What is a BMC-91X filing? A guide for truck insurance agents
What the BMC-91 and BMC-91X insurance filings are, who files them with FMCSA, what each filing shows, and how agents can use the public record to find leads.
If you write commercial auto for trucking companies, you file BMC-91X forms or have someone at your carrier partner do it. But the filing also becomes a public record that tells you which carriers are insured, by whom, for how much, and when coverage is about to end. This guide covers both sides.
The short answer
A BMC-91 or BMC-91X is a certificate of insurance that an insurance company files directly with FMCSA to prove that a motor carrier has the bodily injury and property damage liability coverage (BIPD) federal law requires. The trucker does not file it. The insurer does.
The requirement applies to interstate for-hire carriers. For general freight the minimum BIPD limit is $750,000, and higher limits apply to some hazardous cargo.
BMC-91 versus BMC-91X
Both forms do the same job: they put proof of liability coverage on file with FMCSA. The BMC-91X version lets each filing state the layer of coverage it provides, so a primary insurer and an excess insurer can each file for their part of the required limit. For lead purposes the two are read the same way, and FMCSA’s public files treat them as one stream of BIPD filings.
What a filing shows
Each filing names:
| Field | What it tells an agent |
|---|---|
| Carrier DOT number and MC docket | Which trucking company it is, and that it holds (or applied for) operating authority |
| Insurer | Who currently writes the liability |
| Policy number | Lets you tell a re-filed policy from a new insurer |
| Coverage amount | The limit the carrier is buying |
| Effective date | When the policy began, which is the basis for estimating the renewal |
FMCSA publishes these filings as public records, along with cancellations, authority grants and revocations.
What happens when coverage ends
When an insurer drops a carrier, it must notify FMCSA with a cancellation date, usually about 30 days ahead. If no new BMC-91 or BMC-91X arrives by then, FMCSA can revoke the carrier’s operating authority. That cancellation date is in the public record and it is exact, which makes it the single most time-sensitive lead in trucking insurance. Our guide to finding carriers whose insurance is cancelling covers how to read it.
Why the filing makes good lead data
Because the insurer files, the record is more reliable than anything a carrier self-reports. It also captures three buying moments:
- No filing yet, but an MC number. A new authority has applied to haul for hire and cannot do so until a filing arrives.
- A cancellation on file. The carrier needs replacement coverage before a known date.
- A policy anniversary approaching. The effective date gives an estimated renewal, the one time a covered carrier tends to shop.
Things that trip people up
- Raw records are messy. The same carrier and the same policy can appear in more than one record, and amounts and dates are not always consistent. Read them carefully before drawing conclusions.
- No filing does not mean no insurance. Only interstate for-hire carriers file. Intrastate and private carriers file nothing with FMCSA. See why “no filing” is not “uninsured”.
- Sources change. FMCSA has moved registration to a new system, so where filings appear has changed. Check that any tool you rely on reads current filings.
Trucking Leads reads every BMC-91 and BMC-91X filing and cancellation in FMCSA’s public files and emails insurance agents one CSV of the carriers that need a policy, every Monday. Get a free sample for your state.
More for truck insurance agents
- How to find trucking companies whose insurance is cancellingWhere pending trucking insurance cancellations show up in public FMCSA data, how to tell a real lead from a carrier that already switched, and when to call.
- New authority trucking leads: why days 10 to 21 matterNew trucking companies must have insurance on file before they can haul. Here is when new carriers get their MC number, and the window to reach them first.
- Why "no FMCSA insurance filing" does not mean uninsuredWhich trucking companies must file insurance with FMCSA and which never will, so you stop calling covered carriers as if they were uninsured.