By Evan Reid, Founder of Haul Handbook · Updated Sep 2, 2026
Iowa DOT's Office of Vehicle and Motor Carrier Services issues oversize and overweight permits online through ia.gotpermits.com, by mail, over the counter in Ankeny by appointment, or through a commercial permit service. The common move is a 35-dollar single or round trip permit valid 5 days. Annual oversize runs 50 dollars and the annual oversize/overweight permit 400 dollars with a 156,000-pound gross ceiling. Permitted loads travel daylight hours on non-holiday days unless the nighttime continuous-movement conditions are met, and escorts follow the width, height and length bands in 761 IAC 511.20.
Who issues what in Iowa
The permit pages
Iowa-specific requirements
Iowa runs its trucking compliance programs through one office: the Iowa DOT Office of Vehicle and Motor Carrier Services in Ankeny handles intrastate for-hire authority, oversize and overweight permits, IFTA, and IRP, with new IFTA and IRP accounts accepted by email or mail only. CDLs run through a separate Iowa DOT division (Driver and Identification Services), hazardous materials safety enforcement through the Iowa State Patrol Commercial Motor Vehicle Unit, and federal Heavy Highway Vehicle Use Tax verification happens at registration through the IRS. Iowa levies no weight-distance tax.
One office issues almost every credential
Intrastate for-hire authority, oversize and overweight permits, IFTA, and IRP all run through Iowa DOT's Office of Vehicle and Motor Carrier Services ([email protected], 515-237-3268, P.O. Box 10382, Des Moines IA 50306), unlike states that split these across a DMV, a comptroller, and a public utility commission.
New IFTA and IRP accounts cannot be opened in person
New IFTA and IRP accounts are accepted by email or mail only; in-person appointments at the Ankeny location are for existing accounts and other motor carrier services, and new account paperwork must include three proofs of the physical business address dated within 12 months.
USDOT number plus IA marking for intrastate-only carriers
Iowa has no state carrier number. Instead, a carrier operating only in Iowa marks its power units with the carrier name and USDOT number followed by the letters IA; carriers that also run interstate must not display the IA suffix (661 IAC 22.9).
200-dollar safety education seminar on some permits
Carriers of liquid nondairy commodities and passenger carriers running vehicles designed for 16 or more people pay a 200-dollar safety education seminar fee and must complete the online seminar within six months of issuance, or the permit is suspended until it is done and the 150-dollar reinstatement fee is paid.
Household goods carriers file a tariff before the permit
A household goods carrier's tariff of rates and charges must be filed, posted, and approved by the Office of Motor Carrier Services before the motor carrier permit is issued, and each later tariff change costs 10 dollars.
Non-expiring credentials that lapse through their insurance
Iowa intrastate permits and certificates never expire and carry no renewal fee; the enforcement lever is the underlying Form E insurance filing. A lapsed Form E or a missed seminar suspends the credential until fixed and the 150-dollar reinstatement fee is paid.
IRP renewal month assigned per fleet
Iowa staggers IRP renewals across twelve monthly expiration dates published in its Dates to Remember schedule, with each month's renewals due on or before the last day of the month; new accounts are keyed to the applicant's Iowa county number.
No weight-distance tax and no state emissions program
Iowa levies no weight-distance tax and runs no vehicle emissions inspection program of any kind; the federal annual inspection under 49 CFR 396.17 is the only periodic inspection Iowa carriers owe, and Iowa does not even certify inspectors, leaving qualification to the carrier.
90,000 and 96,000 pounds off the interstate
While the interstate gross weight ceiling is the standard 80,000 pounds, Iowa's non-interstate state and U.S. highways allow up to 90,000 pounds gross for six-axle vehicles and 96,000 pounds for seven or more axles, and raw agricultural products may exceed registration weight by up to 25 percent.
Daylight-plus-30 curfew with a nighttime escape hatch
Permitted loads may move only from 30 minutes before sunrise to 30 minutes after sunset unless the load stays within 11 feet wide, 100 feet long, and 14 feet 6 inches high on roadways at least 22 feet wide with 11-foot lanes and lit markers, in which case continuous (nighttime) movement is allowed.
The Iowa permit system
- Apply or log in (Iowa DOT online permits service (ia.gotpermits.com))
- ia.gotpermits.com
The Iowa permit family
Iowa splits its temporary credentials into two families. The oversize and overweight family covers single-trip, multi-trip, and annual permits for loads beyond legal dimensions, sold through the online permits service with route checks before issuance. The registration and fuel family covers short-duration permits that stand in for apportioned registration or an IFTA license, for the occasional truck that is not plated or stickered in Iowa.
County and city roads are a separate world: state permits run on state and interstate highways, and local moves need local permits.
Before you apply
Have the vehicle registration matched to the load: a permitted power unit must be registered for the gross weight of the vehicle and load, and temporary registration permits do not satisfy that rule for oversize moves. Check the route against Iowa DOT's clearance, embargo, and pavement maps before an annual permit move, and plan around the published no-move holidays, when oversize movement stops from noon before the holiday through the weekend.
Compare beyond Iowa
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.