How many days does a new MC need before brokers will set it up?

It depends on the broker, and most do not say. Of the 6 we verified, 2 publish a number: C.H. Robinson at 7 days and Penske Transportation Management at 1 year. The other 4 publish none. Authority age counts from the day FMCSA granted the authority, not the day you applied.

What insurance do brokers require from a new carrier?

All six brokers publish the same two insurance figures: $1,000,000 auto liability and $100,000 cargo.

I have no safety rating. Does that block me?

Safety-rating wording differs in a way that decides whether a new carrier qualifies: RXO accepts Satisfactory or None, Echo accepts Satisfactory or Unrated, and Penske requires Satisfactory. Most carriers are never rated, so the wording decides it: an unrated carrier meets the first two and fails the third.

Why does the broker send me to Highway or RMIS instead of its own form?

Large brokers hand carrier setup to a vetting platform. Highway and RMIS collect your packet, read your FMCSA record, and apply the broker rules. The platform decides whether your authority age, insurance and rating clear, before a rep sees your file.

Does clearing the published minimum mean I get loads?

No. Clearing it makes you eligible for setup. Load access still depends on the broker customers, some of whom set their own bars, and on a rep choosing you over a carrier with history.

Post-grant operations

Brokers that work with new MC authority

Most brokers hold a fresh authority for a while before they will set it up, and most never publish how long. Here is what six of them state on pages they control. Every cell carries the heading and the date we read it, so a number copied from somewhere else never costs you a month of premiums.

By Evan Reid, Founder of Haul Handbook · Updated Sep 10, 2026

Published minimums, verified at the source

Only requirements a broker states on a page it controls: its own carrier FAQ, or its own carrier registration portal. A null minimum means the broker publishes none, not that there is none; brokers also apply unpublished holds and their customers set their own bars. Read date and the heading each fact sits under are recorded per row.

Broker	Minimum authority age	Auto liability	Cargo	Safety rating	Setup runs through	Read on
C.H. Robinson	7 days	$1,000,000	$100,000	not published	Highway ELD connection expected	“Get Started” · 2026-09-10
TQL (Total Quality Logistics)	not published	$1,000,000	$100,000	not published	RMIS	“Carrier Registration” · 2026-09-10
RXO Capacity Solutions	not published	$1,000,000	$100,000	Satisfactory or None	RMIS	“To become an approved carrier for RXO Capacity Solutions you must provide and meet the following criteria” · 2026-09-10
Coyote Logistics	not published	$1,000,000	$100,000	not published	RMIS	“Thank you for your interest in becoming a transportation provider for Coyote Logistics” · 2026-09-10
Echo Global Logistics	not published	$1,000,000	$100,000	Satisfactory or Unrated	RMIS	“To become an ECHO Carrier, you must meet the following criteria” · 2026-09-10
Penske Transportation Management	1 year	$1,000,000	$100,000	Satisfactory	RMIS	“Penske Transportation Management LLC - General Requirements” · 2026-09-10

C.H. Robinson: The lowest published minimum we found. Sign-up runs through Highway, which verifies identity through a connected ELD.

Coyote Logistics: Acquired by RXO; the portal still registers carriers under the Coyote agreement. General liability $1,000,000 and statutory workers compensation are also required.

Penske Transportation Management: The strictest published set we found, and the only one that rules out an unrated carrier: it requires a Satisfactory rating, which most new carriers never receive. At least 3 trucks and at least 3 inspections. General liability $1,000,000 preferred, and carriers that carry it are ranked as preferred for freight.

A blank authority-age cell means the broker publishes no minimum. This broker's own pages state no authority-age minimum. Third-party lists publish numbers for it; none cite the broker, so we do not repeat them. Checked twice: the carrier FAQ and the RMIS registration portal both state insurance minimums and neither states an authority age.

Three things the six rows agree on

Reading them side by side is worth more than any single row. Here is what holds across all six.

The insurance number never moves. All six brokers publish the same two insurance figures: $1,000,000 auto liability and $100,000 cargo. Quote to that pair and you clear the published bar at every one of them.
Authority age is rarely published, and swings wildly when it is. Four of the six publish no authority-age minimum at all; the two that do sit at opposite ends, 7 days and 1 year.
The safety-rating wording decides it for a new carrier. Safety-rating wording differs in a way that decides whether a new carrier qualifies: RXO accepts Satisfactory or None, Echo accepts Satisfactory or Unrated, and Penske requires Satisfactory. Most carriers are never rated, so the first two wordings let you in and the third keeps you out until FMCSA rates you.

How to read “authority age”

Authority age is the number of days since FMCSA granted the operating authority, recorded per docket in the Motus authority history. The clock starts on the grant, not on the application and not on the USDOT number. FMCSA grants authority by issuing a certificate, permit, or license. An assigned docket number alone does not establish an effective grant. Confirm the authority has been issued and remains active before hauling under it.

The two published ends are 7 days at C.H. Robinson and a full year at Penske Transportation Management, which tells you how little the number generalizes. Most brokers hold new authorities for a period they never publish, so ask the setup desk before you spend a day on a packet. A minimum you clear is eligibility. The broker's own customers can still set higher bars for their freight.

Which of these do you clear today?

Paste your MC or USDOT number. We read your grant date and insurance filing from the same FMCSA record these platforms read, and check them against the published minimums in the table above.

Look your number up with the MC number lookup. Free, no account, nothing stored.

The same lookup has its own page at the MC number lookup tool.

The platform does the checking, not the rep

When a broker sends you to Highway, RMIS or MyCarrierPackets, that platform reads your FMCSA record, collects the packet, and applies the broker's rules before a person looks at anything. The rules differ by platform in one way that matters for a new carrier: Highway warned carriers in July 2026 that broker connections will fail for carriers who do not link their ELD in its Connect platform. If a broker on your list runs setup through Highway, have the ELD installed and connected before you apply. Then read what brokers check when they pull your MC for the rest of the record they read.

What to do while the clock runs

Get the insurance to the published broker floor now, not at day 30. Both brokers above publish the same auto liability and cargo figures, and a filing below them fails setup automatically. The new-authority insurance guide covers what the filing has to show.
Work the brokers that publish a low minimum first, then the boards. The new-MC load-sourcing guide covers boards, broker relationships and direct freight in order.
Plan cash for the gap. Broker terms run weeks, and a hold on setup pushes the first invoice further out; the freight factoring guide explains the trade.
Keep the email on your FMCSA record current. It is where every vetting platform, and every FreightGuard notice, will reach you.