By Evan Reid, Founder of Haul Handbook · Updated Sep 2, 2026
Iowa sells both temporary credentials over the same counter: a 10-dollar registration trip permit that stands in for apportioned registration for 72 hours, and a 20-dollar temporary fuel permit that stands in for an IFTA license for one trip or 72 hours. Both are bought through Iowa DOT Motor Carrier Services, and the registration permit must be in the truck before it enters Iowa.
The trip permit (registration side)
This credential answers for registration. Without it, a vehicle whose cab card does not list Iowa has no legal registration standing in the state.
- Fee
- $35 (The permit costs 35 dollars per the Iowa Truck Information Guide. (The separate 10-dollar Registration Trip line on Iowa DOT's permit-types page is the non-oversize temporary registration permit sold through the permits office; the 35-dollar permit is the one the Truck Guide directs out-of-state plated trucks to buy before entering Iowa.))
- Who needs it
- A truck currently plated outside Iowa that needs to operate in Iowa without IRP plates: an alternative to IRP plating for an occasional trip into or through Iowa. It must be obtained and placed in the vehicle before entering Iowa.
- Where to buy
- Iowa DOT Motor Carrier Services (email [email protected], phone 515-237-3268); Iowa DOT online permits service at ia.gotpermits.com; Iowa DOT Motor Carrier Services, 6310 SE Convenience Blvd., Ankeny, IA 50021
The fuel permit (tax side)
This credential answers for the state's highway or fuel tax when there is no IFTA license (or, in the weight-distance states, no tax account) behind the truck.
- Valid for
- One trip or 72 hours, whichever comes first; upon departure from Iowa a new permit is required before re-entering
- Who needs it
- Vehicles from non-IFTA jurisdictions that do not hold an IFTA license. The alternative is entering Iowa with 30 gallons or less of motor vehicle fuel in the supply tanks, buying fuel as the vehicle travels through the state, and displaying evidence of adequate fuel purchases for law enforcement inspection. Carriers from any IFTA jurisdiction operating in Iowa without their IFTA credential purchase this permit instead.
- Where to buy
- Iowa DOT Motor Carrier Services (email [email protected], phone 515-237-3268); Iowa DOT online permits service at ia.gotpermits.com
Worth knowing
Iowa DOT's permit-types page prices the two non-oversize temporary credentials as Registration Trip (10 dollars, 72 hours, for vehicles without apportioned registration, not usable to satisfy IRP requirements for oversize/overweight loads) and Fuel Trip (20 dollars, one trip in a 72-hour period, for vehicles without an IFTA sticker). The Truck Information Guide's 35-dollar figure for the pre-entry registration trip permit is the figure carried in fee_usd above because it is the permit an out-of-state IRP-plated truck buys; both Iowa DOT documents are cited and the 10-dollar line is the same registration trip product sold over the permits counter. Unladen weight permits (10 dollars, 15 days, owner-operators between leases, no load, separate permit per tractor and per trailer) and commercial repair permits (no fee, 30 days, trips to and from a repair facility, no load) round out the temporary lineup.
Where these fit in the Iowa permit stack
Temporary permits are the exception path. The standing credentials they replace are IRP apportioned registration and the Iowa IFTA license. Oversize loads use a different permit family entirely, covered in Iowa oversize and overweight permits, and the full picture of every state permit lives in Iowa trucking permits.