By Evan Reid, Founder of Haul Handbook · Updated Jul 29, 2026
The Michigan requirements table
- Agency
- Michigan State Police, Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Division (MSP/CVED), Regulatory and Credentialing Section
- Application
- Online application in the CVED Authority Portal (CAP), reached through MiLogin at milogin.michigan.gov. MSP/CVED states that all applications for CVED Authority must be submitted online; there is no paper form. A staff member reviews the application and follows up by email if more is needed. Processing can take up to 30 days.
- Renewal
- Annual, on a fixed statewide calendar. A certificate granted to an intrastate-only motor carrier of general commodities or a motor carrier of household goods terminates on December 31 of the calendar year in which it was issued. The renewal application window runs October 1 through December 1; MSP/CVED mails renewal notices in the fall. Filing after December 1 draws a $50 penalty for each month or partial month the application is late. Failure to renew by January 1 revokes the CVED Authority, and on expiration the carrier is prohibited from operating any vehicle on Michigan highways. Interstate carriers transporting only general commodities are not required to renew as long as they stay current on UCR fees; carriers of household goods, all intrastate-only carriers including wrecker companies, and all interstate wrecker companies conducting police-initiated tows must renew every year regardless.
Authority fee schedule
Michigan 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.
Who the requirement covers
- GVWR threshold
- NoneCVED Authority is not weight-triggered. It attaches to for-hire transportation of property on any public highway in Michigan at any vehicle weight. The separate USDOT number requirement is weight-triggered: MSP/CVED lists a valid USDOT number application as an approval requirement when the vehicle GVWR is over 26,001 pounds.
- For-hire only
- YesMCL 476.1 reaches only for-hire transportation by a motor carrier of general commodities, and MCL 475.1(r) defines that carrier as an authorized for-hire motor carrier of property other than household goods. MSP/CVED states the requirement the same way: all intrastate for-hire carriers must obtain CVED Authority. A private carrier hauling its own property is outside the certificate scheme.
- Passenger carriers
- Passengers are also excluded from the definition of a general commodity in MCL 475.1(j). The MSP/CVED regulatory pages checked for this pass describe intrastate operating authority for property and household goods carriers only and do not describe a passenger-carrier credential, so none is recorded here.
- Household goods
- A motor carrier of household goods needs its own certificate of authority under MCL 477.1 and cannot operate without one. MSP/CVED requires household goods carriers to file a Form H from the insurance company, a copy of any continuous contracts, and tariff membership if traveling more than 40 miles and not operating under a continuous contract. Household goods carriers renew annually whether they operate intrastate or interstate.
- Hazmat
- Hazardous materials sit outside the general-commodity certificate: MCL 475.1(j) defines a general commodity as any property other than household goods, hazardous materials, or passengers. Michigan instead adopts the federal hazardous materials regulations at 49 CFR parts 105 through 180 for intrastate transportation through MCL 480.11a(1)(a), enforced by the Department of State Police.
Michigan 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 (Michigan does not publish a separate intrastate dollar figure. It adopts the federal minimums instead. MCL 480.11a(1)(b) adopts 49 CFR part 387 among the federal motor carrier safety regulations, and MCL 480.11a(1)(b)(ii) directs that where the federal text says interstate it means intrastate or interstate, or both, as applicable. The federal part 387 general-freight minimum of $750,000 therefore governs Michigan intrastate for-hire property carriage, with the higher part 387 hazardous-materials tiers applying by commodity. MCL 480.11a(3) carves out a vehicle that is not a commercial motor vehicle as defined in 49 CFR 383.5 and is operated in intrastate commerce, which stays subject to 49 CFR parts 391 through 393 but not to the part 387 adoption.)
- Cargo minimum
- Two different answers, and an earlier pass recorded only the missing half. GENERAL FREIGHT: Michigan sets no intrastate cargo minimum, so cargo_usd stays blank as a sourced negative. HOUSEHOLD GOODS: the figure is not missing after all. MSP/CVED requires a Form H and publishes no amount itself, but MCL 480.11a(1)(b) adopts 49 CFR part 387 into Michigan law, and 49 CFR 387.303(c) sets household goods cargo liability at $5,000 for loss or damage on any one motor vehicle and $10,000 for an aggregate of losses at any one time and place. Both were read verbatim at eCFR on 2026-07-30, and MCL 480.11a(1)(b) was re-read at legislature.mi.gov the same day to confirm part 387 is inside the adoption list. So a Michigan household goods mover files Form H against those adopted federal limits; the earlier note treated this as an unclosable gap needing a phone call to MSP-CVED-RCS, which it was not.
Other Michigan insurance requirements
Insurance filing forms
Your insurance company makes these filings with the state, not you.
- Note
- The carrier does not file proof of insurance itself. The insurance company files the Form E with MSP/CVED, plus a Form H for a household goods carrier. The applicant separately supplies a Certificate of Liability. Proof of workers' compensation insurance, or an approved exclusion form from the Workers' Compensation Agency, is a distinct approval requirement, and MCL 479.9(2) requires a motor carrier to demonstrate compliance with the Worker's Disability Compensation Act on initial application and again whenever the department asks after a lapse.
More Michigan authority rules
- Administering agency detail: summary
- The Motor Carrier Act still names the Michigan Public Service Commission as the licensing body, but Executive Reorganization Order 2015-3 transferred every power and duty of the Public Service Commission under the Motor Carrier Act, the Carriers by Water Act, and the Motor Carrier Safety Act to the Michigan State Police. Authority is therefore applied for, issued, and enforced by MSP/CVED, and the Motor Carriers administrative rules are promulgated under the authority of MCL 479.6 together with ERO 2015-3.
- State carrier number detail: display rule
- Within 30 days of commencing service the carrier's name and address go on both sides of every power vehicle in contrasting colors, in plain letters and numbers not less than 3 inches high. Every power vehicle gets a separate unit number, also not less than 3 inches high on both sides. The letters CVED and the carrier's CVED number go on both sides of every power vehicle in plain letters and contrasting colors, with numbers not less than 1 1/2 inches high. The markings stay on the vehicle only while it operates under an active authority and must be removed promptly when a vehicle leaves service.
- Marking conflict note: detail
- The statute and the rule name different letters. MCL 479.8(2)(b) requires the letters MPSC and the account number of the motor carrier on both sides of all power vehicles, in numbers not less than 1.5 inches high, because the Motor Carrier Act was written when the Michigan Public Service Commission issued the authority. Mich. Admin. Code R 460.18503(3), last amended in the 2018 rule set, requires the letters CVED and the CVED number instead, matching the transfer of the program to the Michigan State Police under E.R.O. 2015-3. Both texts are currently published. A Michigan intrastate carrier should confirm the marking MSP/CVED expects at issuance rather than choosing between the two texts; MCL 479.8(2)(a) separately provides that a vehicle in compliance with the federal marking requirements of 49 CFR parts 390 to 399 satisfies the name-marking subdivision.
- Application system: url
- https://www.michigan.gov/msp/divisions/cved/regulatory/cved-authority-portal-instructions
- Application system: note
- Applicants create a MiLogin account, add the CVED Authority Portal under Michigan State Police in Discover Online Services, then either Create a Carrier (new carrier) or Claim an Existing Carrier (carriers migrating from the older ICARS system, entering the carrier name and the PIN that MSP/CVED emailed them). New applications choose General Commodities or Household Goods. Every vehicle that needs a decal is entered in the vehicle section. Payment runs through Michigan's Central Electronic Payment Authorization System (CEPAS). Modifications after issuance, including adding vehicles and 72-hour permits, are filed as request applications in the same portal.
- USDOT prerequisite: note
- MSP/CVED lists a valid application for a USDOT number among the approval requirements for intrastate-only carriers and wrecker companies conducting police-initiated tows, required if the GVWR is over 26,001 pounds. Interstate carriers of household goods must hold a valid USDOT number outright.
- Approval requirements: intrastate only and wreckers
- Valid application for a USDOT number, if applicable (required if the GVWR is over 26,001 pounds); Business filings with the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA) or the local county clerk; Proof of workers' compensation insurance, or an approved exclusion form from the Workers' Compensation Agency; Certificate of Liability and a Form E from the insurance company; All processing and decal fees paid
- Approval requirements: household goods additional
- Form H from the insurance company; A copy of any continuous contracts; Tariff membership if traveling more than 40 miles and not operating under a continuous contract
- Approval requirements: interstate household goods
- Valid USDOT number; Insurance filings; Paid UCR; Business filings with LARA or the local county clerk; Proof of workers' compensation insurance, or an approved exclusion form from the Workers' Compensation Agency
- Fitness test: summary
- Mich. Admin. Code R 460.18201 requires the application on the department's form, accompanied by the fee prescribed in MCL 478.1, with all required information completed on the electronic application and the required documentation submitted; a household goods carrier operating under contract also files copies of all current complete contracts. Under R 460.18203 the department may weigh compliance with the application requirements, the nature and extent of past violations of the Motor Carrier Safety Act and the Michigan Vehicle Code, whether the conduct showed knowing disregard for the act, whether the applicant has corrected the cause of any violations, and any mitigating circumstances. MCL 476.3 additionally requires the application to state the ownership and condition of the equipment and that the applicant's vehicles passed an inspection within the immediately preceding 12 months under the Motor Carrier Safety Act of 1963. An applicant denied in whole or in part must first request review by the department director or a designee before appealing under the Administrative Procedures Act.
- Cannot operate before issuance: note
- MCL 479.14a bars a motor carrier from commencing operations under permanent authority before the certificate has been issued. Mich. Admin. Code R 460.18505 separately bars operating a self-propelled motor vehicle until the department-issued identification decal and cab card have been issued and attached, and MCL 478.2(4) bars operating any vehicle on Michigan highways while any fee imposed by the act remains unpaid.
- Insurance rules rescinded note: detail
- Michigan no longer sets its own intrastate insurance amounts by administrative rule. Part 11 (Insurance) of the Motor Carriers rule set carries no substantive text at all in the current code published on the Michigan Administrative Rules site: R 460.19101 through R 460.19105 are each printed as Rescinded (2018 AACS), and R 460.19106 is printed as a bare rule number with a history line of 1984 AACS; 2018 AACS and no rule text and no Rescinded label, which reads as a publication slip in the state's own PDF. Either way Part 11 fixes no dollar amount. MCL 479.9(1) still gives the department full power and authority to make insurance or bond requirements for intrastate-only motor carriers of general commodities and motor carriers of household goods, but no rule currently fixes an amount, which is why the federal figures adopted through MCL 480.11a(1)(b) are the operative minimums recorded above.
- Insurance rules rescinded note: regulation
- Mich. Admin. Code R 460.19101 to R 460.19106 (Part 11, no operative text)
- Renewal detail: certificate term
- Terminates December 31 of the calendar year in which the certificate was issued
- Renewal detail: revocation
- Failure to renew by January 1 results in revocation of CVED Authority. MCL 479.10(2) cancels and terminates the certificate on and after January 1 of the year for which application should have been made when the carrier is delinquent in documents or fees. MCL 478.2(2) separately directs the commission to revoke the intrastate authority of a UCR carrier that fails to renew its annual UCR registration by January 1.
- Renewal detail: grace
- A carrier whose certificate was canceled for failure to renew has until December 31 of that year to comply with the renewal requirements. On a properly completed application, fee, proof of insurance, and a satisfactory safety review, the commission grants 60-day temporary authority to a carrier whose certificate has been expired for less than one year. A carrier that does not comply before January 1 of the next renewal year must apply for an original certificate of authority and pay the original fee plus any applicable late fees for the previous year.
- Renewal detail: UCR interaction
- MSP/CVED states that interstate carriers transporting only general commodities are not required to renew CVED Authority if they stay current on UCR fees. Every other category renews annually: intrastate-only carriers including general commodities and wrecker companies, all carriers of household goods whether interstate or intrastate, and all interstate wrecker companies conducting police-initiated tows.
- Credentials issued: summary
- MCL 479.8(1) requires the commission to furnish a decal and a cab card for each vehicle an intrastate-only motor carrier of general commodities or a motor carrier of household goods is authorized to operate, in addition to the regular registration plates. The cab card is carried in the vehicle it was issued for; the decal is attached in a conspicuous location as directed. Under Mich. Admin. Code R 460.18501(2) the identification decal expires automatically on December 31 of the year it was issued unless the department extends it. R 460.18504 requires the carrier's department-issued authority document to be kept clean and legible in the cab. Neither the decal rule nor the cab card rule applies to a UCR motor carrier of general commodities.
- Adding equipment: summary
- A certificate holder may add equipment at any time, but must file an application in the form the commission requires and pay the MCL 478.2 per-vehicle fee for each unit added. Where a holder augments equipment by lease, contract, or any arrangement other than outright purchase, the arrangement must be in writing and must vest exclusive possession and control of the vehicle in the holder for the entire term, with the vehicle operated under the holder's exclusive supervision, direction, and control. Equipment may be withdrawn from service at any time without refund by surrendering the identification allocated to the unit. MCL 479.8(2)(h) bars operating added equipment until the identification has been issued and attached.
- Exemptions: summary
- MCL 479.2 lists the operations the Motor Carrier Act does not reach. They include state and federal government vehicles; vehicles of an incorporated city, village, school district, county, or township used for governmental purposes; vehicles used exclusively to carry United States mail; farm-product hauling from the farm to market in the raw state and milk hauling from the farm to milk stations; farm trucks hauling produce, livestock, equipment, or supplies for other farmers for remuneration in kind or labor but not for money; vehicles hauling fruits, eggs, poultry, fish and seafood, grain, vegetables, seeds, nursery stock, horticultural products, or sugar beets in the raw state; occasional accommodative seasonal transportation of perishable commodities; dump trucks with not more than four axles hauling listed construction aggregates and materials to or from a highway, airport, railroad, or bridge construction site; vehicles hauling pulpwood, logs, wood chips, bark, and sawdust within a 140-mile radius of the loading point; vehicles of not more than 1-1/2 tons capacity carrying newspapers; vehicles hauling livestock, poultry feed, chemicals, pesticides, or fertilizers directly to a farm for agricultural production; qualifying corporate-family transportation; animal and poultry feed hauling to agricultural production sites or farm-supply businesses; recyclable materials moving to or from a resource recovery facility; and transportation for a nonprofit charitable institution or a house of public worship. The exemptions do not apply to a vehicle entering Michigan from a jurisdiction that does not extend similar exemptions to Michigan vehicles.
- Contact: email
- [email protected]
Who needs CVED Authority
The trigger is for-hire carriage, not weight. A motor carrier of general commodities may not operate any motor vehicle in for-hire transportation on a Michigan public highway without a certificate, and the statute reaches an authorized for-hire carrier of property other than household goods at any vehicle weight. A private carrier hauling its own goods stays outside it.
Household goods carriers hold a separate certificate under their own section, and they carry extra filings: a Form H from the insurance company, copies of any continuous contracts, and tariff membership once a move runs beyond the statutory local distance. Hazardous materials and passengers are carved out of the general-commodity definition altogether, so no general-commodity certificate covers them.
Wreckers are the odd category. A wrecker company doing police-initiated, non-consensual tows must hold CVED Authority, buy decals, and renew every year, and that reaches interstate wrecker companies too.
How the application works
Every application is online. MSP/CVED states that all applications for CVED Authority must be submitted through the portal, reached with a MiLogin account; there is no paper form. New carriers create a carrier record, while carriers migrating off the older ICARS system claim an existing carrier using the name and the PIN MSP/CVED emailed them.
You pick General Commodities or Household Goods, enter every vehicle that needs a decal, and pay through the state's central electronic payment system. A staff member reviews the file and emails you if anything is missing. Later changes, including adding vehicles and short-term permits, are filed as request applications in the same portal.
The fitness test behind the review is published. The department may weigh compliance with the application requirements, the nature and extent of past safety violations, whether the conduct showed knowing disregard, whether the applicant fixed the cause, and any mitigating circumstances. A denied applicant asks the department director for review before appealing.
Fees, and the charge that repeats per truck
Michigan bills the certificate and the fleet separately. One statutory fee covers the application for an original certificate, a smaller one covers a renewal application, and both are kept whether or not the certificate is granted. On top of that sits an annual fee assessed against each self-propelled intrastate motor vehicle you operate.
The per-vehicle line has its own carve-outs: a reduced rate for a vehicle first placed in operation in the second half of the fee year, and a reduced rate for trucks and tractors used only for household goods or for intrastate non-consensual towing by a UCR carrier. Replacement identification, replacement decals and cab cards, a temporary short-term permit, and a monthly late-renewal penalty each carry their own statutory amount.
There is also an exemption route rather than a certificate. A parent corporation that owns all of each participating subsidiary files an annual notice with an affidavit and a fee, and carries a copy of the notice in every cab doing the transportation.
Insurance minimums, filings, and the rescinded rules
Michigan sets no intrastate dollar minimum of its own any more. Part 11 of the Motor Carriers administrative rules, which once carried Michigan's own figures, has no operative text in the current code: most of it is printed as rescinded, and the last rule number appears with a history line and nothing else. The statute still empowers the department to set amounts, but no rule fixes one.
What fills the gap is federal. Michigan adopts the federal financial responsibility part among the motor carrier safety regulations, and directs that where the federal text says interstate it means intrastate or interstate as applicable, so the federal general-freight minimum governs Michigan intrastate for-hire carriage, with the higher hazardous materials tiers applying by commodity.
The paperwork is where Michigan is genuinely its own state. Your insurance company files the Form E, and a Form H for household goods; you supply a Certificate of Liability; and you separately prove workers' compensation coverage or file an approved exclusion. No cargo dollar amount is published anywhere MSP/CVED writes, so this page shows none and points household goods applicants at the Regulatory and Credentialing Section instead.
The renewal window is nine weeks long
A Michigan certificate terminates on the last day of the calendar year in which it was issued, and the renewal application window opens in October and closes at the start of December. MSP/CVED mails renewal notices in the fall. File after the window closes and a penalty attaches for each month or partial month the application is late.
Miss January 1 and the authority is revoked. A carrier whose certificate was canceled has the rest of that year to comply, and on a complete application, fee, proof of insurance, and a satisfactory safety review the department grants short temporary authority to a carrier expired less than a year. Let it run past the next renewal year and you file for an original certificate again.
Who has to renew depends on the operation. Interstate carriers hauling only general commodities are excused as long as they stay current on UCR. Household goods carriers, every intrastate-only carrier, and every interstate wrecker company doing police-initiated tows renew annually regardless.
MPSC or CVED on the door
Two published Michigan texts disagree about what goes on your truck. The Motor Carrier Act still requires the letters MPSC plus the carrier's account number on both sides of every power vehicle, because it was written when the Public Service Commission issued the authority. The administrative rule from the 2018 rule set requires the letters CVED and the CVED number instead.
Both are currently in force, and neither has been withdrawn. Confirm with MSP/CVED at issuance which marking it expects rather than choosing between them yourself. Separately, the act provides that a vehicle already complying with the federal marking requirements satisfies the name-marking subdivision, and the rule sets the letter heights, the unit numbering, and the requirement to remove markings when a vehicle leaves service.
Who the act does not reach
The exemption list is long and oddly specific, and it is worth reading before you assume you need a certificate. It covers government vehicles, mail carriage, raw farm product hauling from farm to market, milk from farm to milk station, fruit and vegetable and grain and seed and nursery stock movement in the raw state, and occasional seasonal transportation of perishables.
It also covers dump trucks under an axle count hauling listed construction materials to or from a construction site, pulpwood and log hauling inside a published radius of the loading point, light vehicles carrying newspapers, feed and chemicals and fertilizer moving directly to a farm for agricultural production, recyclable materials moving to or from a recovery facility, and carriage for a nonprofit charity or a house of worship. The exemptions do not extend to a vehicle entering Michigan from a jurisdiction that does not return the favour.
Where this fits in the Michigan 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 Michigan, 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 Michigan require intrastate operating authority for for-hire trucking?
- Yes. A for-hire motor carrier of general commodities needs a certificate of authority before operating on any Michigan public highway, and household goods carriers hold their own certificate under a separate section. The requirement is not weight-triggered, so it reaches light trucks hauling for pay.
Do I need a USDOT number before CVED Authority?
- Above the published weight line, yes. MSP/CVED lists a valid USDOT number application among the approval requirements for intrastate-only carriers and for wrecker companies doing police-initiated tows, and interstate household goods carriers must hold one outright.
What insurance does Michigan require for intrastate carriers?
- The federal liability minimums, adopted wholesale by statute rather than set by a Michigan rule, filed for you by your insurance company on a Form E. Household goods carriers add a Form H. You also prove workers' compensation coverage or file an approved exclusion, and no cargo dollar amount is published.
When does CVED Authority have to be renewed?
- The certificate terminates at the end of the calendar year it was issued in, and the renewal window runs from October into early December. Late filing draws a monthly penalty, and failing to renew by New Year's Day revokes the authority outright.
What does CVED Authority cost?
- Two charges, both statutory: a fee for the application itself, kept whether or not the certificate is granted, and an annual fee for every self-propelled intrastate vehicle you run. Replacement identification, decals, cab cards, and a short-term permit each carry their own amount, all rendered as sourced fields with their statutes.
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.