By Evan Reid, Founder of Haul Handbook · Updated Aug 5, 2026
South Carolina requires intrastate operating credentials, and it splits them between two agencies. A for-hire carrier hauling general freight inside South Carolina gets a Certificate of Compliance from the SCDMV: a $25 application, a Form E liability filing by the insurer, and a Form H cargo filing if the carrier wants to haul anything beyond low-value commodities. Passenger, household goods, and hazardous waste for disposal carriers go the other way, to the Public Service Commission and the Office of Regulatory Staff, for a Class A through F certificate granted only after the Commission finds the applicant fit, willing, and able. A private carrier hauling its own property needs neither.
The South Carolina requirements table
- Agency
- South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles, Motor Carrier Services (Certificate of Compliance for general freight), with the Public Service Commission of South Carolina and the Office of Regulatory Staff for passenger, household goods, and hazardous waste for disposal carriers
- Application
- General freight: SCDMV Form COC, Application for Certificate of Compliance for Operation of For-Hire Motor Vehicle Carriers, mailed with a $25 non-refundable filing fee to SCDMV Motor Carrier Services, Attention: Certificate of Compliance, 10311 Wilson Blvd, P.O. Box 1498, Blythewood, SC 29016-0027. Household goods and hazardous waste for disposal: the Public Service Commission Class E application plus the Transportation Cover Sheet, filed with both the PSC Clerk's Office and the Office of Regulatory Staff Transportation Department.
- Renewal
- The Certificate of Compliance is renewed by filing SCDMV Form COC with the renewal box checked, at no fee; SCDMV publishes no expiration date or renewal cycle for it. On the Public Service Commission side, motor carriers transporting passengers must re-register their vehicles with the Office of Regulatory Staff and pay the $50 per vehicle fee on or before January 1 of each year, and every registered vehicle continued in service must be re-registered annually.
Authority fee schedule
South Carolina charges a fixed amount per filing rather than pricing registration by term. Each charge below is set by its own statute or rule section.
Scroll sideways to see every column.
Sector licences that still apply
South Carolina 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
- NoneThere is no weight threshold on the Certificate of Compliance. SCDMV issues one to any intrastate for-hire motor carrier that is not a passenger, household goods, or hazardous waste for disposal carrier, whatever the truck weighs. The 10,000-pound figure that appears in the COC packet is an insurance tier boundary, not an entry trigger: it separates the $750,000 liability minimum from the $300,000 minimum.
- For-hire only
- YesBoth regimes are written around carriage for compensation. The Certificate of Compliance is defined as a certificate representing an intrastate for-hire motor carrier that has complied with SCDMV safety and insurance requirements. S.C. Code Ann. 58-23-20 reaches a person who operates a motor vehicle for the transportation of persons, hazardous waste for disposal, or household goods for compensation. A private carrier hauling its own goods inside South Carolina needs neither credential.
- Property carriers
- YesGeneral freight is the Certificate of Compliance case. Since 2022 Act No. 214 amended S.C. Code Ann. 58-23-20 and 58-23-25, the Public Service Commission has no authority over rates, prices, routes, or services of a motor vehicle carrier of property except certificate carriers of household goods or hazardous waste for disposal, so general freight sits entirely with SCDMV.
- Passenger carriers
- Certificate required from the Public Service Commission through the Office of Regulatory Staff. Class A covers fixed-schedule passenger service, Class B non-scheduled solicited passenger service, and Class C privately employed trip service including taxis, charter, non-emergency medical transport, and stretcher vans. Passenger carriers are expressly excluded from the SCDMV Certificate of Compliance.
- Household goods
- Certificate required at any vehicle weight. A household goods mover needs a Class E Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity issued by the Office of Regulatory Staff after the Commission approves the application, plus a filed tariff, Form E liability and Form H cargo filings, and a vehicle and facility inspection. A mover operating only inside one municipality gets a Certificate of FWA instead.
- Hazmat
- No separate hazardous materials authority exists, but hazmat raises the money. A Certificate of Compliance holder carrying hazardous material files liability at $5,000,000 per incident for the high-risk classes in 49 CFR 171.8, 173.403, and related sections, and $1,000,000 per incident for oil, hazardous waste, and other hazardous materials listed in 49 CFR 172.101.
- Waste transport
- Hazardous waste for disposal is a separate Public Service Commission regime, not part of the general freight credential. A common carrier of hazardous waste for disposal holds a Class E certificate; a contract carrier of hazardous waste for disposal holds a Class F certificate, and no carrier may hold more than one Class F certificate or attach more than three contracts to it at a time.
South Carolina insurance minimums
State minimums can differ from the federal filing levels; the federal side is covered in our insurance filings guide.
- Cargo minimum
- $5,000 (Cargo insurance is required only of Certificate of Compliance holders in Class E-LC and of Public Service Commission Class E carriers. The SCDMV limit is $5,000 for loss or damage to property carried on any one motor vehicle. The Commission's Class E cargo minimums under S.C. Code Ann. Regs. 103-173 are $2,500 for loss or damage to property carried on any one motor vehicle and $5,000 for losses occurring at any one time and place, and a Class E carrier's intrastate valuation must meet the minimum set by the Surface Transportation Board's interstate rules.)
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.
Minimum liability by gross vehicle weight
$750,000 per incident is the Certificate of Compliance minimum for a freight vehicle of 10,000 pounds GVWR or more carrying non-hazardous material. Below 10,000 pounds GVWR the SCDMV schedule drops to $300,000 per incident. Note the one real conflict in South Carolina's paperwork: the Public Service Commission's own schedule at S.C. Code Ann. Regs. 103-172 sets $500,000, not $300,000, for freight vehicles under 10,000 pounds GVWR. The regulation governs Commission-certificated carriers; the SCDMV Exhibit A governs Certificate of Compliance holders. Both figures are recorded below against the document that sets them rather than reconciled into one number.
Scroll sideways to see every column.
The $750,000 figure matches the federal for-hire interstate floor for non-hazardous property in 49 CFR 387.9, but South Carolina applies it to purely intrastate operation through the Certificate of Compliance rather than through federal law. The hazardous material tiers are written by direct reference to the federal definitions in 49 CFR 171.8, 172.101, and 173.403.
Other South Carolina 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, with Form F endorsement attached to the policy itself. Form G is the surety bond equivalent. A self-insured carrier has SCDMV submit a self-insurance certificate instead.
- Household goods cargo
- Form H, filed with the Office of Regulatory Staff by a Class E household goods or hazardous waste for disposal carrier
- Cargo
- Form H, Uniform Motor Carrier Cargo Certificate of Insurance, with Form I endorsement attached to the cargo policy itself. Form J is the cargo surety bond equivalent.
- Lapse consequence
- Failure to file evidence of insurance, self-insurance, or a surety bond is just cause for the Commission to suspend its order granting authority or the certificate itself without further evidence or hearing. Failure to keep coverage in full force results in automatic suspension on receipt of an affidavit from the Office of Regulatory Staff, operative as of the effective date of cancellation.
More South Carolina authority rules
- USDOT prerequisite: note
- Not established as a prerequisite. SCDMV Form COC does not ask for a USDOT number and does not condition issuance on one, and no SCDMV Certificate of Compliance page states a USDOT requirement. SCDMV's IRP and IFTA material does require a USDOT number, but that is apportioned registration and fuel tax licensing rather than the intrastate authority credential, so no prerequisite is asserted here.
- Safety regime: detail
- The Transport Police Division of the South Carolina Department of Public Safety has exclusive authority in this State for enforcement of the commercial motor vehicle carrier laws, which include the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations, the Hazardous Material Regulations, and the size and weight laws and regulations. The Department of Public Safety may promulgate regulations to ensure the safe operation of motor carriers. SCDMV Form COC tells applicants their operations may be subject to those regulations and to call the State Transport Police at (803) 896-5500 to find out which apply.
- Exemptions: detail
- Articles 1 to 11 of Chapter 23 do not apply to vehicles used exclusively to carry people to and from schools, Sunday schools, churches, religious services, picnics, or prearranged excursions; United States mail carriers on star routes while carrying only mail; farmers or dairymen hauling dairy or farm products; persons hauling agricultural livestock and poultry feeds including ingredients; other persons hauling perishable farm or dairy products for hire from the farm to the first market when sold in South Carolina; and lumber haulers moving lumber from the forest to shipping points in this State. The Public Service Commission and the Office of Regulatory Staff also have no jurisdiction for safety purposes over persons transporting farm products or forest products from the farm to the first market.
- Process: steps
- General freight: complete SCDMV Form COC, choose Class E-L or Class E-LC, attach the Articles of Incorporation if the applicant is incorporated, and mail it with the $25 fee to Motor Carrier Services. Before operations may commence, the insurance company files Form E for liability and, where required, Form H for cargo. The certificate issues once those filings are accepted. Household goods and hazardous waste for disposal: file the Transportation Cover Sheet and Class E application with both the PSC Clerk's Office and the Office of Regulatory Staff, notarized, with the complete tariff attached; the Commission assigns a docket number and posts the application for 15 days; if no objection is filed the Commission may act on the papers and issue a directive, which becomes its order 30 days later; the applicant then has 90 days to file proof of liability and cargo insurance and rates and to obtain a satisfactory safety rating with the Office of Regulatory Staff, after which ORS issues the certificate.
- Process: contact
- SCDMV Motor Carrier Services (803) 896-3870, fax (803) 896-2698. PSC Clerk's Office (803) 896-5100. ORS Transportation Department (803) 737-0800, [email protected]. ORS Consumer Services (803) 737-5230 or 1-800-922-1531 within South Carolina.
- Vehicle marking: requirement
- Two different rules apply depending on which credential the carrier holds. A carrier regulated by the Public Service Commission may not operate unless its name or trade name and its PSC I.D. number appear on both sides of the vehicle in letters and figures not less than three inches high, in the form 'Stacey Doe DBA Doe's Transportation, SCPSC #1234'; markings go on the tractor of a tractor-trailer unit, and a carrier marked as the Surface Transportation Board requires is deemed compliant. Separately, S.C. Code Ann. 56-5-4150(B) requires a private motor truck or truck tractor of 26,001 pounds gross weight or more, and any for-hire motor truck or truck tractor, to carry the name of the registered owner or lessor on the side, clearly distinguishable at fifty feet. Two-axle straight trucks hauling raw farm and forestry products are excepted.
Who needs a Certificate of Compliance
There is no weight threshold on this credential. SCDMV issues a Certificate of Compliance to any intrastate for-hire motor carrier that is not a passenger, household goods, or hazardous waste for disposal carrier, whatever the truck weighs. The weight figure that appears in the application packet is an insurance tier boundary, not an entry trigger.
Both regimes are written around carriage for compensation. A private carrier moving its own goods inside South Carolina is outside both. Hazardous materials do not create a separate authority here, but they do raise the liability floor sharply, by direct reference to the federal hazard classes.
The trigger fields on this page carry SCDMV's own wording so you can judge your case against the source.
The two classes and what they cost
SCDMV sells the Certificate of Compliance in two classes. One is written for carriers moving commodities of extremely low value, such as dump truck commodities, and carries no cargo filing. The other is for a carrier properly insured to haul any cargo and does carry one. Both take the same one-page application and the same filing fee, and renewal is the same form with the renewal box checked at no charge.
The Public Service Commission side prices differently. Passenger certificate holders pay a per-vehicle licence fee to the Office of Regulatory Staff each year before the January deadline. Household goods and hazardous waste for disposal carriers pay no published flat amount at all: the Department of Revenue assesses each of them a share of the Office of Regulatory Staff transportation budget in proportion to gross operating income, due in mid-July.
The fee table on this page lists each line with its amount and the document that sets it.
Insurance minimums and filings
South Carolina sets its intrastate liability floor by vehicle weight and by what is on the trailer, and the heavy general freight figure matches the federal interstate floor even though it applies to purely in-state work. Below the weight break the minimum drops. Hazardous cargo pushes it far higher, in two tiers keyed to the federal hazard classes.
One real conflict lives in South Carolina's own paperwork and this page does not paper over it: the Public Service Commission's own schedule sets a different figure from SCDMV's for a light freight vehicle. The regulation governs Commission-certificated carriers and the SCDMV exhibit governs Certificate of Compliance holders, so both figures are recorded against the document that sets them rather than reconciled into one number.
Your insurance company makes the filings, not you and not your agent. Liability goes in on Form E with the Form F endorsement attached to the policy, cargo on Form H with Form I, and surety bonds stand in on Forms G and J. SCDMV states plainly that it does not accept an ACORD certificate, and a policy copy is not accepted in place of a filing. The minimums table on this page lists each operation type with its amount.
Renewal, lapse, and what a gap costs
SCDMV publishes no expiration date and no renewal cycle for the Certificate of Compliance, so the honest answer about cadence is that the agency does not state one. What it does state is the mechanism: the same application with the renewal box checked and no fee. On the Public Service Commission side, passenger carriers re-register every vehicle before the January deadline each year.
Letting coverage lapse is the expensive mistake. Failure to file evidence of insurance, self-insurance, or a surety bond is just cause for the Commission to suspend the order granting authority or the certificate itself without further evidence or a hearing, and failure to keep coverage in force brings automatic suspension effective from the cancellation date once the Office of Regulatory Staff files its affidavit.
Exemptions and the statute behind the split
Farm and forest hauling sits outside the Commission entirely. The exemption list reaches farmers and dairymen hauling their own dairy or farm products, haulers of agricultural livestock and poultry feeds, other people hauling perishable farm or dairy products for hire from the farm to the first market when sold in South Carolina, lumber haulers moving lumber from the forest to shipping points in the state, star route mail carriers, and vehicles used exclusively to carry people to schools, churches, and prearranged excursions.
The statute is worth reading once because it is what turns this state's split from an inference into a fact. A 2022 amendment struck the word covering property from the Commission's jurisdiction, leaving persons, hazardous waste for disposal, and household goods, and a companion section says the same thing from the other direction. SCDMV publishes no enabling citation for the Certificate of Compliance itself on any of its pages or on the form, so none is recorded for that credential.
Where this fits in the South Carolina 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 South Carolina, 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.
Frequently asked questions
Does South Carolina require intrastate operating authority for for-hire trucking?
- Yes. An intrastate for-hire freight carrier needs an SCDMV Certificate of Compliance, with no weight threshold to hide behind. Passenger, household goods, and hazardous waste for disposal carriers need a Public Service Commission certificate instead. Private carriage of your own goods needs neither.
How do I apply for a Certificate of Compliance?
- Complete SCDMV Form COC, choose the class that matches your cargo, attach Articles of Incorporation if you are incorporated, and mail it with the filing fee to Motor Carrier Services in Blythewood. The name on the application must match the name on your insurance filings and your Secretary of State paperwork exactly, or the application is rejected.
What insurance does South Carolina require for intrastate carriers?
- Liability set by vehicle weight and by whether the load is hazardous, filed by your insurance company on Form E with the Form F endorsement, plus cargo on Forms H and I in the class that carries it. The minimums table on this page lists each operation type, including the Commission figure that differs from the SCDMV one for a light freight vehicle.
Does South Carolina issue a state carrier number?
- Not for general freight. Certificate of Compliance holders get a certificate rather than a displayed number, and mark their vehicles with the registered owner's or lessor's name. The SCPSC identification number that some trucks display belongs to Commission-regulated carriers only, meaning passenger, household goods, and hazardous waste for disposal operators.
When does the Certificate of Compliance expire?
- SCDMV does not publish an expiration date or a renewal cycle for it, so we record none rather than invent one. What SCDMV does publish is the renewal mechanism: the same one-page application with the renewal box checked, at no fee.
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.