By Haul Handbook editorial team· Updated Oct 5, 2026
Oversize and overweight permits for state highways are issued by the Hawaii DOT Highways Division district engineer for the island where the move happens (Oahu, Maui County, Hawaii Island, Kauai) on form DOT 4-005. County roads are permitted by the county engineer (HRS 291-36(a)). Legal limits are set by statute: 9 feet wide (wider than the mainland's 8.5 feet), 14 feet high, 45 feet for a single vehicle, 65 feet for a tractor-semitrailer on most roads with a 48-foot semitrailer cap, 20,000 lb on a single axle, 34,000 lb on a tandem, and an 80,000 lb gross. Statutory permit fees run $5 to $25 (HRS 291-36(j)), but HDOT announced on July 8, 2026 that all oversize/overweight permit application fees are waived until further notice. An escort vehicle is required above 12 feet wide.
Who issues what in Hawaii
The permit pages
Hawaii-specific requirements
Hawaii is one of only two states in neither IFTA nor IRP, and it is the opposite of Alaska on authority: the Public Utilities Commission still licenses for-hire trucking island by island, with filed tariffs, customer support letters and an annual gross revenue fee. The DOT Motor Vehicle Safety Office handles USDOT numbers, vehicle identification cards and annual safety inspections; the Highways Division district offices issue oversize permits; the counties register vehicles; and the Department of Taxation collects fuel tax from distributors.
No IFTA and no IRP
Hawaii and Alaska are the only states outside both agreements. Hawaii sells no IFTA license or decals and issues no apportioned plates; trucks register with their county.
PUC authority is island by island
A PUC property certificate is an irregular-route certificate that names the island or islands it covers, so serving another island means a formal application to extend the authority, with customer support letters for that island.
Filed tariffs still required
Every for-hire carrier must file its own tariff under HAR chapter 16-603 or join the Western Motor Tariff Bureau's tariff before it can operate.
Gross revenue fee every April
Certificated and permitted carriers pay the PUC 0.25 percent of the prior year's gross revenue, at least $20, with the Annual Financial Report due April 30, even in a year with no revenue.
Nine-foot legal width
Hawaii's legal vehicle width is 9 ft including load, wider than the 8.5 ft mainland standard, and its legal height is 14 ft.
Permit fees currently waived
Statutory oversize/overweight permit fees are $5 to $25, but HDOT announced on July 8, 2026 that all oversize/overweight and use-and-occupancy permit application fees are waived until further notice.
Annual DOT safety inspection
Motor carrier vehicles over 10,000 lb GVWR, commercial passenger vehicles and placarded hazmat vehicles must pass an inspection every year and display a safety inspection decal; inspection stations may charge up to $12, plus a $1.50 decal fee.
Vehicle identification card for every truck
Motor carriers file a vehicle identification card with the Motor Vehicle Safety Office for each commercial motor vehicle, and refile when a vehicle enters or leaves service or gets new plates (within five days of the plates).
USDOT number for intrastate carriers
The Motor Vehicle Safety Office requires a USDOT number of every motor carrier operating a commercial motor vehicle in Hawaii, interstate or intrastate, displayed on both sides of the vehicle.
Split-limit intrastate insurance
PUC-licensed property carriers carry $250,000 bodily injury per person, $750,000 bodily injury per accident and $250,000 property damage per accident, rather than a single combined figure.
County fuel tax on top of the state's
Highway diesel carries 16 cents a gallon state tax plus a county tax that ranges from 16.5 cents on Oahu to 24 cents in Maui County.
Container chassis registration
A shipping container chassis registered in another state and used to haul containers can get a Hawaii safety inspection, and its out-of-state registration then stays valid in Hawaii for one year from that inspection.
More Hawaii rules that catch carriers out
- State carrier number: detail
- Assigned to each PUC-certificated or permitted carrier and painted on both sides of its vehicles with the carrier's name (HAR 6-62-20). Recorded in the state intrastate authority page; the USDOT number is also required for all motor carriers operating commercial motor vehicles in Hawaii.
- Weight distance tax: note
- No weight-distance or highway-use mileage tax applies to trucks. Hawaii's road-use charges on trucks are the state and county vehicle weight taxes and the state registration fee, all paid at registration (HRS 249-33, HRS 249-31; amounts are listed with the registration details), and the state and county fuel taxes collected from distributors (HRS 243-4). The only per-mile charge, the Hawaii Road Usage Charge that began July 1, 2025, applies to electric vehicles only.
- ELD intrastate adoption: regulation
- HAR 19-141-4 and 19-141-5 (adopting 49 CFR Parts 383, 385, 386 and 390 to 399 as they existed on May 31, 2018)
- ELD intrastate adoption: summary
- Hawaii adopts the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations, including Part 395 hours of service, as of May 31, 2018, and applies them to intrastate as well as interstate operations. The adopted version therefore includes the federal ELD subpart as it stood on that date. Later federal amendments are not adopted until HDOT amends the chapter; the May 2019 compilation linked on HDOT's rules page is the current version found.
- Intrastate driver age: detail
- HRS 286-102.3 lets a person drive commercially in intrastate commerce from age 19 if they comply with 49 CFR Parts 390 to 396 other than the 391.11(b)(1) age rule, drive only a category 3 vehicle, carry no hazardous materials and no school-vehicle passengers, and have held a category 3 Hawaii license for the two preceding years without a suspension, revocation or cancellation and without the listed serious traffic convictions.
- Intrastate driver age: note
- The age-19 path is limited to category 3 vehicles and excludes hazmat and school transportation; for other intrastate driving the adopted 49 CFR 391.11(b)(1) minimum of 21 applies.
- UCR participation: summary
- Hawaii is not a UCR participating state: it does not appear on the UCR Plan's list of 41 participating states.
- Temporary commercial registration: summary
- A vehicle registered for the current year in another state may operate under a county out-of-state vehicle permit instead of Hawaii registration. The owner applies to the county director of finance within 30 days after starting to operate it; the permit keeps the home plates, adds a VEHICLE PERMIT bumper emblem, lasts for the unexpired home registration up to 12 months, and costs $5 (HRS 286-54). On Oahu the permit needs a failed Hawaii safety inspection certificate, the bill of lading with the VIN, and form CS-L (MVR) 27.
- Vehicle lettering: summary
- HRS 286-202.6 requires every motor carrier vehicle to show, on both sides, the name or trade name of the operating motor carrier (preceded by 'operated by' when another name appears) and the gross vehicle weight, GVWR or GCWR, in sharply contrasting letters legible from 50 feet, in addition to the federal 49 CFR 390.21 marking. A carrier renting a vehicle for more than 30 days must meet the same rule.
Oversize and overweight permits
Loads past the statutory width, height, length or weight limits need a permit from the district engineer for the island where the move happens, and county roads need the county engineer's permit. Applications go by email on HDOT's form; there is no online permit system.
Statutory fees vary by permit type, and HDOT is waiving all oversize and overweight permit application fees until further notice. Check the fee table on the oversize page before you budget.
No trip or fuel permits
Because Hawaii is in neither IRP nor IFTA, it sells no temporary trip registration and no fuel permit. Fuel tax is paid at the distributor, so a carrier buying taxed fuel files nothing. Out-of-state trucks shipped to the islands use the county out-of-state vehicle permit, a registration substitute that keeps the home plates for the rest of the home registration, with a cap on how long it lasts.
Other credentials every truck needs
Permits sit on top of the yearly basics. Each commercial vehicle over the weight line needs an annual DOT safety inspection and decal, a vehicle identification card on file with the Motor Vehicle Safety Office and side markings showing the carrier name and the vehicle's rated weight. Container chassis registered elsewhere have their own inspection-based rule.
Compare beyond Hawaii
Running multi-state loads? The trucking permits by state table shows which permit families and issuing offices apply in every jurisdiction, the oversize permit costs by state table compares limits and fees across all 51 jurisdictions, and the permit cost estimator prices a specific load per state.