By Evan Reid, Founder of Haul Handbook · Updated Sep 28, 2026
West Virginia's oversize and overweight permits come from the Division of Highways Permit Section in Charleston and are self-issued online through wv.gotpermits.com for trips inside the state, at no convenience fee. A single-trip permit costs $20.00 plus 4 cents per ton-mile for overweight loads and is good for five days. Annual blanket permits are tied to one power unit and cost $200.00 for oversize only or $500.00 for oversize and overweight. Legal height is 13 feet 6 inches on every route, and oversize loads move sunrise to sunset.
Who issues what in West Virginia
The permit pages
West Virginia-specific requirements
West Virginia divides trucking regulation among four agencies. The Public Service Commission regulates motor carriers, enforces safety, handles hazmat registration and runs the coal road permit program. The Division of Highways issues oversize and overweight permits. The DMV issues IRP registration and IFTA credentials, and the Tax Division takes the fuel tax returns. A for-hire general freight carrier needs no state operating authority, but it still files an annual insurance registration with the Commission.
No authority for general freight, but an annual insurance registration
Chapter 24A's exemptions leave a for-hire general freight carrier, and a household goods mover, without any Commission certificate or permit; the statutory detail is in the intrastate authority record. The Commission's rules still count an exempt carrier as a motor carrier, and rule 3.5.1 bars any motor carrier from for-hire operation in a fiscal year until it files the annual Motor Carrier Insurance Registration (M.C. Form No. 63), pays the $25.00 fee and has its proof of insurance approved.
Statute and published insurance chart disagree
W. Va. Code 24A-5-5(g) requires the insurance the Commission sets for for-hire vehicles of 10,000 lb or more hauling nonhazardous property to be at least $750,000. The Commission's own rule and chart still print a lower split-limit schedule, and the intrastate authority record carries both side by side.
Intrastate-only carriers use the Motor Carrier Road Tax, not IFTA
A West Virginia-based carrier whose qualified vehicles never leave the state must not register them for IFTA. It gets one Motor Carrier Road Tax license for the fleet and an MCR decal for each such vehicle through the DMV, renewed each calendar year, and files an annual return due the last day of the month after the year ends. Vehicles already under IFTA need no MCR decal.
Coal resource transportation roads allow up to 120,000 lb
On roads the Department of Transportation designates as coal resource transportation roads, coal trucks with a Public Service Commission special permit may run heavier with a 5 percent tolerance: 80,000 lb for a three-axle single unit ($100 a year), 90,000 lb for a four-axle tridem single unit, 110,000 lb for a five-axle tractor-semitrailer ($300), and 120,000 lb for six or more axles ($500). The published statute text prints the four-axle fee as 'one hundred $60', an evident codification error, so no amount is recorded for that class. Permits last a year, are prorated by month, and the indicium is fixed below the driver's door window.
Coal shippers and receivers report truck weights to the Commission
The Commission's Coal Resource Transportation System Section permits vehicles on designated coal roads in 19 counties, imposes reporting requirements on coal shippers and receivers, and collects a nickel-per-ton fee for coal shipped in excess of 88,000 lb on those roads.
Ad valorem fee on apportioned power units
On top of apportioned registration, West Virginia collects an ad valorem fee on every apportioned power unit at registration, calculated from purchase price, vehicle age, the West Virginia share of distance and the months registered.
IRP year runs July to June with an April renewal window
Unlike states on calendar or staggered cycles, every West Virginia apportioned account renews on the same July 1 to June 30 year. File by April 18 and pay by May 17 to have credentials by the June 30 expiration.
Timber haulers get a 94,000 lb six-axle permit
W. Va. Code 17C-17-11(b)(4) lets the Division of Highways permit six-axle tractor-semitrailers hauling logs, lumber and other forest products at 94,000 lb with no tolerance and fixed per-axle limits, off the Interstates.
Oversize moves stop for WVU home football and Bridge Day
The Division of Highways closes counties and corridors to oversize loads for events: West Virginia University home game days in Monongalia, Marion, Harrison and Preston Counties, the State Fair on US 219, and Bridge Day on US 19, along with school bus hours and a Charleston rush hour curfew for escorted loads.
Year-round planting and harvesting season for hours of service
150CSR9 rule 4.3.1 adopts the federal safety regulations, 49 CFR part 395 included, for intrastate and interstate carriers alike, as they stood on the rule's effective date. The one hours-of-service variance is rule 4.3.5: for the agricultural exemption in 49 CFR 395.1, West Virginia's planting and harvesting season runs January 1 through December 31 of every year until the Legislature sets a different period. West Virginia writes no intrastate 11/14 or 60/70 variance and no separate ELD date.
More West Virginia rules that catch carriers out
- State carrier number: detail
- Recorded in full in the state intrastate authority page (B1); repeated here only as the cross-reference. No branded state carrier number exists for general freight; certificated classes display a Commission certificate or permit number and carry a uniform vehicle identification card.
- Weight distance tax: note
- West Virginia levies no weight-distance or weight-mile tax; only New York, Kentucky, New Mexico and Oregon do, so no the state weight-distance tax page exists for West Virginia. The distance-based charges a West Virginia carrier meets are IRP apportioned fees and the ad valorem fee at the DMV, fuel tax under IFTA or the Motor Carrier Road Tax, and the coal road program's per-ton fee on the Commission's side.
- UCR participation: summary
- West Virginia participates in UCR through the Public Service Commission, which points carriers to ucr.gov and accepts mailed payments made out to WVPSC. The Commission's UCR page was still headed for the 2023 registration year when read, so its fee statements are not repeated here. Carriers that pay UCR fees do not also pay the Commission's intrastate vehicle assessment.
Oversize and overweight permits
The Division of Highways Permit Section issues single-trip, superload and annual blanket permits. For trips inside the state the carrier self-issues on wv.gotpermits.com with no convenience fee. If the route analysis passes, the permit prints at once; if not, the Permit Office reviews it. The multi-state gotpermits.com site adds a convenience fee. Overweight permits issue only for nondivisible loads, and divisible load permits are not sold.
Trip permits for visiting trucks
An out-of-state truck without West Virginia on its apportioned cab card, or without IFTA credentials, buys the DMV's combined ten-day trip permit. It covers registration and fuel tax together, sells online around the clock, and prints instantly. There is no separate fuel permit on the DMV's site.
Permits from the Public Service Commission
The Commission issues coal road special permits. They let coal trucks run heavier on designated coal resource transportation roads, are sold by the year and prorated by month, and carry an indicium fixed below the driver's door window.
Hazmat carriers also deal with the Commission's Haz-Mat Section, which issues Alliance for Uniform Hazmat Transportation credentials on a July to June year.
Compare beyond West Virginia
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.