Intrastate or Interstate? Texas Carrier Basics

Carriers in Midland ask whether they are intrastate or interstate as if it were a choice. It is not a choice; it is a description of what your freight does. And it matters, because the two are regulated by different agencies with different registrations, insurance minimums and driver rules. Get the description wrong and you are either paying for registrations you do not need or running loads you are not authorized to run. This is how to tell, and what each one requires.

The test is the freight, not the truck

Interstate commerce is trade or transportation that crosses a state or national border, or that is part of a journey that does. If a load starts in Midland and ends in Odessa, and it was never going anywhere else, that is intrastate. If a load starts in Midland and ends in Carlsbad, New Mexico, it is interstate. If a load starts in Houston, comes to Midland by rail, and you carry it the last thirty miles to a lease, that leg is also interstate, because the freight's journey began in another state. What counts is where the goods came from and where they are going, not whether your wheels touched the state line.

What a Texas intrastate carrier needs

• A USDOT number. Texas requires one for intrastate commercial vehicles above the weight threshold, even though the federal rule alone would not.
• Texas motor carrier registration with the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles, which issues a TxDMV certificate number that must be displayed on the vehicle. Renewed on the cycle you choose at registration.
• Proof of insurance at Texas minimums, filed with TxDMV by the insurer, with the amounts depending on vehicle weight and cargo.
• Texas commercial vehicle registration and the state inspection.
• Driver qualification files, medical certificates, and drug and alcohol testing for CDL drivers, because Texas adopts the federal safety rules for intrastate operations with a few age and medical exceptions.

What changes when you go interstate

• Federal operating authority if you haul for hire, with federal insurance minimums that are generally higher than Texas's.
• A process agent designation in every state.
• UCR registration every calendar year.
• IFTA for fuel tax and IRP for apportioned plates, so that Texas, New Mexico and any other state you run in each get their share.
• The federal new entrant safety audit within your first months of interstate operation.
• Federal driver age minimums and medical standards apply without the Texas exceptions.

Common mix-ups

1. 01Believing that a Texas plate and TxDMV number are enough because the truck is based in Texas. Where it is based has nothing to do with it.
2. 02Hauling a broker's load that is bound out of state on intrastate credentials. The broker's paperwork will show the true origin and destination.
3. 03Running IFTA-free into New Mexico on a trip permit repeatedly. Trip permits are for occasional trips; regular crossings require IFTA and IRP.
4. 04Forgetting that an oilfield lease across the line is still another state, even if the road never touches a town.

Frequently asked questions

Set up once, correctly

Tell us where the loads are going and we will tell you which registrations you need. DOT compliance is one of our six services. Call (432) 257-7547 or come by 700 C Andrews Hwy in Midland. English and Spanish.