By Evan Reid, Founder of Haul Handbook · Updated Aug 9, 2026
Indiana splits oversize and overweight work between two agencies but sells the permit through one. Most Indiana oversize/overweight permits are issued by the Department of Revenue's Motor Carrier Services division under the guidance and rules set by the Indiana Department of Transportation, and INDOT's rule at 105 IAC 10-1.5-3 is what actually fixes the fees. A permit is needed once a vehicle and its non-divisible load pass 13 feet 6 inches high, 8 feet 6 inches wide, 53 feet for a semitrailer in a tractor-semitrailer combination, 40 feet for a single vehicle, or 80,000 pounds gross weight subject to axle weights.
Who issues what in Indiana
The permit pages
Indiana-specific requirements
Indiana is a one-agency state. The Department of Revenue's Motor Carrier Services division handles intrastate registration and operating authority, oversize and overweight permitting, IFTA, the intrastate Motor Carrier Fuel Tax, the International Registration Plan, and now commercial base plate registration as well. What makes Indiana genuinely different from the median state is the second fuel tax: a carrier that never leaves Indiana is licensed under the Motor Carrier Fuel Tax rather than IFTA, on its own form, its own decals and its own annual permit.
A second, intrastate-only fuel tax
Indiana runs the Motor Carrier Fuel Tax alongside IFTA. IFTA is for carriers that travel in Indiana plus at least one other jurisdiction; a carrier operating only inside Indiana licenses under the MCFT instead, on Form MCFT-1A with a $25 application fee, its own license and its own decals. A fleet holding both apportioned-plated vehicles that leave the state and Indiana base-plated vehicles that do not is licensed entirely under IFTA.
MCFT decals only for alternative fuels
Form MCFT-1A sends one decal per qualified vehicle, but decals are required only for qualified vehicles using propane or butane, electricity, hydrogen, or hythane. IC 6-6-4.1-12 sets the annual permit, cab card and emblem at a $25 fee, running January 1 to December 31, with the application due no later than September 1 of the year before.
Two intrastate regimes, two chapters of the code
A carrier of property that stays inside Indiana files Form IOA-1 for an acknowledgment under IC 8-2.1-24 and needs no certificate. A carrier of passengers or household goods for hire needs a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity under IC 8-2.1-22, which takes 30 to 60 days, costs $100 to apply for, and cannot be operated under while the application is pending.
The Indiana ID Number for the smallest carriers
An intrastate for-hire carrier hauling someone else's property whose vehicles rate under 10,000 pounds GVWR or GCWR gets an Indiana ID Number instead of a USDOT number, on the same Form IOA-1 everyone else uses. There is no weight floor on the filing itself.
November 30 is the date everything turns on
Form IOA-1 is a calendar-year credential marked Renewal (Due November 30th). IC 8-2.1-24-15 makes the intrastate acknowledgment effective until December 31 of the year it is issued, and IC 8-2.1-24-16 opens the renewal window after September 30 and closes it before November 30. Passenger and household goods authority renews by November 30 too, and Motor Carrier Services no longer mails renewal notices.
Private nonhazardous carriers file once and never again
A new intrastate private carrier hauling its own nonhazardous property files Form IOA-1 with no insurance filing, and the Department of Revenue states plainly that there is no renewal process for it. IC 8-2.1-24-20 matches: the UCR registration duty does not apply to a person exclusively engaged in the private transportation of nonhazardous property.
73,280 pounds off the heavy duty network
Indiana keeps a second, lower weight ceiling. IC 9-20-4-1(c) preserves the limits in effect on January 4, 1975 for any highway not designated a heavy duty highway: 73,280 pounds gross, 16,000 pounds for each axle of a tandem assembly, and an 18,000 pound axle limit. The 80,000 pound bridge-formula figure applies where the greater limits do.
Extra pounds for alternative fuel and auxiliary power
A vehicle that uses natural gas as a motor fuel or runs primarily on electric battery power gets 2,000 pounds added to Indiana's weight limits, and a diesel heavy duty vehicle over 8,500 pounds GVWR with an EPA-certified auxiliary power unit gets 400 pounds.
Four different published superload definitions
105 IAC 10-1.5-2(11) defines a superload as more than 15 feet high, more than 16 feet wide, or more than 110 feet long. The Department of Revenue's July 2026 fee document says 15 feet high, 17 feet wide, 110 feet long or 200,000 pounds. Its FAQ says 15 feet, 16 feet, 110 feet and/or 120,000 pounds. The Indiana State Police escort page says over 17 feet wide, over 15 feet high, over 110 feet long, over 108,000 pounds. The administrative rule is the binding one; confirm classification with the permit office before ordering.
The permit does not cover I-65 or I-70 inside I-465
Form M-204 excludes I-65 and I-70 inside the I-465 loop from every oversize/overweight permit, along with any county road or city street, any state road or bridge closed for construction, and any road or bridge posted for gross load limits. A route that leaves state-maintained roads has to be entered as a split trip.
No movement above 25 mile per hour winds
Indiana writes a hard wind limit into every permit: a permitted vehicle may not operate when wind velocity exceeds 25 miles per hour, and may not operate in hazardous weather, road or traffic conditions or when visibility is under 500 feet.
Base plate registration moved from the BMV to the Department of Revenue
Motor Carrier Services now provides base plate registrations for companies with 5 or more power vehicles weighing 11,001 pounds or more, work the Bureau of Motor Vehicles used to do. Carriers pick a staggered renewal month at initial registration, which cannot be changed afterwards, and the plate itself is permanent with no annual stickers.
Everything has to be done electronically
Under state law IRP and Base Plate Registration transactions must be conducted electronically, and IFTA, MCFT and Proportional Use Credit transactions must be managed online in the Fuel Tax System unless the carrier holds a current online exemption. IC 6-6-4.1-10(f) and (g) put the same duty in statute for fuel tax reports and payments. The transaction system does not work in Internet Explorer, and the oversize permitting system requires Google Chrome with a single tab open.
A Proportional Use Credit for fuel that does not move the truck
Indiana refunds part of the fuel tax where fuel powers equipment rather than the vehicle. Certification is on Form PROP-1, and since January 1, 2025 claims must be submitted online through the MCS Fuel Tax System unless the carrier is online-exempt. Filing the quarterly returns with payment is a precondition; missing them denies the claim.
Oversize and overweight civil penalties land on the USDOT number
Indiana assesses oversize and overweight civil penalties on the person or company whose USDOT number is registered on the vehicle transporting the load, in addition to any court fines. IC 9-20-18-14.5 caps a permit violation at $1,000 for the first and $1,500 for each later one, and running with no permit at $5,000 per Indiana State Police examination report. A proposed assessment must be paid or protested within 60 days.
A statutory Toll Road carve-out
Vehicles operating on toll road facilities are subject to the weight rules adopted for toll road facilities by INDOT under IC 8-15-2, not to the general IC 9-20-4-1 limits. Indiana sells an annual Toll Road Gate permit at $20 per gate, per truck.
An electronic logging device is not an IFTA or IRP record
The Department of Revenue publishes its own warning about the device the safety rules require. Its Electronic Logging Device page states that most ELDs were designed specifically to meet only the federal government's requirements to document hours of service for drivers and do not satisfy recordkeeping requirements for IFTA and IRP, that most do not archive data beyond the six month federal mandate for driver records, and that nationwide almost 30 percent of IFTA and IRP audits result in an inadequate records assessment, many of them from relying on ELDs for recordkeeping. Where the device cannot supply the necessary information for the required length of time, other sources of data must be used.
More Indiana rules that catch carriers out
- State carrier number: detail
- Recorded in full in the state DOT number page; repeated here only as the cross-reference. It is the alternative to a USDOT number rather than a credential layered on top of one: an intrastate for-hire carrier hauling someone else's property whose vehicles rate under 10,000 pounds gross vehicle weight rating or combined rating receives an Indiana ID Number on the same Form IOA-1 every other intrastate carrier files.
- State carrier number: display rule
- IC 8-2.1-24-18(a)(1) provides that intrastate motor carriers not operating under authority issued by the United States Department of Transportation comply with 49 CFR 390.21(b)(3) by registering with the department of state revenue as an intrastate motor carrier and displaying the certification number issued by the department preceded by the letters IN.
- ELD intrastate adoption: current text amendment
- The 2025 Indiana Code prints IC 8-2.1-24-18 with the credit line: As added by P.L.110-1995, SEC.29. Amended by P.L.61-1996, SEC.10; P.L.84-1997, SEC.1; P.L.85-1997, SEC.1; P.L.98-1999, SEC.1; P.L.92-2000, SEC.1; P.L.75-2003, SEC.1; P.L.219-2003, SEC.1; P.L.208-2003, SEC.2; P.L.210-2005, SEC.4; P.L.21-2007, SEC.1; P.L.1-2010, SEC.44; P.L.9-2010, SEC.3; P.L.215-2013, SEC.1; P.L.198-2016, SEC.62; P.L.118-2022, SEC.3. The operative text is word for word identical to the 2022 edition, so the section has not moved since the 2022 amendment.
- ELD intrastate adoption: summary: text
- Indiana adopts 49 CFR Part 395 whole for intrastate carriers and then removes whole industries from it. IC 8-2.1-24-18(a) incorporates 49 CFR Parts 40, 375, 380, 382 through 387, 390 through 393, and 395 through 398 into Indiana law by reference for interstate and intrastate motor carriers of persons or property alike, so the driving limits an Indiana intrastate driver runs are the federal 11 and 14 hour limits, the federal 60 and 70 hour weeks and the federal 30 minute interruption, unchanged. What Indiana changes is who Part 395 reaches. The same subsection provides that the provisions of 49 CFR 395 that regulate the hours of service of drivers, including requirements for the maintenance of logs, do not apply to a driver of a truck registered by the bureau of motor vehicles and used as a farm truck under IC 9-18 (before its expiration) or IC 9-18.1-7, a vehicle operated in intrastate construction or construction related service, or the restoration of public utility services interrupted by an emergency. The electronic logging device requirement sits inside Part 395, at 49 CFR 395.8(a)(1)(i) and subpart B, so an Indiana intrastate construction hauler falls outside the device mandate along with the rest of the part. Two narrower changes sit beside it: subsection (h) restricts the 49 CFR 395.1(k) agricultural exception to single vehicles and cargo tank motor vehicles of not more than 5,400 gallons and fixes the planting and harvesting season at January 1 to December 31, and subsection (i) lifts 49 CFR 390.21 marking off an intrastate farm vehicle used in agricultural pursuits.
- ELD intrastate adoption: adopted parts: value
- IC 8-2.1-24-18(a) provides that 49 CFR Parts 40, 375, 380, 382 through 387, 390 through 393, and 395 through 398 are incorporated into Indiana law by reference and, except as provided in subsections (d), (e), (f), (g), and (j), must be complied with by an interstate and intrastate motor carrier of persons or property throughout Indiana. Subsection (b) separately incorporates 49 CFR 107 subparts F and G, 171 through 173, 177 through 178, and 180 for hazardous materials, binding private carriers, common carriers, contract carriers, intrastate motor carriers of property, hazardous material shippers and carriers otherwise exempt under section 3 of the chapter, in interstate or intrastate commerce. The incorporation names no edition and no as-in-effect date, so the adopted text is the current federal text. The Department of Revenue's Commercial Motor Vehicle Guide republishes the same part list under Safety Requirements and states that these regulations apply to commercial motor vehicle trucks and combination vehicles with a manufacturer's gross vehicle weight rating or combined rating of 10,001 pounds (4,536 kilograms) or more, to vehicles hauling hazardous materials in a quantity that requires placards, and to vehicles designed to transport more than eight passengers including the driver.
- ELD intrastate adoption: not adopted: value
- Indiana writes no paragraph-level deletions from 49 CFR 395. It writes industry-level ones. The second sentence of IC 8-2.1-24-18(a) provides that the provisions of 49 CFR 395 that regulate the hours of service of drivers, including requirements for the maintenance of logs, do not apply to a driver of a truck that is registered by the bureau of motor vehicles and used as a farm truck under IC 9-18 (before its expiration) or IC 9-18.1-7 or a vehicle operated in intrastate construction or construction related service, or the restoration of public utility services interrupted by an emergency. Subsection (h) narrows the federal agricultural exception rather than removing anything, and subsection (i) removes 49 CFR 390.21 marking from intrastate farm vehicles in agricultural pursuits. Subsection (g) removes four inspection and driver qualification provisions, 49 CFR 391.41(b)(3) as it applies to an insulin dependent diabetic driver who holds an intrastate medical waiver from the bureau of motor vehicles, 396.9 as it applies to inspection of vehicles carrying or loaded with a perishable product, 396.11 as it applies to driver vehicle inspection reports, and 396.13 as it applies to driver inspection, from private carriers of property operated only in intrastate commerce and from any carriers of property operated only in intrastate commerce while employed in construction or construction related service. None of those four sits in Part 395.
- ELD intrastate adoption: ELD compliance start: value
- Because IC 8-2.1-24-18(a) incorporates 49 CFR Part 395 by reference with no edition qualifier and no dated suspension, the electronic logging device requirement reached Indiana intrastate carriers on the federal date. 49 CFR 395.8(a)(1)(i) requires a motor carrier operating commercial motor vehicles to install and require each of its drivers to use an electronic logging device to record the driver's duty status in accordance with subpart B of the part no later than December 18, 2017. Indiana neither postponed that date for intrastate operation nor set an earlier one.
- ELD intrastate adoption: ELD compliance start: regulation
- 49 CFR 395.8(a)(1)(i), incorporated by IC 8-2.1-24-18(a)
- ELD intrastate adoption: hours of service variance: value
- Indiana takes none of the hours-of-service variances the federal compatibility rule offers. 49 CFR 350.305(d) lets a state allow a 12 hour driving limit inside a 16 hour on-duty ceiling, driving prohibitions at 70 hours in 7 consecutive days or 80 hours in 8 consecutive days, and a 150 air mile radius. IC 8-2.1-24-18 writes no driving limit, no on-duty ceiling and no weekly cycle of its own, so an Indiana intrastate property-carrying driver runs the federal numbers in 49 CFR 395.3 unchanged: 10 consecutive hours off before driving, an 11 hour driving limit inside a 14 consecutive hour window, a consecutive 30 minute interruption after 8 cumulative driving hours, and 60 hours in 7 days or 70 hours in 8 days depending on whether the employing carrier operates every day of the week. Indiana's variance is in reach, not in arithmetic: the same section removes three classes of operation from the part entirely and narrows a fourth.
- ELD intrastate adoption: hours of service variance: authority
- 49 CFR 350.305(b)(2), which permits a state to retain exemptions from its motor carrier safety laws that were in effect before April 1988, are still in effect, and apply to specific industries operating in intrastate commerce, provided the scope of the original exemption has not been amended. 49 CFR 350.305(d), the hours-of-service variance list, is the paragraph Indiana does NOT use.
- ELD intrastate adoption: unmodified sections: value
- Every part of 49 CFR 395 that IC 8-2.1-24-18 does not name runs at its federal text for an Indiana intrastate driver. That includes 395.1(e)(1), the short-haul exception, which releases a driver from 395.8 and 395.11 where the driver operates within a 150 air-mile radius (172.6 statute miles) of the normal work reporting location, returns to that location and, except a driver-salesperson, is released from work within 14 consecutive hours, has at least 10 consecutive hours off duty separating each 14 hours on duty for a property-carrying driver, and the employing motor carrier maintains and retains accurate time records for 6 months. It also includes 395.3(a)(1), the 10 consecutive hours off duty before driving; 395.3(a)(2) and (a)(3), the 14 hour window, the 11 hour driving limit and the 30 minute interruption; 395.3(b) and (c), the weekly limits and the 34 hour restart; 395.5, the passenger-carrying limits; 395.8(a)(1)(ii)(A), the four federal manual-log cases; and the subpart B device specifications a registered electronic logging device has to meet. Indiana adds no manual-log case of its own and removes none.
- ELD intrastate adoption: record of duty status: value
- For an Indiana intrastate driver the part is adopted as written, so 49 CFR 395.8 applies unchanged. Paragraph (a)(1)(i) requires a motor carrier operating commercial motor vehicles to install and require each of its drivers to use an electronic logging device to record the driver's duty status in accordance with subpart B of the part. Paragraph (a)(1)(ii)(A) is the only route to a manual log, and its four cases are federal rather than Indiana exceptions: a driver operating in a manner requiring completion of a record of duty status on not more than 8 days within any 30-day period, a driveaway-towaway operation in which the vehicle being driven is part of the shipment being delivered, a driveaway-towaway operation in which the vehicle being transported is a motor home or a recreation vehicle trailer, and a vehicle manufactured before model year 2000 as reflected in the vehicle identification number as shown on the vehicle's registration.
- ELD intrastate adoption: commercial motor vehicle definition: value
- Two different weights decide two different questions here, and mixing them is the most common Indiana mistake. The floor that brings a vehicle into the adopted federal rules is the federal commercial motor vehicle definition, which the Department of Revenue's Commercial Motor Vehicle Guide republishes as a gross vehicle weight rating, gross combination weight rating, gross vehicle weight or gross combination weight of 10,001 pounds (4,536 kilograms) or more, or a vehicle designed or used to transport more than eight passengers including the driver for compensation, or more than 15 passengers including the driver not for compensation, or a vehicle transporting hazardous material in a quantity requiring a placard. The 26,000 pound figure is a different test and it releases only private carriers: IC 8-2.1-24-18(j) provides that the section does not apply to private carriers that operate using only the type of motor vehicles specified in IC 8-2.1-24-3(6), and IC 8-2.1-24-3(6) describes motor vehicles operating exclusively in intrastate commerce with a gross vehicle weight, gross vehicle weight rating, gross combination weight or gross combination weight rating equal to or less than 26,000 pounds, which may not be used to provide for-hire transport, designed or used to transport 16 or more passengers including the driver, or used to transport hazardous material in amounts requiring a placard. A for-hire intrastate carrier at 15,000 pounds is inside the rules; a private intrastate fleet at 24,000 pounds is outside them.
- ELD intrastate adoption: commercial motor vehicle definition: regulation
- IC 8-2.1-24-18(j) and IC 8-2.1-24-3(6)
- ELD intrastate adoption: declined federal exemption: value
- Indiana takes the federal weight permission, and takes it only for private carriers. 49 CFR 350.305(a)(1) lets a state exempt a commercial motor vehicle from all or part of its intrastate safety rules where the gross vehicle weight rating, gross combination weight rating, gross vehicle weight or gross combination weight does not equal or exceed 11,801 kilograms (26,001 pounds), and 350.305(a)(2) bars that exemption for a vehicle transporting placarded hazardous materials or designed or used to transport 16 or more people including the driver. IC 8-2.1-24-3(6) mirrors both limits. IC 8-2.1-24-1(b) then fixes who IC 8-2.1-24-18 reaches at all: a motor carrier providing intrastate transportation of property or passengers for compensation, and, except as provided in section 18(j), a private carrier of persons or property. The Department of Revenue's Commercial Motor Vehicle Guide summarises the same escape as: effective March 2010, Indiana exempts intrastate, not-for-hire, non-CDL required vehicles from the FMCSRs entirely (8-2.1-24-3(6)). The statute's own test is the 26,000 pound one; read the guide as the agency's shorthand and the statute as the operative text.
- ELD intrastate adoption: declined federal exemption: regulation
- 49 CFR 350.305(a), applied by IC 8-2.1-24-3(6) through IC 8-2.1-24-18(j) and IC 8-2.1-24-1(b)
- ELD intrastate adoption: scope and exemptions: value
- The chapter's exemption list at IC 8-2.1-24-3 opens with the words except as provided in section 18 of this chapter, so section 18 overrides those exemptions except where section 18 itself reaches back, which it does once, at subsection (j) for IC 8-2.1-24-3(6). Inside section 18 the reliefs are: subsection (e), a person hired before September 1, 1985 who operates a motor vehicle intrastate incidentally to normal employment duties and is not employed to operate a motor vehicle for hire is exempt from 49 CFR 391; subsection (f), a person at least 18 and less than 21 years of age may be employed as a driver to operate a commercial motor vehicle intrastate, without exemption from any other provision of 49 CFR 391; subsection (g), the four inspection and driver qualification provisions lifted off private intrastate property carriers and intrastate property carriers in construction or construction related service; subsection (i), the requirements of 49 CFR 390.21 do not apply to an intrastate motor carrier or a guest operator not engaged in interstate commerce and operating a motor vehicle as a farm vehicle in connection with agricultural pursuits usual and normal to the user's farming operation or for personal purposes, unless the vehicle is operated either part time or incidentally in the conduct of a commercial enterprise; and subsection (j), the private-carrier escape. Marking is otherwise required of intrastate carriers on Indiana's own terms: subsection (a)(1) provides that intrastate motor carriers not operating under authority issued by the United States Department of Transportation comply with 49 CFR 390.21(b)(3) by registering with the department of state revenue as an intrastate motor carrier and displaying the certification number issued by the department preceded by the letters IN, and subsection (a)(2) provides that all other requirements of 49 CFR 390.21 apply equally to interstate and intrastate motor carriers. That Indiana ID Number is recorded in full in the state intrastate authority page.
- ELD intrastate adoption: scope and exemptions: regulation
- IC 8-2.1-24-18(a)(1), (a)(2), (e), (f), (g), (i) and (j), with IC 8-2.1-24-3
- ELD intrastate adoption: definitions rule: value
- Indiana defines almost nothing here itself. IC 8-2.1-24-18 incorporates the federal parts by reference and leans on their definitions, so commercial motor vehicle, interstate commerce, intrastate commerce, driver and motor carrier all carry their 49 CFR 390.5 meanings for the adopted rules. The three terms the section does define or narrow are its own: planting and harvesting season at subsection (h), the 5,400 gallon cargo tank ceiling on the agricultural exception at subsection (h), and the type of motor vehicles that release a private carrier at subsection (j), which points at IC 8-2.1-24-3(6). The section defines neither farm truck, which it hands to the registration chapters IC 9-18 (before its expiration) and IC 9-18.1-7, nor construction or construction related service, which it leaves undefined.
- ELD intrastate adoption: commerce test: value
- IC 8-2.1-24-18(a) binds interstate and intrastate motor carriers alike, so the adopted parts reach both. What the commerce test decides in Indiana is whether the three subtractions apply, because each is written for intrastate operation. 49 CFR 390.5 provides that interstate commerce means trade, traffic or transportation in the United States between a place in a State and a place outside of such State, between two places in a State through another State or a place outside of the United States, or between two places in a State as part of trade, traffic or transportation originating or terminating outside the State or the United States, and that intrastate commerce means any trade, traffic or transportation in any State which is not described in the term interstate commerce. A load moving between two Indiana addresses can therefore still be an interstate run, and an interstate run gets no part of the Indiana construction, farm truck or public utility relief.
- ELD intrastate adoption: out of service: value
- IC 8-2.1-24-18 writes no out-of-service criteria of its own. What it fixes is who may inspect. Subsection (d) provides that for the purpose of enforcing the section, only a state police officer or state police motor carrier inspector who has successfully completed a course of instruction approved by the United States Department of Transportation and maintains an acceptable competency level established by the state police department, or an employee of a law enforcement agency who completed such a course before January 1, 1991 and maintains that competency level, may upon demand inspect the books, accounts, papers, records, memoranda, equipment and premises of any carrier, including a carrier exempt under section 3 of the chapter. Subsection (k) adds that the superintendent of state police may adopt rules under IC 4-22-2 governing the parts and subparts of 49 CFR incorporated by reference under the section. Whether any such rules are currently published in the Indiana Administrative Code was not confirmed for this record; the adoption itself is self-executing in the statute and needs no rule to operate.
- ELD intrastate adoption: passenger carrying: value
- Nothing in IC 8-2.1-24-18 is written for property alone, and 49 CFR 395.5 is inside the adopted Part 395, so an Indiana intrastate passenger carrier runs the federal passenger clock as written: not more than 10 hours driving following 8 consecutive hours off duty, and no driving for any period after having been on duty 15 hours following 8 consecutive hours off duty. The three subtractions in subsection (a) are written around farm trucks, construction and public utility restoration, so none of them reaches a passenger operation. IC 8-2.1-24-1(b) confirms the reach: section 18 regulates a motor carrier providing intrastate transportation by motor vehicle of property or passengers for compensation, and, except as provided in section 18(j), a private carrier of persons or property.
- ELD intrastate adoption: passenger carrying: regulation
- 49 CFR 395.5, incorporated by IC 8-2.1-24-18(a)
- ELD intrastate adoption: enforcement: value
- Violations run through the chapter rather than through a separate safety code. IC 8-2.1-24-24 provides that a person who violates the chapter commits a Class B infraction. IC 8-2.1-24-26 provides that a person who violates the chapter is subject to a civil penalty of one hundred dollars ($100) for the first violation and one thousand dollars ($1,000) for each subsequent violation, that those penalties may be assessed only after an administrative hearing under IC 6-8.1-5-1 at which the person has an opportunity to present information as to why a civil penalty should not be assessed, and that money the department collects is deposited in the motor carrier regulation fund established under IC 8-2.1-23. IC 8-2.1-24-18(a) also directs that intrastate motor carriers subject to compliance reviews under 49 CFR 385 be selected according to criteria determined by the superintendent, which must include but are not limited to factors such as previous history of violations found in roadside compliance checks and other recorded violations.
- ELD intrastate adoption: notes
- Authored 2026-08-09 by reading IC 8-2.1-24-18 in full, together with IC 8-2.1-24-1, IC 8-2.1-24-3, IC 8-2.1-24-24 and IC 8-2.1-24-26, and by reading the federal counterparts the same day at the eCFR for title 49 parts 350, 390 and 395. The variance is deliberately modelled as reach rather than arithmetic, because that is what the statute does: Indiana takes none of the 49 CFR 350.305(d) hours variances and instead subtracts three classes of intrastate operation from 49 CFR 395 and narrows a fourth. Two things are recorded rather than resolved. The statute defines neither construction nor construction related service, so the boundary of the largest carve-out is a question for the Indiana State Police, not a figure this record can supply. And IC 8-2.1-24-18(h) cites 49 CFR 395.1(k)(2) for planting and harvesting season, while the current federal 395.1(k) puts that determination in its opening sentence, as determined by each State, and uses (k)(1) through (k)(4) for the four categories of transportation; the Indiana determination of January 1 to December 31 stands either way, but a carrier reading the two documents side by side should expect the paragraph mismatch. Whether the superintendent of state police has adopted rules under IC 8-2.1-24-18(k) was not confirmed and is recorded as unconfirmed rather than as an absence. Backs /guides/indiana-intrastate-eld-rules/.
ELD intrastate adoption: hours of service variance: items
| Name | Intrastate | Federal interstate | Regulation | Citation mismatch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Driving and duty limits | Unchanged. IC 8-2.1-24-18(a) adopts 49 CFR Part 395 without writing a state driving limit, on-duty ceiling, weekly cycle or break rule. | 11 hours driving inside a 14 consecutive hour window after 10 consecutive hours off duty, a consecutive 30 minute interruption after 8 cumulative driving hours, and 60 hours in 7 consecutive days or 70 hours in 8 consecutive days. | 49 CFR 395.3, incorporated by IC 8-2.1-24-18(a) | |
| Farm trucks registered by the bureau of motor vehicles | The provisions of 49 CFR 395 that regulate the hours of service of drivers, including requirements for the maintenance of logs, do not apply to a driver of a truck that is registered by the bureau of motor vehicles and used as a farm truck under IC 9-18 (before its expiration) or IC 9-18.1-7. IC 9-18.1-7 is the Farm Vehicles chapter of the motor vehicle registration article. | Part 395 carries no general farm-truck exception. The closest federal relief is the agricultural exception at 49 CFR 395.1(k), which is limited to planting and harvesting periods as determined by each State and to a 150 air mile radius. | IC 8-2.1-24-18(a) | |
| Intrastate construction and construction related service | The provisions of 49 CFR 395 that regulate the hours of service of drivers, including requirements for the maintenance of logs, do not apply to a vehicle operated in intrastate construction or construction related service. The statute defines neither construction nor construction related service. | 49 CFR 395.1(m) gives a driver used primarily in the transportation of construction materials and equipment a shortened restart only, allowing any period of 7 or 8 consecutive days to end with the beginning of any off-duty period of 24 or more successive hours. It does not lift the part. | IC 8-2.1-24-18(a) | |
| Restoration of public utility services interrupted by an emergency | The provisions of 49 CFR 395 that regulate the hours of service of drivers, including requirements for the maintenance of logs, do not apply to the restoration of public utility services interrupted by an emergency. | 49 CFR 395.1(n) provides that the part does not apply to a driver of a utility service vehicle. 49 CFR 395.2 defines a utility service vehicle as a commercial motor vehicle used in the furtherance of repairing, maintaining or operating any structures or any other physical facilities necessary for the delivery of public utility services, while engaged in any activity necessarily related to the ultimate delivery of those services to consumers, and operated primarily within the service area of a utility's subscribers or consumers except for any occasional emergency use. That is a service-area status test rather than an emergency test, so a vehicle can qualify under one rule and not the other. | IC 8-2.1-24-18(a) | |
| Agricultural commodity and farm supply exception | IC 8-2.1-24-18(h) provides that for purposes of 49 CFR 395.1(k)(2), planting and harvesting season refers to the period between January 1 and December 31 of each year, and that the intrastate commerce exception set forth in 49 CFR 395.1(k), as it applies to the transportation of agricultural commodities and farm supplies, is restricted to single vehicles and cargo tank motor vehicles with a capacity of not more than 5,400 gallons. | 49 CFR 395.1(k) suspends the part during planting and harvesting periods as determined by each State, inside a 150 air mile radius, for agricultural commodities, farm supplies and livestock. It sets no vehicle-count and no tank-capacity limit. | IC 8-2.1-24-18(h) | IC 8-2.1-24-18(h) cites 49 CFR 395.1(k)(2) for the planting and harvesting season. The current federal 395.1(k) puts that determination in its opening sentence, as determined by each State, and uses (k)(1) through (k)(4) for four categories of transportation, so (k)(2) is farm supplies moving from a wholesale or retail distribution point to a farm or other location where they are intended to be used. The Indiana determination of January 1 to December 31 stands either way, because the federal opening sentence is what invites it. Recorded rather than resolved. |
The permit office and the online system
The Permit Unit sits inside Motor Carrier Services and works through Indiana's oversize and overweight permitting system, which is open around the clock. Ordering starts with paperwork rather than a route: every applicant lodges a transporting company agreement and sets up a permit account before it can buy anything.
Most requests clear within a business day, and a request that picks a predetermined route fitting the load's dimensions is approved automatically. Two quirks are worth knowing before you log in. The system wants Google Chrome with only one browser tab open, and the department steers applicants to check the route, the current detour and restriction list and the bridge calculator before applying rather than after.
The permit types Indiana issues
Single-trip permits cover one non-divisible load past the legal limits, priced from a base fee plus a per-mile charge that steps up through weight bands, with administrative fees for route review and each bridge crossed.
The annual menu is narrower than it looks. Indiana sells an annual oversize permit for a published envelope at legal weight, and a shorter version of the same envelope. It does not sell an annual permit covering overweight general freight. What it sells instead is a bench of commodity and equipment permits: an overweight commodity permit for divisible loads, a bulk milk permit, a sealed ocean container permit, a special weight permit for the heavy duty network, a toll road gate permit, a free permit recognizing the extra weight of natural gas fuel systems, and mobile home rig permits at three widths.
Indiana runs no harvest-season or seasonal weight-increase permit. The commodity permits are the standing substitute.
Trip, fuel and other short-term permits
Separate from the oversize desk, Motor Carrier Services runs an online special permits service where a carrier picks the type, pays and prints in minutes.
The registration-side product is a three-day trip permit for an out-of-state truck that is plated and insured at home but not apportioned for Indiana. It has to be bought before entry and stays in the vehicle. The fuel-side product is a five-day fuel permit that stands in for the fuel tax the trip would otherwise generate, and removes the quarterly report obligation for that vehicle.
Three more sit alongside them: a hunter permit for an owner-operator moving unladen between lessors, a yard tractor permit for a non-apportioned tractor working inside a terminal, and a repair and maintenance permit for coming into Indiana to fix equipment and returning directly home.
Compare beyond Indiana
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.
Frequently asked questions
Where do I apply for Indiana truck permits?
- Oversize and overweight permits go through the Motor Carrier Services permitting system, after you lodge a transporting company agreement and open a permit account. Trip, fuel, hunter, yard tractor and repair permits go through the same division's online special permits service, which takes payment and prints the permit.
Does Indiana offer an annual oversize permit?
- Yes for size, at legal weight, inside a published length, height and width envelope, with a shorter-term version of the same product. Indiana does not sell an annual permit covering overweight general freight; the weight products are commodity-specific instead. The sourced fee rows below list each one.
Does Indiana issue harvest or seasonal weight permits?
- No. Indiana runs no harvest-season or seasonal weight-increase permit. Standing commodity and equipment permits do that job instead, covering divisible overweight commodities, bulk milk, sealed ocean containers, the heavy duty highway network, toll road gates, natural gas fuel systems and mobile home rigs.
What happens if I run a permitted load without a permit in Indiana?
- Indiana assesses civil penalties on the person or company whose USDOT number is registered on the vehicle carrying the load, in addition to any court fines. Violating a permit and running with no permit carry separate ceilings, and a proposed assessment must be paid or protested inside the published window.
Haul Handbook publishes educational information about trucking registration and compliance requirements. This is not legal, financial, or tax advice. Rules, fees, and deadlines change; confirm with the agency before you file or pay.