New freight broker compliance checklist: the first 90 days

Before authority activation (week 0)

1. Decide on entity structure. Most brokers form an LLC. Some run as sole proprietors and regret it the first time a claim arrives. Liability protection is the point of an LLC, and the LLC has to exist before the authority application is filed.
2. Register the entity with your state. State of formation, registered agent on file, EIN from the IRS. The EIN ends up on the FMCSA application.
3. Open business bank account. Carrier payments and shipper invoices flow through it. Comingling with personal accounts is a problem now and a worse problem later.
4. Get the FMCSA broker authority application ready. Form OP-1(P) for property brokers. Filed online at FMCSA registration portal. Application fee is $300 as of 2026. Once submitted, FMCSA assigns a docket number and the carrier sees you in their system within days; full authority activation requires the bond and the process-agent filing to be in place.

The 90-day compliance setup

Days 1-7: file the required forms

1. BMC-84 surety bond ($75,000) or BMC-85 trust fund. Most brokers go BMC-84; the annual premium runs $1,000-$10,000 depending on credit and experience. The surety files the BMC-84 with FMCSA on your behalf.
2. BOC-3 process agent designation. You must designate a process agent in every state where you arrange shipments. A process-agent service (Blanket Designation via a single filing) handles this for $50-$150 one-time.
3. Unified Carrier Registration (UCR) annual fee. Required for brokers operating in interstate commerce. Fee depends on entity size; brokers under 2 power units pay roughly $50-$100/year.

Days 7-30: stand up the operational basics

1. Standard broker-carrier agreement. The contract you sign with every carrier you book. Must include: indemnification clause, additional-insured requirement, minimum insurance limits, no-double-brokering clause, payment terms, dispute resolution. Have a transportation attorney draft or review this; it is not worth saving $500 on a template that fails in court.
2. Standard shipper agreement. The contract you sign with shippers. Specifies your liability cap, payment terms, claim filing procedures. Same advice on legal review.
3. Rate confirmation template. The document you send a carrier per load. Names the carrier, MC number, load details, rate, payment terms. The MC number on the rate-con is the litigation hook later; get the field right every time.
4. Accounting and invoicing system. Quickbooks plus a freight-broker overlay, or a TMS, or a spreadsheet if you are starting at zero loads per week. Whatever you use has to handle carrier-payable aging and shipper-invoice tracking.

Days 30-60: insurance and risk

1. General liability insurance. Industry standard is $1M GL. Required by most shipper contracts. $500-$1,500/year for a small broker.
2. Contingent auto liability insurance. Coverage that responds when a carrier's primary auto fails. Required-in-practice after Montgomery v. Caribe. Start with $1M-$5M limits depending on load mix. We covered the full picture in the contingent auto liability post.
3. Contingent cargo insurance. Covers cargo loss when carrier cargo coverage fails. Typically $100,000 baseline, higher for high-value loads.
4. Errors and omissions / professional liability. Covers your operational errors that cost a shipper or carrier money. Not strictly required but increasingly expected by larger shippers.
5. Cyber liability. Email fraud and wire- transfer fraud against brokers is a real problem. $1M coverage is inexpensive and worth carrying.

Days 60-90: vetting documentation infrastructure

1. Carrier vetting process document. One page. What you check before booking, how you document it, how often you re-check, what disqualifies a carrier. We covered the full checklist in the carrier vetting checklist post. This document is what your insurance underwriter and your defense lawyer want to see; do not skip it.
2. Vetting capture system. The tool that captures FMCSA safety rating, CSA scores, insurance certificate, and operating authority at the moment of booking and locks the record. Folder-of-PDFs is the minimum starting point. Purpose-built tools like VettedHaul handle the lock and the evidence-pack export.
3. Carrier packet template. The set of documents you collect from every new carrier: W-9, insurance certificate, operating authority confirmation, signed broker-carrier agreement. A standardized template enforces consistency.
4. Retention policy. Seven years past last load for most carriers, ten for high-risk loads, indefinite for incident-involved. We covered the policy in the record retention post.

What changed post-Montgomery

Most pre-2026 new-broker checklists end with the BMC-84 bond and call it a day. Two items that are now mandatory rather than optional:

• Contingent auto liability insurance. Before Montgomery v. Caribe Transport, brokers could rely on FAAAA preemption to knock out negligent-hiring claims and many ran without contingent coverage. That defense is gone. Contingent auto is now table stakes.
• Documented carrier vetting. Before Montgomery, the documentation was a nice-to-have for insurance underwriters. After Montgomery, it is the litigation defense itself. New brokers should set up the documentation infrastructure on day 1, not day 365 after the first close call.

What the FMCSA application form does and does not give you

Many new brokers conflate "FMCSA authority active" with "ready to book freight." The activation only means three things: your bond is filed, your process agent is designated, and FMCSA recognizes you as a registered broker. That is the legal floor.

What it does not give you:

• Any insurance coverage beyond the bond
• Any liability protection for negligent hiring
• Any documentation infrastructure for the carriers you book
• Any signed contracts with shippers or carriers
• Any operational tooling to actually run loads

Treat authority activation as the start line, not the finish. The actual setup is the 90-day checklist above.

Cost of compliance setup (typical small broker)

The range is wide because credit-driven items (bond, insurance) vary materially based on the principal's personal credit and any prior trucking or brokerage experience. New brokers with strong credit can stay near the bottom of the range. Brokers with poor credit or limited experience land near the top.

Common mistakes new brokers make

1. Booking loads before authority is fully active. Bond not filed, process agent not designated. Loads booked in this window are technically illegal and carriers know.
2. Skipping contingent auto liability to save money. The single most expensive mistake new brokers make. The amount saved is small relative to the first claim you can't cover.
3. Using a free broker-carrier agreement template. Free templates online are often shipper-favorable, carrier-favorable, or both. They rarely protect the broker. Pay for the legal review.
4. Treating the $75K bond as liability insurance. It is not. We covered exactly what the bond does and does not do in the bond vs verdict post.
5. Not setting up vetting documentation on day 1. The first load is the hardest one to backfill documentation for. Start the discipline before you have revenue depending on it.
6. Booking unknown carriers off load boards at attractive rates. The most common fraud entry point. Stick to known carriers for the first 60-90 days while you learn the screening signals.

The bottom line

New brokers can be operational in 90 days if they work the checklist in order. Authority and bond first, contracts and insurance second, vetting documentation infrastructure third. The post-Montgomery additions (contingent auto coverage, documented vetting) are not optional and they are easier to set up on day 1 than to backfill after the first close call.

VettedHaul handles the vetting documentation layer at $99 a month, which is roughly the minimum-viable compliance line item for a new broker. Join the waitlist to lock in founding-customer pricing.

Related reading

• Montgomery v. Caribe Transport, explained for freight brokers
• Carrier vetting checklist: 4 checks every freight broker has to document now
• Contingent auto liability for freight brokers
• Why your $75K freight broker bond won't cover a negligent-hiring lawsuit
• FMCSA broker registration overview