By Evan Reid, Founder of Haul Handbook · Updated Sep 28, 2026
The West Virginia requirements table
- Program name
- There is no general intrastate authority program to name. For the classes the Commission still certificates the credential is a certificate of convenience and necessity (common carriers) or a contract carrier permit; each class is listed with its agency and fees in the sector licences table further down this page. A general freight carrier's only Commission filing is the annual Motor Carrier Insurance Registration on P.S.C. W. Va. M.C. Form No. 63.
- Application
- None for general freight, because there is no general freight authority. A for-hire general freight carrier files the Motor Carrier Insurance Registration, P.S.C. W. Va. M.C. Form No. 63, each fiscal year (July 1 to June 30), notarized, with the $25.00 fee and the required proof of insurance on file; a carrier that has already obtained at least one uniform vehicle identification card and paid the special annual assessment for that fiscal year does not file it. The regulated classes apply on their own forms: M.C. Form No. 8 for passenger service, Form No. 6 for solid waste and for intrastate wreckers, and Form No. 5 for a contract carrier permit. Filings go to the Commission's Motor Carrier Section, P.O. Box 812, Charleston, WV 25323.
- Renewal
- Everything at the Commission runs on its July 1 to June 30 fiscal year. The annual insurance registration is filed per fiscal year. A certificated or permitted carrier must obtain at least one uniform vehicle identification card and pay the special annual assessment by July 1. If it has not by August 1, the Commission warns it in writing; its certificates and permits are then suspended automatically on October 1, a certified letter follows by October 8, and if payment and cards are still missing on November 1 the Commission may open revocation proceedings.
Authority fee schedule
West Virginia charges a fixed amount per filing rather than pricing registration by term. Each charge below is set by its own statute or rule section.
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Sector licences that still apply
West Virginia 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.
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Who the requirement covers
- GVWR threshold
- NoneWest Virginia sets no weight threshold for operating authority. Chapter 24A turns on the kind of service (common or contract carriage for hire of passengers or property) and then exempts classes of vehicle by what they carry, not by what they weigh. Weight enters elsewhere: W. Va. Code 24A-5-5(g) sets the insurance floor for for-hire vehicles of 10,000 pounds or more hauling nonhazardous property, and 150CSR9 rule 4.13.1 requires a displayed USDOT number on commercial vehicles of 10,001 pounds or more.
- For-hire only
- YesW. Va. Code 24A-1-2 defines both common and contract carriers by motor vehicle as carriers transporting passengers or property for hire. A private commercial carrier, which hauls its own property in a vehicle of 10,001 pounds GVWR or more, a vehicle designed for more than 15 passengers, or a placarded hazardous materials vehicle, is inside the Commission's safety jurisdiction but needs no certificate or permit.
- Property carriers
- NoGeneral freight is outside the certificate requirement. W. Va. Code 24A-1-3(10) exempts motor vehicles specifically preempted from state economic regulation of intrastate motor carrier operations by 49 U.S.C. 14501, subject to the Commission's safety regulations and, where a common or contract carrier operates them, its insurance rules. Several commodity exemptions sit beside it in 24A-1-3, including farm products from farm to market, coal from mines to rail or water loading facilities, and petroleum hauled incidental to selling it.
- Passenger carriers
- Separate regime. Passenger service needs a certificate of convenience and necessity, applied for on P.S.C. W. Va. M.C. Form No. 8 with a $100.00 filing fee, followed by one day of published legal notice and a 10 day protest period; a protest sends the case to an Administrative Law Judge. The Commission says the process typically takes two to six months. Luxury limousine service and Medicaid-only nonemergency medical transportation are exempt from the certificate but remain subject to the Commission's safety and insurance requirements.
- Household goods
- Exempt. W. Va. Code 24A-1-3(14) removes common or contract carriers engaged in the business of transporting household goods, and motor vehicles used exclusively for household goods, from Chapter 24A, so an intrastate mover needs no Commission certificate or permit.
- Hazmat
- No separate intrastate operating authority for hazardous materials. Hazardous property changes the insurance limits instead: 150CSR9 rule 4.3.4 applies 49 CFR part 387 to intrastate as well as interstate hazardous property, and rule 3.1.2 extends the federal insurance rules to private carriers of hazardous materials and waste. The Commission's Haz-Mat Section separately issues Alliance for Uniform Hazmat Transportation credentials, which run July 1 to June 30.
- Waste transport
- Separate regime. Solid waste carriers need a certificate of convenience and necessity, applied for on P.S.C. W. Va. M.C. Form No. 6 with a $100.00 filing fee, followed by published notice and a 10 day protest period. Waste tire haulers are exempt under W. Va. Code 24A-1-3(15), and 24A-1-3(4) exempts vehicles used exclusively for human or animal excreta.
- Private towing and wrecker services
- Separate regime. An intrastate wrecker company operating as a third-party, for-hire carrier files for operating authority on Section 1 of P.S.C. W. Va. Form No. 6 with a one-time $100 filing fee, has its insurer file a Form E, passes an inspection by a Commission Motor Carrier Enforcement Officer before each wrecker enters service and at least once a year, registers each vehicle annually on M.C. Form No. 4-N with the per-vehicle fee, and keeps a written Service Outage Communication Plan on file under General Order 267.
- Farm vehicles
- W. Va. Code 24A-1-3(3) exempts vehicles used exclusively to carry agricultural or horticultural products, livestock, poultry and dairy products from the farm to market, processing or shipping points, and farm supplies to the farm. Where a common or contract carrier operates such a vehicle it stays subject to the Commission's safety and insurance rules.
West Virginia insurance minimums
State minimums can differ from the federal filing levels; the federal side is covered in our insurance filings guide.
- Liability minimum
- $750,000 (W. Va. Code 24A-5-5(g) directs the Commission to set insurance limits and provides that the amount set for for-hire vehicles hauling nonhazardous property with a gross vehicle weight of ten thousand or more pounds shall be at least $750,000. The Commission's own published figures have not caught up: 150CSR9 rule 3.2 (effective January 13, 2022) and the Minimum Insurance Requirements chart (revised 2-8-2023) both list intrastate freight equipment at $200,000 bodily injury per person, $600,000 per accident and $100,000 property damage, which the chart totals as a $700,000 combined single limit. The statutory floor is recorded as operative because the statute bars the Commission from setting less; both figures are recorded in the operation-type table rather than reconciled silently.)
- Cargo minimum
- $50,000 (150CSR9 rule 3.3 sets cargo minimums for freight equipment hauling nonhazardous property: $20,000 on any one vehicle and $20,000 aggregate for vehicles under 10,000 pounds GVWR, and $50,000 and $100,000 for vehicles of 10,000 pounds or more. Rule 3.3.2 lifts the cargo minimum for vehicles hauling raw coal, or only solid waste or other discarded property going to disposal. Passenger equipment carries $15,000 (1 to 15 passengers) or $20,000 (16 or more) for passengers' property.)
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.
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Other West Virginia insurance requirements
Insurance filing forms
Your insurance company makes these filings with the state, not you.
- Liability proof
- Certificate of insurance, policy endorsement or surety bond in the forms the Commission prescribes, filed in duplicate; for wrecker companies the Commission accepts only a Form E filed by the insurer
- Note
- Under 150CSR9 rule 3.6 the filing must carry the full limits, be written by an insurer authorized in West Virginia, name the carrier exactly as its authority is held, and show an expiration date at least 45 days after issuance. Coverage cannot be cancelled until 30 days after written notice reaches the Commission in Charleston. The Commission's wrecker instructions state that insurance cards and certificates are not acceptable and that a Form E must physically reach the Motor Carrier Section before registration is processed. No separate insurance filing fee is published beyond the $25.00 annual insurance registration.
More West Virginia authority rules
- USDOT prerequisite: note
- Not an authority prerequisite, because general freight carriers file no authority application, but a standalone requirement. 150CSR9 rule 4.13.1 requires every motor carrier and every private commercial carrier, in intrastate or interstate commerce in West Virginia, to obtain and conspicuously display an identification number issued by the United States Department of Transportation or the Commission on each vehicle operated for hire, each commercial vehicle of 10,001 pounds GVWR or more, each vehicle designed to carry more than 15 passengers including the driver, and each vehicle carrying placarded hazardous materials. Rule 4.13.2 has Commission staff keep USDOT application forms, and rule 4.13.3 adds the 49 CFR 390.21 markings. FMCSA's own list of states requiring an intrastate USDOT number returned HTTP 403 to every fetch in this pass, so it is not cited here.
- Vehicle marking: requirement
- Every non-exempt motor carrier must display its authorized trade name, or the name its authority is held in, and at least one certificate or permit number on each side of each vehicle it operates under that authority, in letters at least three inches high; temporary placards may be used on leased equipment. Separately, every motor carrier and private commercial carrier must display a USDOT or Commission identification number on each vehicle covered by rule 4.13.1, plus the 49 CFR 390.21 markings.
- Contact: office
- Public Service Commission of West Virginia, Transportation Division, Motor Carrier Section
- Contact: note
- The toll-free line and fax are printed in the headers of the Commission's motor carrier application forms in 150CSR9 (for example M.C. Form No. 5 and No. 63); the fax matches the Motor Carrier Section entry in the Commission's Transportation Division directory. Application status questions go to the Executive Secretary's Office at 1 (800) 344-5113.
Why general freight needs no certificate
Chapter 24A makes a common carrier hold a certificate of convenience and necessity and a contract carrier hold a permit. Section 24A-1-3 then lists the classes the chapter does not reach. Subdivision 10 covers vehicles preempted from state economic regulation by federal law, which covers general freight, and subdivision 14 covers household goods carriers. Other exemptions cover farm products hauled from farm to market, coal from mines to loading points, and petroleum hauled incidental to its sale.
The exemption has a limit. An exempt vehicle run by a common or contract carrier stays under the Commission's safety and insurance rules.
The annual insurance registration
Commission rule 3.5.1 bars any motor carrier from for-hire operation in a fiscal year until it files the Motor Carrier Insurance Registration on M.C. Form No. 63, pays the fee and has its proof of insurance approved. The form is notarized and goes to the Motor Carrier Section in Charleston. The Commission sends back a Letter of Insurance Registration, M.C. Form No. 64, as evidence.
A carrier that already holds a uniform vehicle identification card and has paid the special annual assessment for that fiscal year does not file it separately.
Who still needs a Commission certificate
Passenger service applies on M.C. Form No. 8, solid waste haulers and intrastate wreckers on Form No. 6, and contract carriers on M.C. Form No. 5, each with an application filing fee. Passenger and solid waste cases run a day of published notice and a protest period, and a protest sends the case to an Administrative Law Judge. The Commission puts the typical passenger timeline at two to six months. Wrecker companies also need a Form E from their insurer, a Commission inspection of each wrecker, and a written Service Outage Communication Plan.
Certificated carriers then pay a per-power-unit identification card fee and a special annual assessment scaled to each vehicle's rated capacity every fiscal year.
Renewal runs on the Commission's fiscal year
Everything at the Commission follows its July to June fiscal year, and the insurance registration is filed again for each one. A certificated carrier that has not bought its identification cards and paid the assessment on time gets a written warning, then an automatic suspension of its certificates and permits, then a certified letter, and finally faces revocation proceedings. The renewal record carries the exact dates.
Where this fits in the West Virginia 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 West Virginia, 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.