The Motus transition, explained for carriers.

If you registered your USDOT number before May 14, 2026, you have to claim it in Motus, and you have to use the same Login.gov email you listed as your company official in the old Portal. If that is still on your list, it is overdue. Handle it now.

Miss it and you don't lose your authority outright. But you get locked out of the system you use to update your record, file forms, and stay in good standing. That is not a place a working carrier wants to be. Here is what Motus is, what you have to do, and how to do it.

What is Motus and why did FMCSA replace the old systems?

Motus is FMCSA's new online system for registering and managing a USDOT number and operating authority. It replaces the Unified Registration System (URS) and the old Licensing & Insurance (L&I) system, and takes over the registration functions of the legacy FMCSA Portal. It puts registration for motor carriers, brokers, and freight forwarders in one place.

FMCSA built Motus for two reasons. Federal law requires the agency to run a single, unified registration system, and Motus finishes that job. It also closes the door on registration fraud the old systems allowed. Bad actors could hijack a carrier's identity or file fraudulent registrations too easily. Chameleon carriers shut down under one name and reopened under a fresh number to shed a bad safety record. Scammers took over legitimate carriers' USDOT records and did business in their names. Motus requires a verified identity on every account and randomizes newly issued numbers so they can't be guessed or spoofed. See FMCSA's overview at fmcsa.dot.gov/registration/whats-coming.

The short version: same job as the old systems, tighter security, one front door instead of several.

Motus is not only for carriers. FMCSA also built a portal for what it calls supporting companies: the process agents who file your BOC-3, the insurance companies that file your proof of coverage, and other businesses that file on a carrier's behalf. Their steps look different from yours, but they now work in Motus too. That matters because a late insurance or process agent filing on your record often traces back to their side of the same transition. If you work with a process agent, FMCSA's Supporting Company Job Aid walks through their side.

How do I claim my USDOT number in Motus?

Log in with the Login.gov account tied to the email you listed as the company official in the old FMCSA Portal. Motus matches that email to your existing record and links the number to your verified identity.

The steps:

1. Find the email that was on file as your company official in the old Portal. This is the one Motus expects.
2. Go to Motus through FMCSA and sign in or create a Login.gov account using that same email.
3. Complete the identity verification step with a government-issued ID (more on that below).
4. Claim your USDOT number once Motus matches your identity to the record.

f you no longer have access to that email, or you're not sure which address was on file, fix that before anything else. It is the single biggest hurdle carriers hit in this process. Do not create a new Login.gov account under a different email and expect it to work. Motus matches on the exact address that was on file, and a new account will not link to your record.

The fix runs through FMCSA. Call the Registration Customer Service Center at 1-800-832-5660 or open a ticket at ask.fmcsa.dot.gov, and be ready to show documents that prove your connection to the company. None of this is a same-day fix, so start now instead of the week a filing comes due.

Why can't I log into Motus, and what is identity verification?

The most common reason is a wrong email or an unfinished identity verification. Motus needs both the right email and a verified identity before it will link your USDOT number.

Two pieces work together here. Login.gov is the federal government's shared sign-in service, the same account used across many government sites. Identity verification is a separate step inside Motus where you prove you are who you say you are, using a government-issued ID and some personal details, before you get access to your carrier record. That extra step is the point. It is what keeps someone else from claiming your number as theirs.

If you're stuck, check three things in order:

• Are you using the exact email that was the company official in the old Portal?
• Have you completed the identity verification step, not just created a Login.gov account?
• Does the ID information you entered match the person of record?

Clear those three and most login problems go away.

Do I still use the FMCSA Portal after Motus?

For registration, no. Once you've claimed your record in Motus, that is where you handle your registration going forward: biennial updates, business information changes, authority actions, and filings. You no longer use the Portal for those tasks.

FMCSA has not said the Portal disappears entirely, and some FMCSA tools may still run alongside Motus during the transition. Functions can come online in stages, so don't assume every task lives in Motus on day one. If a form or filing isn't where you expect it, verify the current location with FMCSA rather than guessing.

The direction is clear either way: Motus is the future of USDOT registration.

What changed about USDOT and docket numbers?

Newly issued USDOT numbers and operating-authority docket (MC) numbers are now randomized instead of assigned in sequence. This is a fraud-prevention measure, not a change to numbers already in use.

If you already have a USDOT or MC number, it stays yours. You are not being reassigned a new one. The randomization applies only to numbers FMCSA issues going forward, so a new number can't be predicted from the last one issued. Under the old sequential system, the next MC numbers could be predicted before they were issued, and bad actors registered them to hoard, resell, or run frauds under numbers that looked established. Randomization closes that loophole.

New USDOT numbers also come with suffixes. A suffix is a short tag at the end of the number that shows what kind of entity holds it and what registrations FMCSA has granted, and one company can carry more than one. You don't have to paint suffixes on your trucks, but the law does require them on business-transaction documents for brokers, freight forwarders, and for-hire carriers. Existing USDOT numbers don't get suffixes, so if you start seeing them on new companies you work with, that is what they are.

When did the Motus transition start?

FMCSA's legacy registration systems yielded to Motus on May 14, 2026. If you haven't claimed your USDOT number yet, treat it as overdue and handle it now.

What if Motus shows my authority wrong, or I can't get in?

The rollout has been bumpy, and FMCSA has said so. Since the May 2026 cutover, carriers have hit operating authority that shows "Not Authorized" or goes missing entirely, insurance filings that post late, and login and record-claiming failures that take several tries to clear. If Motus shows something wrong with your record, it is likely the system, not your record. Check what Motus displays against your own filing history before you assume something lapsed.

None of this changes what you owe FMCSA. It changes how much attention the transition needs while the system settles.

Which email do I use to claim my USDOT number?

The same email you had listed as the company official in the old FMCSA Portal. Motus matches that address to your existing record.

Do I need a Login.gov account for Motus?

Yes. Motus uses Login.gov for sign-in and requires a separate identity verification step before you can access your carrier record.

Will my USDOT or MC number change?

No. Existing numbers stay the same. Only newly issued numbers are randomized, and only new numbers carry suffixes.

Is the FMCSA Portal going away?

For registration tasks, yes. Motus replaces the Portal's registration functions, and once your record is claimed you manage registration in Motus. FMCSA has not announced that the Portal itself is shutting down entirely.

Where can I confirm the official steps?

FMCSA is the source of record. Start at fmcsa.dot.gov/registration/whats-coming.

Where this is going

Motus is the first big piece of a longer shift toward tighter, identity-verified registration in trucking. More of these changes are coming, and each one arrives with a deadline that's easy to miss when you're running loads. A carrier shouldn't lose access to their own record because a federal system changed and the notice never reached them.

That is the reason we're building Dotra. We caught Motus early and walked each carrier through it in plain language, inside the software, and we watch for the next change the same way. See how Dotra helps carriers through the Motus transition, or book a demo and stay ahead of the next deadline instead of chasing it.