If your loads cross state lines (or the freight does, even when your truck doesn't), you answer to FMCSA: $750,000 federal minimum liability, $1,000,000 in practice. If you haul only loads that pick up and deliver inside Texas, you answer to the TxDMV instead, with its own registration and its own insurance minimums. Plenty of Texas carriers need both. Here's how to tell which one is you, and what each requires.

Interstate or intrastate: which authority do you actually need?

The test isn't where your truck goes. It's where the freight goes. A load you pick up in Laredo that came across the border, or a Dallas pickup headed to a warehouse for shipment out of state, is interstate commerce even if you never leave Texas. That work requires federal operating authority, the full FMCSA insurance stack, and a BMC-91X filing from your insurer.

Intrastate work (freight that originates and terminates in Texas, full stop) runs under Texas Transportation Code Chapter 643 and TxDMV motor carrier registration instead. Texas took over this role from earlier state regulators years ago (the rules migrated from the Railroad Commission era through TxDOT to today's TxDMV), and the modern version is straightforward: register with TxDMV, get your TxDMV number, and keep insurance on file.

If you do both kinds of work (and most growing Texas carriers eventually do), you hold both your federal MC authority and your TxDMV registration, with insurance filed to each.

What are the Texas intrastate insurance minimums?

Texas sets liability minimums by vehicle weight, and they're lower than the federal number:

  • $500,000 combined single limit: commercial vehicles with a gross weight rating over 26,000 lbs. This is the number that covers most real trucking.
  • $300,000 combined single limit: commercial vehicles at 26,000 lbs or less.
  • Hazmat follows the federal tiers: up to $1,000,000 or $5,000,000 depending on the commodity, same as FMCSA.
  • Household goods movers additionally need cargo coverage on file with TxDMV; general freight has no state cargo filing.

Same pattern as the federal side, though: the legal minimum and the working minimum aren't the same number. Brokers and shippers in Texas ask for $1,000,000 just like everyone else, and an intrastate-only policy written at $500k can box you out of freight. We usually quote Texas intrastate carriers at $1M unless there's a specific reason not to. The savings at state minimum rarely justify the lost loads.

How does the insurance get on file with TxDMV?

Same as the federal side: your insurer files it, not you. When we write an intrastate policy, we submit the insurance filing electronically to TxDMV against your TxDMV number. Your registration doesn't complete without it, and (also like the federal side) a policy cancellation gets reported to the state and takes your registration down with it. Keeping the policy paid is a compliance task in Austin just like it is in Washington.

Roadside, it's the Texas DPS checking that your TxDMV cab card, insurance, and operation all line up. UCR, IFTA, and IRP still apply if you're interstate. The whole first-year stack is laid out in Permits & compliance 101.

The mistakes Texas carriers actually make

We see the same three over and over:

  • Running interstate freight on intrastate authority. That Laredo drayage load or the Amazon relay that "stays in Texas" is usually interstate commerce. Getting this wrong means operating without authority, and an insurance policy written for intrastate radius hauling freight your insurer never rated. That's the exact gap where claims get contested.
  • Assuming the federal filing covers Texas work. It doesn't, and vice versa. Two authorities, two filings, one policy that has to be written to support both.
  • Buying state minimums to save money. Legal, and then the broker packet asks for $1M and a certificate proving it, and you're back to square one mid-negotiation.

If you're not sure which side of the line your operation falls on, look up your DOT number and see what you're actually registered for. The answer surprises people regularly.

How McClure helps

We're a Texas-based independent agency, and Texas trucking is our home turf. We write carriers here every week and serve trucking companies in 46 states beyond it. When we bind your policy, we make the filings on both sides: BMC-91X to FMCSA, insurance filing to TxDMV, so neither authority stalls or lapses. And because we're independent, we shop your risk across multiple markets that actually want Texas trucks. Whether you're going for your first authority or adding intrastate registration to an interstate operation, start the application here. We'll tell you exactly which filings your operation needs before you spend a dollar.