Getting your own trucking authority gives you the opportunity to schedule your own loads and to negotiate your own rates. As an owner-operator trucker, leasing on to a large carrier company has benefits, but holding your own authority will provide you with opportunities to make more money.
Why Should I Get My Own Trucking Authority?
There are many reasons to grow your trucking business, but the biggest is independence. The freedom of life on the road isn’t a myth. It’s real to thousands of men and women.
Owner-operators already own their own equipment. They may be leased on with a trucking company. But being their own boss is their goal.
For many people, driving a truck is a job, and that’s enough for them. Not everyone wants to own a trucking business. But for truckers with different dreams, a trucking authority is the next step toward building their lives.
What Are the Benefits of a Trucking Authority?
- the loads you take
- the routes you take
- the times you drive.
While those are choices, the results can be powerful.
- When you’re the trucking company, more money stays in your pocket.
- When you’re the dispatcher, you decide how you spend your time.
- When you’re the driver, you control your rig.
If that’s the life you want, getting your trucking authority is the next step. But before you apply, there are some questions you need to answer.
How Much Will a Start-up Cost?
For a trucking business, there are many startup expenses that lead to a total higher than many truckers expect.
Typical Trucking Startup Costs (2026 Estimates)
| Expense Category | Estimated Range | Frequency |
| Truck Purchase/Lease | $5,000 – $50,000+ (Down Pmt) | One-time |
| Operating Cash Reserve | $10,000 – $45,000 | Initial setup |
| Insurance Deposit | $2,000 – $7,000 | Initial setup |
| Authority & Legal Filings | $500 – $1,650 | One-time |
| Permits & Registration | $700 – $4,300 | Annual/Varies |
| Equipment & Tech (ELD, GPS, etc.) | $1,200 – $3,900 | One-time |
| Compliance & Safety Kits | $275 – $2,000 | One-time |
Don’t let these numbers intimidate you. Startup costs are often higher than expected, particularly when that first payment may not show up for 30 days. But startups aren’t just about starting up. It’s about supporting yourself until the payments roll in.
When the money arrives at your trucking company rather than as a driver settlement from another transportation company, it will be worth it.
Do You Know Your Cost Per Mile?
As an owner-operator, you may have a good guess at your cost per mile. If the company you drove for covered IFTA, IRP, and fuel via a fuel card, you may not know. But this critical number is the difference between success and failure.
With your trucking authority, the numbers are now your best friends. Even when they tell you the hard truths, numbers will tell you what you don’t want to hear.
- The last load you took cost you more to haul than they paid.
- Your expenses are pushing your profit south.
- You need to establish a maintenance fund and plan.
Cost per mile tells you how much it costs you to move freight one mile. With that number, you’ll know what loads to skip, even when it’s tempting to take an underpaying load rather than deadhead. Cost per mile will help you pick betwen buying another coffee in the truck stop or buying a coffee pot for your rig.
Cost per mile is the single most important number in your trucking business.
How Much Does IFTA Cost?
The initial IFTA registration is very low. Most states charge $10 or less. The quarterly tax amount will vary every quarter as it’s based on the states you drive through and the current tax rates.
Every quarter, long-distance truckers must pay IFTA, but part of the bill is covered by the taxes paid at the fuel pump.
IFTA payments change every quarter based on your mileage. Budgeting for this is a challenge, but necessary.
When that comes due in April, along with income taxes and business taxes, it can drive an owner-operator off the road.
The smartest thing a truck driver can do is get organized early. Build a daily log habit that records odometer readings, fuel purchases, and other details such as detours, expenses, and a copy of the DVIR. Then when it’s time to file that quarter’s IFTA, you have the data easily accessible.
Manage your IFTA: Use a complete trucking management software to track expenses, fuel purchases, and mileage, and produces an IFTA report upon demand to show the current taxes due. Setting aside that amount every week will prevent the IFTA payment from becoming a painful financial hit.
Waiting until the day before IFTA is due is one of the worst choices. If there are missing receipts, it’s easier to check the glove box or under the passenger seat that week instead of in the middle of the night before IFTA is due.
What Trucking Records Do I Need to Keep?
Which receipts do you keep? What records do you need to store?
As a truck driver for a transportation company, you probably used the trip envelope. Whether it was shiny plastic or a large manila paper, all receipts went in there. As the owner of a trucking business, you are now responsible for that envelope.
Organizing your paperwork isn’t just making sure the invoices are properly filed. Fuel receipts, maintenance records, trip documents, insurance papers, BOLs, all of them need to be organized. What about the fast-food lunches and the late-night energy drinks? Do you need to keep those too?
Learning what to keep and how to keep it (and how long) is key to staying in business when the invoices go out or the auditors come.
What Determines Trucking Company Success?
Organization is the difference between successful and failing trucking companies.
Trucking isn’t different from any other business when it comes to organization. “The job ain’t done till the paperwork’s finished” applies to independent owner-operators. The only difference is that you may be the one taking care of it.
Using a manual system may sound like it’s good enough for a startup. That may be one of the biggest mistakes an owner-operator with their own authority can make. Getting organized and staying that way is more work than anyone expects.
That’s why a trucking management software program (TMS) isn’t an expense to be justified – it’s a tool as important as the air pressure gauge to a trucker. Instead of rebuilding the wheel, investing in a TMS is investing in your company.
A system that tracks
- loads from dispatch to final payment,
- maintenance,
- ensures compliance
- produces IFTA and IRP reports
isn’t a useless expense. It’s vital to your success.
Obtaining your trucking authority is a major milestone for a trucker. When you’ve got goals of succeeding as an entrepreneur, you need your trucking authority to get started.
The Road to Your Trucking Authority
See the complete step-by-step guide to getting your trucking authority.
✔ Register LLC with your state
✔ Apply for EIN from the IRS
✔ Verify Login.gov
✔ Apply in Motus
✔ Insurance filed
✔ BOC-3 filed
✔ Receive authority
✔ Register for your IFTA license
✔ Install ELD
✔ Begin hauling
These steps look complicated. You’ll find plenty of people online willing to take your money to do the work, but aside from finding a process agent to file the BOC-3, it’s not complicated.
TruckingOffice has a white paper ready to explain the process to you at no charge. After you read it, maybe you’ll decide you want to pay someone to help you, but… maybe you won’t.
Trucking Authority and Success
Getting your authority is only the beginning. The real challenge—and opportunity—is building a profitable trucking business. If you’re ready to take the next step, follow our complete guide to getting your trucking authority.
We want you to be successful too. Trucking and truckers are the lifeblood of our country. Without you, we won’t eat. We won’t have the tools we need to build our homes (or the materials to build them with.)
Getting your own authority is the first step to building your trucking future. We want to help you. Starting a new business can be complicated. All those things that the home office took care of while all you had to do was drive – those are now your responsibilities.
Did you know that you have to buy IRP plates? Pay the HVUT? File a quarterly IFTA? Make sure you’ve gotten paid?
It’s now all on you.
Get On the Road to Success
As a new entrepreneur, you have a lot to learn. Those life lessons can be expensive. Or you can choose early to use the right tools to build your business.
After your rig, the most important investment is how you’re going to get organized and stay organized. If you have your trucking authority but can’t file your IFTA taxes, then it doesn’t matter if you have it. You’ll be out of business.
You can find help in getting your trucking authority. We’re here to help you get your business going and growing.
The right trucking software can help answer questions about the day-to-day responsibilities owner-operators face. We make your life easier by streamlining billing, organizing your recordkeeping, and easily reporting important metrics.
To learn more about how TruckingOffice can help your trucking business stay on the road to success after securing a trucking authority, start your free trial today.
Updated July 2026
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