCS-150 for the USDOT number, DMV registration (Form TC-656 title and registration, or TC-853A for apportioned accounts), and the Special Fuel User permit account with the Tax Commission.
- Filing fee
- Utah charges no intrastate operating authority fee because no authority program exists. A Utah-only carrier's state costs are instead vehicle registration (combined gross weight through the DMV), oversize or overweight permit fees under 72-7-406, and the Special Fuel User regime, whose only published charge is the $25 special fuel user trip permit and the free annual decals.
- Renewal
- No authority renewal exists. The recurring state obligations are annual registration renewal through the DMV, the Special Fuel User permit that expires December 31 and is honored until February 28 of the following year, and the federal biennial MCS-150 update that UDOT's page reminds all intrastate and interstate carriers to file.
Application fee schedule by authority type
Utah charges one application filing fee per class of authority, so what a carrier pays depends on the certificate being applied for rather than on a term or a fleet size.
Scroll sideways to see every column.
Who the requirement covers
- GVWR threshold
- 26,001 lbUtah Code 72-9-102(3) defines an intrastate commercial vehicle by a manufacturer's GVWR or GVW, or GCWR or GCW, of 26,001 or more pounds (driver 18 or older), and pulls the threshold down to 16,001 pounds for vehicles operated by a driver under 18. The same definition also captures vehicles designed to transport more than 15 passengers, vehicles designed for more than 12 passengers with a GVWR/GCWR of 13,000 or more pounds, and placarded hazardous-materials vehicles regardless of weight.
- For-hire only
- NoThe 72-9-102(3) definition covers vehicles used or maintained for business, compensation, or profit, so intrastate private carriers sit inside the same safety regime as for-hire carriers; only the insurance minimums differ (R909-1-4).
- Passenger carriers
- Covered by the same intrastate commercial vehicle definition: vehicles designed to transport more than 15 passengers including the driver, or more than 12 passengers with a GVWR or GCWR of 13,000 or more pounds. R909-1-3(1) excludes passenger vehicles designed for 12 or fewer passengers with a GVWR/GCWR under 13,000 pounds from the adopted federal safety rules.
- Household goods
- Not confirmedNo separate intrastate household-goods authority regime appears in Utah Code Title 72 Chapter 9 or on the Motor Carrier Division's registration-credentials pages; household-goods movers follow the same USDOT, registration, and safety obligations as other property carriers. Absence of a dedicated regime is how the primary sources read, not a verified legal confirmation.
- Hazmat
- YesA vehicle used in transportation of hazardous materials that is required to be placarded under 49 CFR Part 172 Subpart F is an intrastate commercial vehicle at any weight (72-9-102(3)(d)), and R909-1-4(3) carries a $1,000,000 minimum level of financial responsibility with an MCS-90 endorsement for interstate and intrastate, for-hire and private carriers transporting any quantity of oil listed in 49 CFR 172.101 or hazardous waste, hazardous material, and hazardous substances defined in 49 CFR 171.8.
- Farm vehicles
- Farm vehicles get no separate intrastate trigger in 72-9-102(3). Related carve-outs exist elsewhere: an intrastate commercial vehicle primarily used by a farmer for the production of agricultural products is exempt from the vehicle-lettering requirement of 72-9-105, and R909-1-5 exempts implements of husbandry from 49 CFR Part 393.
Utah insurance minimums
State minimums can differ from the federal filing levels; the federal side is covered in our insurance filings guide.
- Liability minimum
- $750,000 (R909-1-4(2) fixes $750,000 as the minimum liability for each intrastate private motor carrier. For-hire intrastate carriers fall under the adopted 49 CFR Part 387 schedule (R909-1-3(1)), whose general property figure in 387.9 Table 1 entry (1) is $750,000; the federal table's intrastate reach otherwise extends only to the bulk hazmat entries, which Utah replaces with its own any-quantity rule.)
Minimum liability by operation type
General freight is not the floor for every carrier. Hazmat and larger passenger operations carry higher minimums; buy against the row that matches what you haul.
Scroll sideways to see every column.
Other Utah insurance requirements
Insurance filing forms
Your insurance company makes these filings with the state, not you.
- Liability proof
- R909-1-4(3) requires an MCS-90 endorsement maintained at the principal place of business for the hazmat classes it covers; the UDOT Motor Carrier Insurance Requirements & MCS-90 page points carriers to the 49 CFR 387 schedules and to R909-1-4 for private intrastate or interstate motor carriers.
More Utah authority rules
- USDOT prerequisite: note
- UDOT's USDOT Numbers page states that companies operating commercial vehicles transporting passengers or hauling cargo in intrastate or interstate commerce must be registered with the FMCSA and must have a USDOT Number, including freight brokers. There is no application fee for the USDOT number itself; the MCS-150 must be updated every two years or when company information changes.
What a Utah-only carrier owes instead
Four things replace the authority you might expect to buy. First, the USDOT number, which UDOT requires of intrastate carriers and which stays current through a biennial federal update. Second, DMV registration of the power unit for the combined gross weight of the truck or tractor and all trailers when loaded. Third, the intrastate safety rules, which adopt the federal regulations with a few stated Utah exceptions. Fourth, the fuel side: the Special Fuel User permit for carriers that never leave the state, or IFTA for those that do.
Who counts as an intrastate commercial vehicle
The definition turns on weight, passengers, and hazmat. Vehicles at or above the published gross weight rating line count, with a lower line for drivers under the intrastate age floor. Vehicles built for larger passenger groups count, and placarded hazardous-materials vehicles count at any weight.
The definition covers vehicles used or maintained for business, compensation, or profit, so private carriers sit inside the same safety regime as for-hire carriers; the insurance minimums are where the two differ.
Insurance minimums written into the rule
Utah fixes its intrastate liability minimums in the safety rule itself, and two of them depart from the federal baseline: intrastate private carriers carry a minimum the federal table does not reach for non-hazardous property, and the hazmat level applies to any quantity of the listed materials rather than bulk shipments only. Licensed childcare passenger carriers owe amounts set by seat count.
The hazmat classes require an MCS-90 endorsement kept at your principal place of business. No separate intrastate cargo minimum is published in the rule or on the division's insurance page, so none is recorded here.
The duties that recur
No authority renewal exists because there is no authority. What recurs instead: annual registration renewal through the DMV, the fuel permit that expires at year end and is honored into the new year while the renewal is filed, the federal biennial MCS-150 update, and the vehicle lettering rule that applies to every truck in the fleet.
About the statute citations
The Motor Carrier Safety Act contains no operating-authority license section. The operative citations are the duty to operate under the chapter and the department's rules, and the section assigning administration and enforcement to UDOT with the Highway Patrol; the safety rule carries out the chapter. Each citation on this page links to the section it came from, with the heading we read at the source.
Where this fits in the Utah launch
A cell reading "Not confirmed" means the agency did not publish a figure we could verify, so we left it open rather than guessed. For the full launch order, work through start a trucking company in Utah, then line up IRP registration and IFTA if you run beyond state lines. To compare every state at once, see the national intrastate authority table.