By Evan Reid, Founder of Haul Handbook · Updated Sep 28, 2026
Hauling freight for hire inside Minnesota takes a free MnDOT certificate of registration. Register the business with the Secretary of State, get a USDOT number, file the notarized registration statement with the workers' compensation certificate, and have the insurer file a Form E for $100,000/$300,000 bodily injury and $50,000 property damage. The certificate does not expire, but a new carrier must complete MnDOT's Initial Motor Carrier Contact education within 90 days or the registration is canceled.
The Minnesota requirements table
- Application
- Motor Carrier of Property Get Certificate of Registration Packet: the Registration Statement Form (notarized, signed by a corporate officer, general partner, LLC board member, or sole proprietor), the data privacy notice, and the Certificate of Compliance with the Minnesota Workers' Compensation Law. Submit it to MnDOT's Office of Freight and Commercial Vehicle Operations; MnDOT also takes appointments for help with applications.
- Renewal
- None for motor carriers of property. The certificate is not assignable or transferable and stays valid until suspended, revoked, or canceled; the carrier must report changes to its registration information in writing, within ten days by the terms of the application. New carriers must complete the Initial Motor Carrier Contact education within 90 days of registering or the registration becomes void.
Application fee schedule by authority type
Minnesota charges one application filing fee per class of authority, so what a carrier pays depends on the certificate being applied for rather than on a term or a fleet size.
Scroll sideways to see every column.
Sector licences that still apply
Minnesota licenses some kinds of carrier separately, whatever the general authority answer above. If you move household goods, carry passengers, or haul waste, the licence below is the one that binds you.
Scroll sideways to see every column.
Who the requirement covers
- GVWR threshold
- NoneNo weight threshold applies to the authority itself. Minn. Stat. 221.0251 and MnDOT key the certificate to for-hire transportation of property in Minnesota, and the 2026 Resource Book applies the USDOT vehicle marking rule to intrastate for-hire carriers regardless of vehicle weight. Weight matters elsewhere: a USDOT number is required for intrastate trucks over 10,000 pounds gross vehicle weight, and private carriers come under the safety rules above 10,000 pounds.
- For-hire only
- YesThe certificate is for motor carriers engaged in for-hire transportation of property other than household goods. A private carrier, whose primary business is not transportation and whose trucking furthers that business, needs no operating authority but is subject to federal and state safety rules above 10,000 pounds.
- Passenger carriers
- Motor carriers of passengers in vehicles designed for 8 or more passengers including the driver, limousine services, and special transportation services each hold their own Minnesota authority; see sector_authorities.
- Household goods
- Household goods movers need a separate household goods mover permit (Minn. Stat. 221.121): $150 application fee, a $75 annual registration fee per vehicle, and $50,000 cargo insurance on Form H in addition to the Form E liability filing.
- Hazmat
- Hazardous materials carriers, private and for-hire, carry the insurance amounts in 49 CFR 387.9 (Minn. Stat. 221.141, subd. 1d). The registration statement asks whether the carrier transports hazardous materials or hazardous waste.
- Farm vehicles
- Minn. Stat. 221.025 exempts, among others, farm products hauled within a 100-mile radius of the carrier's home post office, unprocessed dairy products in bulk within 100 miles, fresh vegetables to canneries in season, and sugar beets, wild rice, rutabagas, and potatoes from the field to first delivery.
Minnesota insurance minimums
State minimums can differ from the federal filing levels; the federal side is covered in our insurance filings guide.
- Liability minimum
- $300,000 (Split limits filed on Form E: $100,000 bodily injury or death of one person, $300,000 bodily injury or death of all persons in one accident, and $50,000 property damage other than cargo. Minn. Stat. 221.141, subd. 1b lets the commissioner set the amount by order, so the figures come from MnDOT's page and Resource Book rather than the statute text. This is far below the $750,000 federal minimum for interstate general freight.)
Minimum liability by operation type
General freight is not the floor for every carrier. Hazmat and larger passenger operations carry higher minimums; buy against the row that matches what you haul.
Scroll sideways to see every column.
Other Minnesota insurance requirements
Insurance filing forms
Your insurance company makes these filings with the state, not you.
- Liability proof
- Form E, Uniform Motor Carrier Bodily Injury and Property Damage Liability Certificate of Insurance, filed by the insurance underwriter before the carrier provides transportation. The business name and address on the Form E must match the application.
- Note
- Insurers must be authorized or registered by the Minnesota Department of Commerce, every policy must carry the MCS-90 endorsement or equivalent terms, and cancellation takes at least 30 days written notice to the insured and the commissioner. Letting the insurance lapse cancels the operating authority.
More Minnesota authority rules
- Exemptions: summary
- Minn. Stat. 221.025 lists 14 kinds of transportation that need no operating authority when a carrier is exclusively engaged in them. Besides school and Head Start buses, solid waste, commuter vans, emergency vehicles and tow trucks, grain samples, and agricultural lime, they include dirt and sod within 50 miles of the carrier's home post office; sand, gravel, asphalt mix, ready-mix concrete, concrete block, and crushed rock within 50 miles of home or of a public road project; pulpwood, cordwood, poles, wood chips, and similar forest products from where they are produced; and newspapers and similar printed matter in vehicles of 10,000 pounds or less.
- Application requirements
- Register the business with the Minnesota Secretary of State first (out-of-state businesses register as a foreign entity). The form asks for the legal and DBA names, USDOT number, federal tax ID, Minnesota business number, business type, a responsible official, hazardous materials or waste status, physical and mailing addresses, and, for a carrier based outside Minnesota, a Minnesota location where records can be inspected. Authority is not issued to an applicant with an unsatisfactory USDOT safety rating, and Minn. Stat. 176.182 bars issuing the certificate without proof of workers' compensation compliance.
- USDOT prerequisite: note
- MnDOT lists a USDOT number as step two of getting a certificate of registration, and the 2026 Resource Book states all carriers applying for Minnesota operating authority must obtain one from FMCSA. An intrastate USDOT number costs nothing; MnDOT does not issue USDOT numbers.
Who needs a Minnesota certificate of registration
The trigger is hauling for hire, not vehicle size. MnDOT keys the certificate to for-hire transportation of property inside Minnesota, and sets no weight threshold for it. A private carrier moving its own goods needs no authority, though it still answers to the safety rules once its trucks pass the state's weight line.
A long list of hauls needs nothing. Minn. Stat. 221.025 exempts carriers engaged only in exempt work, including solid waste and recycling, tow trucks, farm products near home, aggregates and ready-mix within a set radius, and forest products from where they are cut. Household goods movers, building movers and passenger carriers each hold separate Minnesota authorities.
How to apply
Register the business with the Secretary of State first. Then complete MnDOT's registration packet: the registration statement, signed by an officer, partner, LLC board member or sole proprietor and notarized, the data privacy notice, and the Certificate of Compliance with the Minnesota Workers' Compensation Law.
The form asks for your legal and trade names, USDOT number, federal tax ID, Minnesota business number, a responsible official, and whether you carry hazardous materials. A carrier based outside Minnesota also names a Minnesota location where records can be inspected. MnDOT will not issue authority to an applicant with an unsatisfactory USDOT safety rating, and you may not operate until the certificate arrives.
Insurance, education and keeping the certificate
Your insurer files a Form E before you haul. Minnesota's split limits for intrastate freight sit well under the federal interstate minimum, the insurer must be authorized by the Minnesota Department of Commerce, and a lapse cancels the authority.
The education step is where new carriers lose registrations. An official with real control of the company has to finish the Initial Motor Carrier Contact program within the statutory deadline, and missing it voids the registration. After that the certificate stays valid until suspended, revoked or canceled. Report changes to your registration details in writing, since the certificate cannot be transferred.
Where this fits in the Minnesota launch
A cell reading "Not confirmed" means the agency did not publish a figure we could verify, so we left it open rather than guessed. For the full launch order, work through start a trucking company in Minnesota, then line up IRP registration and IFTA if you run beyond state lines. To compare every state at once, see the national intrastate authority table.