For general freight in interstate commerce, 49 CFR 387.9 requires a for-hire motor carrier operating vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating of 10,001 pounds or more to keep at least $750,000 of public liability coverage in effect. Carriers hauling oil or most listed hazardous materials need $1,000,000, and those hauling bulk hazardous substances or highway route controlled quantities of Class 7 material need $5,000,000. These are public liability limits — bodily injury, property damage and environmental restoration — and they say nothing about cargo insurance.
49 CFR Part 387 sets the minimum amount of liability protection a motor carrier must have in force before it may operate, and it does that with a schedule of dollar figures keyed to what you haul and how heavy the vehicle is. It also tells you what proof to keep, where to keep it, and how much notice an insurer must give before coverage disappears.
Everything below is taken from the current regulation text. Insurance figures are the part of the FMCSRs that get quoted wrong most often, so where the rule is ambiguous or a section has been suspended and replaced, this page says so rather than smoothing it over.
Who does Part 387 apply to?
Subpart A, the property side, applies to for-hire motor carriers hauling property in interstate or foreign commerce, and to any motor carrier — for-hire or private — hauling hazardous materials, hazardous substances or hazardous wastes in interstate, foreign or intrastate commerce (49 CFR 387.3(a)–(b)).
Two exceptions in 49 CFR 387.3(c) do real work:
- The subpart does not apply to a vehicle with a gross vehicle weight rating under 10,001 pounds — unless that vehicle carries any quantity of Division 1.1, 1.2 or 1.3 material, Division 2.3 Hazard Zone A, Division 6.1 Packing Group I Hazard Zone A, or a highway route controlled quantity of Class 7 material in interstate or foreign commerce (387.3(c)(1)).
- The subpart does not apply to non-bulk oil, hazardous materials, substances or wastes moving in intrastate commerce, except for highway route controlled quantities of Class 7 material (387.3(c)(2)).
So a private fleet running non-hazardous freight in its own trucks is outside Subpart A. Put one placarded load on that same truck and it is inside.
What are the actual minimum insurance amounts?
This is the operative schedule, reproduced from Table 1 to § 387.9. The column heading in the regulation is the original effective date, January 1, 1985 — the figures have not changed since.
| Type of carriage | Commodity transported | Minimum |
|---|---|---|
| (1) For-hire — interstate or foreign commerce, GVWR 10,001 lbs or more | Property (nonhazardous) | $750,000 |
| (2) For-hire and private — interstate, foreign, or intrastate commerce, GVWR 10,001 lbs or more | Hazardous substances as defined in 49 CFR 171.8 carried in bulk in cargo tanks, portable tanks or hopper-type vehicles; bulk Division 1.1, 1.2 or 1.3 materials; bulk Division 2.3 Hazard Zone A; bulk Division 6.1 Packing Group I Hazard Zone A; bulk Division 2.1 or 2.2; or highway route controlled quantities of Class 7 material per 49 CFR 173.403 | $5,000,000 |
| (3) For-hire and private — interstate or foreign commerce in any quantity, or intrastate commerce in bulk only, GVWR 10,001 lbs or more | Oil listed in 49 CFR 172.101; hazardous waste, hazardous materials or hazardous substances defined in 49 CFR 171.8 and listed in 49 CFR 172.101, but not covered by row (2) or row (4) | $1,000,000 |
| (4) For-hire and private — interstate or foreign commerce, GVWR less than 10,001 lbs | Bulk Division 1.1, 1.2 or 1.3 material; bulk Division 2.3 Hazard Zone A; bulk Division 6.1 Packing Group I Hazard Zone A; or highway route controlled quantities of Class 7 material per 49 CFR 173.403 | $5,000,000 |
Source: 49 CFR 387.9, Table 1, as amended at 91 FR 45660 (July 21, 2026). Because that table has been technically amended recently, verify the live text before you rely on a row for a hazmat operation — the general-freight figure of $750,000 is stable, but the hazardous-materials rows are where drafting changes land.
Three things carriers regularly get wrong about this table:
$750,000 is the federal floor, not the market floor. Almost every broker, shipper and equipment lease in the country requires $1,000,000 combined single limit. That is a contract term, not 49 CFR 387.9. Both statements are true at once, and confusing them is how a carrier ends up under-insured for the loads it actually books.
Row (1) is for-hire only. A private carrier hauling its own non-hazardous property is not caught by row (1); it becomes subject to the schedule when it hauls the commodities in rows (2), (3) or (4).
“Public liability” is broader than it sounds. Under 49 CFR 387.5 it means liability for bodily injury or property damage and includes liability for environmental restoration — restitution for damage to natural resources from a discharge of transported commodity, including removal costs and measures to mitigate harm.
What about passenger carriers, small vehicles and cargo?
Three other schedules sit inside Part 387 and get mixed up with the one above.
| Operation | Requirement | Cite |
|---|---|---|
| For-hire passenger carrier, vehicle seating 16 or more including the driver | $5,000,000 | 49 CFR 387.33 (operative text at 387.33T) |
| For-hire passenger carrier, vehicle seating 15 or fewer including the driver | $1,500,000 | 49 CFR 387.33 (operative text at 387.33T) |
| For-hire property carrier whose fleet includes only vehicles under 10,001 lbs GVWR, non-hazardous property (filing requirement) | $300,000 | 49 CFR 387.303T(b)(1)(i) |
| Household goods carrier — cargo, any one motor vehicle | $5,000 | 49 CFR 387.303T(c)(1) |
| Household goods carrier — cargo, any one time and place | $10,000 | 49 CFR 387.303T(c)(2) |
| Property broker — surety bond or trust fund | $75,000 | 49 CFR 387.307(a) |
A note on the “T” sections, because it explains an oddity you will hit if you read the CFR yourself. FMCSA suspended §§ 387.33, 387.301 and 387.303 and left parallel sections numbered 387.33T, 387.301T and 387.303T in force. The dollar figures are the same in both, but the operative text is the T version. Passenger-carrier exceptions in 49 CFR 387.27(b) also carve out school transportation, small taxicab service, commuter vans carrying fewer than 16 people, and school-district-paid extracurricular trips.
Note also that Subpart C — the filing requirements, where the $300,000 small-vehicle figure lives — is about what you file with FMCSA to hold operating authority. Subpart A is about what you must maintain to operate at all. They are different obligations with different triggers, and a carrier can satisfy one and breach the other.
What is an MCS-90 and where does it have to be?
Under 49 CFR 387.7(a) no motor carrier may operate a motor vehicle until it has obtained and has in effect the minimum levels in 387.9. Proof lives at the carrier’s principal place of business, and 49 CFR 387.7(d) says it must consist of one of exactly three things:
- Form MCS-90, the endorsement for motor carrier policies of insurance for public liability;
- Form MCS-82, a surety bond; or
- A written FMCSA decision, order or authorization to self-insure under 49 CFR 387.309 — available only while the carrier maintains a satisfactory safety rating under Part 385.
The MCS-90 is the piece most owners do not fully understand. It is an endorsement bolted onto the policy under which the insurer agrees to pay any final judgment recovered against the insured for public liability arising from negligent operation, maintenance or use of motor vehicles — the same “conditioned to pay any final judgment” language that appears in 49 CFR 387.301(a)(1). The endorsement protects the public: it pays out even where a policy exclusion would otherwise apply, and it survives the insured’s insolvency. In exchange, the insured agrees to reimburse the insurer for any payment the insurer would not have owed but for the endorsement. In practice that means an MCS-90 is not extra coverage for you — it is a public backstop that you may end up repaying.
Two more requirements that generate findings:
- Exact name. 49 CFR 387.15 requires the endorsement and surety bond to be issued in the exact name of the motor carrier. A DBA on the policy and a legal name on the authority is a real defect.
- It is public. 49 CFR 387.7(e)(1) makes proof of the required minimum levels public information, to be produced for review “upon reasonable request by a member of the public.”
How does coverage get cancelled, and what is the 35-day rule?
Policies, surety bonds and endorsements must remain in effect continuously until terminated (49 CFR 387.7(b)(1)). Cancellation requires 35 days’ written notice from the insurer to the carrier or from the carrier to the insurer, and the clock starts on the date the notice is transmitted; proof of transmission is sufficient proof of notice. Passenger carriers get the same rule at 49 CFR 387.31(b)(1).
Replacement is allowed. Under 49 CFR 387.7(c), when a new policy or bond replaces the old one, the retiring insurer’s liability for later events ends on the effective date of the replacement or at the end of the 35-day cancellation period, whichever comes first. There is also a narrow exception at 387.7(b)(2) permitting finite-period policies to cover a lapse in continuous compliance.
Who may write the policy is constrained too. Under 49 CFR 387.11 the insurer must be legally authorized to issue such policies in every state the carrier operates in, or authorized in the carrier’s home state and willing to designate an agent for service of process in the states it operates in, or eligible as a surplus lines insurer on the same designation terms.
What auditors actually check
A financial responsibility check during a compliance review is short, documentary and unforgiving.
- Is the MCS-90 (or MCS-82, or self-insurance authorization) physically at the principal place of business? That is the literal text of 49 CFR 387.7(d) — not “with your agent,” not “in the broker’s portal.”
- Does the name on the endorsement match the carrier’s legal name exactly? 49 CFR 387.15.
- Is the limit at least the amount the commodity requires? Investigators read your operating profile — placards, tank endorsement, MCS-150 cargo classifications — and then read your limit. A carrier that self-declared hazmat and carries $750,000 is a finding waiting to happen.
- Was there a coverage gap? Because coverage must be continuous under 387.7(b)(1), a lapse is not cured by rebinding later; it is a period of unlawful operation.
- For carriers with operating authority, is the filing current? Insurers file public liability evidence on Form BMC-91 or BMC-91X, and household goods cargo on Form BMC-34, per the procedures in 49 CFR 387.313T. A live policy with a lapsed FMCSA filing still deactivates authority.
- Cross-border operations. Vehicles operated in the U.S. by carriers domiciled in a contiguous foreign country must carry a legible English copy of the MCS-90 or MCS-82 on board, and 49 CFR 387.7(g) requires denial of entry to any vehicle without it.
Because the failure mode here is almost always a date rather than a document — a renewal that quietly lapsed while everyone assumed the agent handled it — carriers get more value from an expiry alert than from a thicker binder. That is the pattern behind Fleetive’s compliance and safety tracking: the certificate is stored against the company record with its own countdown, alongside the truck and driver documents. If you are preparing for a review more broadly, work through DOT audit preparation.
Most common violations
- Operating with a lapsed policy. The single most common Part 387 finding, and it usually surfaces as an FMCSA notice of revocation of authority rather than as a roadside citation.
- Carrying $750,000 while hauling commodities that require $1,000,000 or $5,000,000. The trigger is the commodity, not the truck.
- The MCS-90 is not at the principal place of business. 49 CFR 387.7(d) is a possession requirement, and “my agent has it” is not compliance.
- Name mismatch between the endorsement and the carrier’s legal name — 49 CFR 387.15.
- Assuming Part 387 covers your freight. It does not, outside household goods. Cargo coverage for general freight is contractual.
- Ignoring the 35-day notice window. A cancellation notice mailed today ends coverage in 35 days whether or not anyone in the office opened the envelope.
- Confusing filing minimums with operating minimums — the $300,000 in 49 CFR 387.303T(b)(1)(i) applies only to a fleet consisting solely of vehicles under 10,001 pounds GVWR hauling non-hazardous property, and is a Subpart C filing figure.
Where to read the rule
Cornell’s Legal Information Institute mirrors the current text at 49 CFR Part 387, and the schedule itself is worth bookmarking directly at 49 CFR 387.9. Because the hazardous-materials rows have been touched by technical amendments, check the live table before quoting a figure in a contract.
Insurance sits next to two other rules that decide whether you may operate at all: Part 390 for USDOT registration and the CMV definition, and Part 376 for what a lease must say about liability and insurance when you run owner-operators. Your MCS-150 registration data also drives which limit FMCSA expects of you, so keep it accurate — the MCS-150 due date checker will tell you when your next biennial update falls. For the wider picture, see the DOT compliance guide, the FMCSA regulations overview, or the full 49 CFR reference library.
This page is a plain-English summary of a federal regulation, not legal or insurance advice. Dollar figures in the CFR are amended from time to time; confirm the current table on eCFR or Cornell LII before relying on it, and talk to a licensed commercial transportation insurance professional about your own operation.
Note: This is a plain-English summary of 49 CFR Part 387, current as of the date above, and is general information rather than legal advice. The regulation itself is controlling — read it on the eCFR and confirm current requirements with the FMCSA.