FMCSA Wants New Carriers Tested Before They Ever Roll

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has pulled a rule out of a long holding pattern. The New Entrant Safety Assurance Process, carried on the federal regulatory agenda under number 2126-AB17, is back with a new target date. The idea behind it is simple. Before a brand new carrier gets operating authority, the agency wants some way to confirm that carrier actually knows the safety rules it is about to be held to. One of the options on the table is a proficiency exam.

FreightWaves covered the revival and Overdrive reported that FMCSA is now aiming for a supplemental advance notice of proposed rulemaking in November 2026. That is an early step. It proposes no rule text and it creates no requirement on anybody. It asks the industry questions. But the direction it points matters if you are about to file for authority, and it matters to how your first policy gets priced.

Where this rule came from

Congress asked for it in the Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Act of 1999, which directed the Secretary of Transportation to consider a proficiency examination for applicant motor carriers along with other ways to make sure applicants understood the safety regulations before being granted authority. The new entrant program itself took effect in 2003. FMCSA issued a final rule tightening the program in December 2008, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety petitioned for reconsideration in January 2009, and the agency put out an advance notice in August 2009. Then it stalled. Target dates moved from 2023 to 2024 to May 2026, and now to November 2026.

How a new carrier gets cleared today

Right now the knowledge check is a self certification. You state on your MCS-150 that you are familiar with the applicable regulations, you get new entrant authority, and you start running. The safety audit that verifies any of it comes within 18 months of the day you begin operating. In other words the trucks are already on the road, already hauling freight, already exposed, and the government's first real look at your paperwork can land up to a year and a half later. That gap is the whole argument. Whether a written test is the right fix is exactly what the agency is asking about.

Why your first 18 months are the expensive ones

Underwriters have been pricing that gap for years. A carrier with no loss history, no verified safety program, and no completed audit is the hardest risk in the book to rate, so new authorities pay the most and get the fewest options. The cost spread by fleet size is stark. ATRI data reported by FreightWaves put insurance at 20.3 cents per mile in 2024 for fleets running 5 to 25 trucks, against 6.6 cents per mile for fleets over 1,000 trucks. Across the whole market, commercial auto premiums rose an average of 8.3 percent a year from 2017 through 2025 while general inflation ran 3.9 percent, and the segment posted combined ratios of 109.2 in 2023 and 107.2 in 2024, meaning insurers paid out more than they collected.

What a test would change and what it would not

If FMCSA lands on an exam, the practical effect for a new carrier is a front loaded compliance burden. You would need to know driver qualification files, hours of service, drug and alcohol testing, and maintenance recordkeeping before the authority arrives rather than scrambling when the audit letter shows up. For most owner operators that is not really a new expense. It is a schedule change.

What it would not change is your insurance filing. Your authority is only live when the filing behind it is live. Your commercial auto liability policy has to be on file at the 750,000 dollar federal minimum for general freight before you can legally run, and if the policy cancels the filing goes with it. A test at the front door does nothing for a carrier who lets coverage lapse in month seven. If you are still working through what has to be in place, read our guide to new trucking authority insurance requirements.

What to do while the agency asks its questions

Nothing in this rulemaking requires you to act today. But the things a proficiency exam would test are the same things an underwriter looks at when deciding whether to quote you at all. Build the driver qualification file properly on day one. Keep maintenance records you could hand over cold. Know what your motor truck cargo policy actually covers before a shipper asks for a certificate naming limits you do not carry. Carriers who treat the 18 month audit as a deadline instead of a surprise almost always renew better.

If you are filing for new authority or you are sitting inside your first audit window, get a truck insurance quote and see where you really stand. We work with owner operators and small fleets every day and we can get numbers back to you fast. Call or text 423-264-4255, or start your quote here.