By Evan Reid, Founder of Haul Handbook · Updated Jul 29, 2026
Who issues what in Michigan
The permit pages
Michigan-specific requirements
164,000 pounds on eleven axles, not 80,000 on five
Michigan controls axle loads instead of gross vehicle weight. MDOT states it directly: Michigan has a unique system of truck-weight law based on maximum axle loadings, not gross vehicle weight, and the maximum allowable gross vehicle weight on the heaviest Michigan-weight-law truck is 164,000 pounds, achievable only with eleven properly spaced axles, most carrying only 13,000 pounds each. The 80,000-pound federal figure applies on the interstate system and on highways designated for it. The eleven-axle cap dates to 1967 (before that, thirteen axles and 169,000 pounds were allowed), and the regime survives under the grandfather clauses in federal law, which means that if it were repealed it could not be re-enacted.
The truck police, not the utility commission, issue operating authority
The Motor Carrier Act still names the Michigan Public Service Commission as the licensing body, but Executive Reorganization Order 2015-3 transferred every power and duty of the commission under the Motor Carrier Act, the Carriers by Water Act, and the Motor Carrier Safety Act to the Michigan State Police. Applications go to the MSP/CVED Regulatory and Credentialing Section, and the Motor Carriers administrative rules are promulgated under MCL 479.6 together with the reorganization order.
MPSC or CVED on the door, depending which text you read
MCL 479.8(2)(b) still requires the letters MPSC plus the carrier's account number on both sides of every power vehicle, in numbers at least 1.5 inches high. Mich. Admin. Code R 460.18503(3), from the 2018 rule set, requires the letters CVED and the CVED number instead. Both are currently published, so a Michigan intrastate carrier should confirm the marking MSP/CVED expects at issuance rather than choosing between them.
A calendar-year certificate with a nine-week renewal window
A Michigan intrastate certificate terminates on December 31 of the year it was issued, and the renewal application must be filed between October 1 and December 1. Filing after December 1 costs $50 for each month or partial month it is late, and failing to renew by January 1 revokes the authority outright. Interstate carriers hauling only general commodities are excused from renewing so long as they stay current on UCR fees; household goods carriers, all intrastate-only carriers, and interstate wrecker companies doing police-initiated tows renew every year regardless.
The fee is charged per truck, every year
Michigan charges twice. MCL 478.1 sets a $100 application fee for an original certificate and $50 for a renewal, payable whether or not the certificate is granted. MCL 478.2(1) then levies an annual $100 fee for each self-propelled intrastate motor vehicle, halved to $50 for a vehicle first operated after June 30 and for trucks and tractors used exclusively for household goods or for intrastate nonconsensual towing by a UCR carrier. A three-truck intrastate fleet therefore pays $300 a year in per-vehicle fees on top of the renewal fee.
Wreckers doing police-initiated tows need state authority
MSP/CVED requires a wrecker company conducting police-initiated (non-consensual) tows to hold CVED Authority, buy decals, and renew annually. The requirement reaches interstate wrecker companies doing police-initiated tows as well, which is unusual: an interstate general-commodities carrier is otherwise excused from annual renewal by paying UCR.
Household goods movers file a tariff at 40 miles
A household goods carrier travelling more than 40 miles and not operating under a continuous contract must show tariff membership as part of the CVED Authority application, along with a Form H from the insurance company and copies of any continuous contracts. The 40-mile line matches the Motor Carrier Act definition of a local move at MCL 475.1(p): a household goods shipment of 40 miles or less from origin to destination, measured by actual miles travelled and verifiable by odometer or a public mileage guide.
Household goods liability defaults to 60 cents a pound
MSP/CVED tells Michigan householders that a mover's liability defaults to 60 cents per pound at no extra cost, and that the alternative is a valuation of $6 per pound with a premium paid for that coverage. CVED's own worked example: at 60 cents per pound a damaged 20-pound television pays $12. A shipper who waives valuation protection above 60 cents per pound and pays nothing for extended coverage cannot collect replacement value. All claims must be filed in writing within 30 days, and any item worth over $100 per pound should be discussed with the mover in advance. CVED also warns that a USDOT number alone is not proof of authority to move household goods in Michigan and publishes a carrier-status lookup at mspcapsearch.state.mi.us.
Michigan sets no intrastate insurance dollar amount of its own
Part 11 (Insurance) of the Motor Carriers administrative rules, R 460.19101 through R 460.19106, carries no operative text: R 460.19101 through R 460.19105 are each printed Rescinded in the 2018 rule set, and R 460.19106 is printed as a bare rule number with a history line and nothing else. MCL 479.9(1) still empowers the department to make insurance requirements, but no rule fixes an amount. Michigan instead adopts 49 CFR part 387 through MCL 480.11a(1)(b), and MCL 480.11a(1)(b)(ii) directs that where the federal text says interstate it means intrastate or interstate, so the federal minimums govern intrastate operation. What is genuinely state-specific is the paperwork: the insurance company files a Form E with MSP/CVED, and every applicant separately proves workers' compensation coverage or files an approved exclusion form from the Workers' Compensation Agency.
Frost laws shut down overweight permits every spring
During March, April, and May the maximum axle load drops 25 percent on concrete pavements and concrete bases and 35 percent on all other roads, with the wheel load capped at 525 or 450 pounds per inch of tire width and a 35 mph speed limit. MDOT issues no overweight permits at all on MDOT-jurisdiction routes during the restriction period except in a public emergency, issues no permits for vehicles or loads wider than 14 feet, and allows no more than 11 axles. MDOT sets the period from frost-depth measurements, road conditions, and weather forecasts and holds it until roadbeds stabilise; local agencies may set different dates.
An MDOT permit is worthless on a county road or a city street
MDOT permits oversize and overweight movement on state trunklines only, the I-, M-, and US-numbered routes. A carrier moving on any county route or city street needs a separate permit from that county or city; MDOT points carriers to the County Road Association of Michigan at 517-482-1189. MCL 257.725(13) is the reason: jurisdictional authority means the state transportation department, a county road commission, or a local authority, each issuing for its own highways.
Extended (annual) permits are closed to for-hire carriers
MDOT's T-2 states that extended permits are not available to for-hire carriers. They cover loads and vehicles owned by the applicant or held under a bona fide lease or rental agreement, described specifically by make, model, and serial or VIN. A for-hire carrier running repeated oversize moves in Michigan buys single-trip permits every time.
Extended permits expire alphabetically by company name
Michigan prorates a new extended permit because extended permits expire alphabetically through the year: the first letter of the company name determines the expiration month. The MDOT fee schedule is a grid of the existing expiration month crossed with that letter, producing a first-year oversize fee between $30 and $57 and a first-year overweight fee between $100 and $191. Farm-to-farm-only permits pay 10 percent of the prorated overweight fee.
Escorts arrive as numbered special provisions, not a published table
Michigan publishes escort thresholds by dimension only for mobile homes and building modules, in T-3: a rear escort over 12 feet wide up to 14 feet, front and rear over 14 feet wide, front and rear with a height-measuring device when over 12 feet wide and over 14 feet 6 inches high, and front and rear over 100 feet long. Every other oversize or overweight load gets its escort requirement as a numbered special provision printed on the individual permit (provisions 11 through 14 and 21). MDOT also states that the State of Michigan does not regulate or certify escort services and that its list of transport escort companies is not an endorsement.
Weekend oversize movement is allowed, within limits
Michigan permits weekend movement of loads not exceeding 10 feet wide, 14 feet high, and 90 feet long, all day Saturday and until 3 p.m. Sunday, which MDOT describes as matching bordering states' provisions. Mobile and modular homes are not eligible. Otherwise permits are daylight hours only, Monday through Friday, from one-half hour before sunrise to one-half hour after sunset.
Rush-hour blackout in eleven counties
MDOT special provision 15 voids a permit for movement from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. in Genesee, Ingham, Jackson, Kalamazoo, Kent, Macomb, Muskegon, Oakland, Saginaw, Washtenaw, and Wayne counties. It applies when printed on the permit.
Four bridges with their own call-ahead rules
A permitted move crossing the Mackinac Bridge must call the Mackinac Bridge Authority at least 24 hours ahead, is escorted across by an Authority vehicle, may cross only during daylight, and may lose the permit when the Authority determines wind velocity exceeds 25 mph. The International Bridge at Sault Ste. Marie also requires 24-hour notice and an Administration escort. The Blue Water Bridge and the Ambassador Bridge each require 24-hour notice.
No fee for a Michigan IFTA license or decals
The Michigan Department of Treasury states on both the IFTA landing page and the application page that there is no fee for a Michigan IFTA license and decals. The obligation the free license carries is the quarterly return, due even for a quarter with no activity, and Treasury issues computed assessments when one is missed.
Three temporary fuel permits a year, then license or stop
Michigan limits carriers travelling into Michigan to three temporary fuel permits per USDOT number per calendar year. A carrier that exceeds or expects to exceed that limit has to license for IFTA in its base jurisdiction. Treasury also warns that three quarters of Michigan-only or zero-mileage travel can lead to cancellation or non-renewal of a Michigan IFTA license, because IFTA requires interstate travel.
A raw forest products deal with Wisconsin
Since November 1, 2022 Michigan and Wisconsin have a qualified fuel tax reciprocity agreement. Qualified motor vehicles owned or leased by Michigan residents that haul only raw forest products may run in Wisconsin within 30 miles of the Michigan border without additional fuel tax credentials, and Wisconsin vehicles hauling only raw forest products may run in Michigan within 30 air miles of the Wisconsin border. Raw forest products means logs, pilings, posts, poles, cordwood products, wood chips, sawdust, pulpwood, intermediary lumber, fuel wood, and Christmas trees not altered by a manufacturing process off the land, sawmill, or factory they came from.
Four years of fuel and mileage records, not six months
Treasury spells out a trap that catches new carriers: DOT and FMCSA require six months of record keeping, but IFTA and IRP require fuel and mileage records to be kept for at least four years from the return due date or the filing date, whichever is later. Failing to keep adequate records can lead to disallowed credits and a fleet MPG set to 4.0 under the Motor Carrier Fuel Tax Act. Michigan IRP separately requires five years of the distance records supporting a registration application.
An IRP account needs signage, posted hours, and a 20-hour employee
To open a Michigan IRP account in a business name the Secretary of State asks for a photograph of business signage, proof of posted business hours, and proof that staff are permanently employed and working at least 20 hours per week, plus the FEIN, Michigan Articles of Incorporation or Organization, a Record Keeping Agreement, and three address-proving documents from a published list. IRP plates are not available at a local Secretary of State office; the IRP Office issues them through e-Services.
Farm, milk, and log trucks pay by empty weight
MDOT reports that Michigan trucks carrying farm produce, milk, or logs pay greatly reduced registration fees not based on gross vehicle weight but at 74 cents per hundred pounds of the weight of the tractor or empty truck. In late 2012 there were 46,946 such trucks, and MDOT estimated the discount reduced Michigan Transportation Fund revenues by about $38 million a year. Special farm trucks, for use to and from fields, paid a $20 fee retained by the Secretary of State.
Fourteen categories of exemption from the Motor Carrier Act
MCL 479.2 keeps a long list of operations outside intrastate authority altogether, including raw farm-product hauling from farm to market, milk from farm to milk station, fruits and vegetables and eggs and poultry and grain in the raw state, dump trucks with not more than four axles hauling aggregates to or from a construction site, pulpwood and log hauling within a 140-mile radius of loading, newspaper delivery in vehicles of not more than 1-1/2 tons capacity, feed and fertilizer moving directly to a farm, recyclable materials moving to or from a resource recovery facility, and transportation for a nonprofit charitable institution or a house of public worship. A parent corporation can also buy its way out for its wholly owned subsidiaries with an annual notice, an affidavit, and a $100 fee.
The permit office and MiTRIP
The Transport Permits Unit sits inside MDOT and works through MiTRIP, reached from the MDOT Permit Gateway. Applications can be filed at any hour but are processed only during business hours, and a permit service can file on your behalf only after you register in the gateway yourself and add the oversize and overweight task.
Two process changes catch returning carriers. MDOT no longer bills accounts: the fee is paid at submission through the gateway cart, and an unpaid application is never transmitted. And MDOT no longer returns applications for correction, so an application with wrong information has to be resubmitted from scratch. Permits arrive at the email address given on the final screen.
An MDOT permit stops at the trunkline
MDOT permits movement on state trunklines only, the I-, M-, and US-numbered routes. It does not permit movement on county roads or city streets. The Michigan Vehicle Code is why: jurisdictional authority means the state transportation department, a county road commission, or a local authority, each issuing for its own highways.
So a load that leaves the trunkline for a county route or a city street needs a second permit from that jurisdiction, and MDOT points carriers at the County Road Association of Michigan for the county side. Route the whole move before you buy anything, because the last mile is usually the one that is not MDOT's.
The permits Michigan issues
Single-trip permits cover one non-divisible load past the legal limits, priced by statute rather than by a weight or distance formula: one flat amount when the load is over-dimension but legal in weight, another when it is over legal weight. A single-trip permit may be issued for a five-day period on request, and a return move can ride inside the same window for an identical configuration or an empty trailer.
Extended permits are the annual option, issued by category for equipment the applicant owns or holds under a bona fide lease and described by make, model, and serial or VIN. Categories run through construction equipment, agricultural, miscellaneous, pipe and pole, and modular or mobile home. For-hire carriers are excluded from all of them.
Around those sit the seasonal and commodity permits: agricultural, raw forest products, milk during the spring restriction period, logging trailers, a snowplow blade allowance that needs no permit through the winter, and county-issued permits for agricultural pickup and public utility work on restricted roads.
When permitted loads can move
Michigan permits are daylight hours only, Monday through Friday, with daylight defined from a half hour before sunrise to a half hour after sunset. Weekend movement is allowed for loads inside a published size envelope, all day Saturday and until mid-afternoon Sunday, and mobile and modular homes are not eligible for it.
Rush hour closes eleven counties. A numbered special provision voids the permit during the morning and evening peaks in Genesee, Ingham, Jackson, Kalamazoo, Kent, Macomb, Muskegon, Oakland, Saginaw, Washtenaw, and Wayne, and it applies whenever it is printed on your permit. Major holidays close the road from midday before through daylight after, with a longer block around three-day weekends.
Wind and bridges add their own rules. A permit is void when wind velocity passes the published threshold, and four crossings each want at least a day's notice, with escorts across the Mackinac and International bridges provided by the bridge authorities themselves.
Frost laws close the overweight window
For three months each spring the allowable axle load drops on concrete and concrete-base pavements and drops further on every other road type, the wheel load allowance falls with it, and the speed limit under the restriction is cut. MDOT sets the period from frost-depth measurements, road conditions, and weather forecasts, and holds it until roadbeds stabilise; local agencies may pick different dates.
During the restriction MDOT issues no overweight permits at all on its own routes except in a public emergency, issues nothing for a vehicle or load past a published width, and allows no more than the statutory axle count. Exemptions run to agricultural commodities, public utility vehicles on local roads, school buses, and partly filled propane deliveries at reduced speed, and milk haulers can ask for written route exemptions.
Compare beyond Michigan
Running multi-state loads? 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 Michigan truck permits?
- In MiTRIP, the MDOT routing and permitting system, reached through the MDOT Permit Gateway. Applications are electronic only, the fee is paid at submission, and an application with wrong information is resubmitted rather than corrected.
Does an MDOT permit cover county roads and city streets?
- No. MDOT permits movement on state trunklines only. A move that touches a county route or a city street needs a separate permit from that county or city, and MDOT points carriers at the County Road Association of Michigan for the county side.
Does Michigan offer an annual oversize permit?
- Yes, MDOT calls it an extended permit, but it is closed to for-hire carriers. It covers equipment the applicant owns or holds under a bona fide lease, described by make, model, and serial or VIN, in categories such as construction equipment, agricultural, pipe and pole, and modular or mobile home.
When can permitted loads not move in Michigan?
- Outside daylight hours Monday through Friday, unless the load qualifies for the weekend allowance. Rush-hour provisions close eleven counties morning and evening, major holidays close the road from midday before until daylight after, and high wind voids a permit outright.
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.