We have just started into the owner operator world, no lease purchase. At the present time I am waiting on our own authority to be approved, so I have decided to lease onto another company until our authority is approved. We have had our truck lettered with company name and usdot, mc and kyu numbers. Since we are leasing to another company do we have to pull our name off the truck or can we keep it and add the other company information

What does the company you are going to lease to want?

Just wondering. Why did you place your own DOT / MC number on the doors if you haven't had it approved yet?

Orangetxguy, I think they meant that they put on the name and DOT/MC numbers of the carrier they are leased on with, not their own numbers. They were just wondering if they had to remove their own truck company name off the truck.

For that, the answer is NO. You can have both your company name and the carrier's name on the truck. But if you have both company names, you do also have to have a "leased to" or "operated by" along with the carrier name. That is to show that the DOT/MC number applies to them and you are operating under their authority. Technically, your truck company is contracted to the carrier. Both company names can be on the truck. I have both my company name and the carrier I am contracted with company name on my truck. If you have only the carrier name on the truck, and not your company name, then "leased to" or "operated by" is not required.

As a side note, some states occasionally get anal about whether you use "leased to" or "operated by". Iowa, for a while, was getting goofy about this and only wanted "operated by" on the truck, but they seem to have backed off. Just something to be aware of.

I am curious as to why you would lease to another carrier if you have already applied for your authority? It only takes a few weeks to get your authority back. I would not waste time leasing on to a carrier if I had already applied for my own authority. Hopefully, you have not started this venture on a shoestring where you can't wait a couple of weeks until you get your authority approved. It really isn't fair to the carrier to whom you want to lease for you to only stay a couple of weeks. It is expensive to do all the background checks and add new people to the insurance.

You are not supposed to have two names with different DOT and/or MC numbers on the truck. It can be confusing to the DOT. Whatever name is on the truck should match the DOT number assigned to that name. You can have your company name on the door, but should not have the company to whom you are leasing under your company name. It should be listed in such a way that there is no mistake as to who has the authority. You can put "leased to" next to or just over the carrier name, but some distinction needs to be made. It should be noted on the fmcsa website if you want to check.

just in a big rush I guess, thought the approval time was faster than it is.

The other carrier I am leasing with knows that I am waiting on my own authority and yes it is expensive. I had no idea that it cost so much to start up. I could wait alittle longer but I don't want to use money I have set back for the road.

I usually takes from 3-6 weeks to get through the process.