Form E and Form H Filings

Federal filings have state equivalents

If you haul across state lines, your proof of insurance goes to the FMCSA through a federal filing such as the BMC-91X. If you operate entirely inside one state, the federal system generally does not apply to you. Your state does.

Most states run their own intrastate authority and their own proof of insurance requirement, and the standardised forms used for it are the Form E and the Form H. Your insurance company files them with the state agency that regulates intrastate motor carriers, which depending on the state might be the department of transportation, the department of motor vehicles, a public utilities or public service commission, or a corporation commission.

What each form does

Form E is the Uniform Motor Carrier Bodily Injury and Property Damage Liability Certificate of Insurance. It certifies that you carry liability coverage meeting your state's financial responsibility requirement. This is the state analogue of the federal liability filing and it is the more commonly required of the two.

Form H is the Uniform Motor Carrier Cargo Insurance Certificate. It certifies that you carry cargo coverage at the level the state requires. Not every state requires a cargo filing, and not every operation within a state that does require one will need it, so this varies more than Form E.

There is a third form worth knowing. Form K is the notice of cancellation. When coverage ends, the insurer files a Form K to notify the state, which starts the clock on your authority being suspended.

Requirements vary by state, genuinely

This is the part where generic advice fails people. There is no single national answer to what your state requires, and anyone giving you one is guessing.

What varies between states includes which agency receives the filing, whether Form E alone is enough or Form H is also required, what the minimum liability limit is, whether limits change based on vehicle weight or the commodity you haul, whether passenger or household goods operations face different rules, and how much advance notice a cancellation requires.

Some states require intrastate limits well below the federal seven hundred fifty thousand dollar figure. Others align with it or exceed it for certain commodities. A few states do not use these forms at all and have their own process.

The practical answer is that we look it up for your state and your operation rather than telling you a number that might be wrong. If you want the state context for where you run, our state by state pages cover the operating picture in each one.

The trap in the word intrastate

Here is where carriers get themselves in trouble, and it is worth reading twice.

Whether you are interstate or intrastate is not determined by where your truck physically drives. It is determined by the nature of the freight movement. If the freight is in the middle of a journey that crosses a state line or a national border, hauling it is interstate commerce even if your leg of the trip never leaves the state.

The classic example is drayage. A container comes off a ship, and you haul it forty miles from the port to a warehouse without ever leaving the state. That is interstate commerce, because the container's journey began overseas and is still in progress. Anyone doing that work with only intrastate authority and only a state filing is operating improperly, and our drayage insurance page covers the rest of what that operation needs.

The same logic catches carriers hauling for a distribution centre that receives goods from out of state, and carriers doing a local leg of a longer national move. If you have any doubt about which side of the line you are on, ask before you assume, because the consequence of getting it wrong is operating without proper authority.

How cancellation works, and why it matters

State filings work much like the federal ones. Coverage cancellation triggers a Form K notice to the state, and there is a notice period before your authority is affected. That period varies by state.

Treat it the same way you should treat the federal version. It is not a grace period. It is a safety margin that exists so you do not lose your authority through an administrative gap, and using it deliberately puts you one processing delay away from being shut down. Bind and file replacement coverage before the old policy ends.

Can you need both federal and state filings

Yes, and plenty of carriers do. If you hold interstate authority and also do intrastate work in a state that requires its own filing, you may need the federal filing and the state filing running at the same time. They are separate systems and satisfying one does not satisfy the other.

This is one of the more common gaps we find when reviewing an existing program. A carrier gets their federal filings handled properly when they set up their authority, then starts taking intrastate work in their home state and nobody ever files the Form E.

What we need from you

• Your DOT number, and MC number if you have interstate authority
• Which state or states you operate in
• Whether your freight ever originates or terminates outside the state
• What you haul and your vehicle weights
• Whether you already hold intrastate authority or are applying

We will confirm which filings your operation actually needs, place the commercial auto liability coverage to support them, submit the forms, and verify they posted. Send us the details and we will sort out what applies to you.