Guides · Registration

Motus: FMCSA's new registration system, explained.

Updated July 4, 2026 · 7 min read

On May 14, 2026, the FMCSA shut down its old registration tools and moved everything to a new system called Motus. If you hold a DOT number, this affects you — it's where your biennial update, address changes, and pretty much every registration action now happens.

It's also the kind of change that spawns a fresh wave of official-looking letters and phone calls offering to “migrate” or “re-register” you for a fee. So let's be clear up front: everything you need to do in Motus is free to do yourself. Creating your account is free. Claiming your existing record is free. Filing your biennial update is free. Nobody needs to charge you for any of it.

What Motus actually is

Motus (Latin for “movement”) is the FMCSA's replacement for the old patchwork of registration tools — the Unified Registration System (URS) where you applied for your authority, the registration functions of the FMCSA Portal, and the Licensing & Insurance filing system your insurance company and BOC-3 agent used. One system, one login, for the whole registration lifecycle.

The rollout came in two phases: supporting companies (insurance filers, BOC-3 agents, service providers) got early access in December 2025, and the system opened to carriers and everyone else in May 2026. The old URS is permanently offline, and the FMCSA Portal's “Registration Options” are permanently disabled.

The biggest practical change: Login.gov replaces your USDOT PIN

For years, changing your carrier record meant digging up your USDOT PIN — the one everybody loses. That's over. Motus uses Login.gov, the same account you may already use for other federal sites, with multi-factor authentication. No PIN required to create your account or make updates.

If you don't have a Login.gov account yet, you create one at login.gov with an email and a phone or authenticator app. First time into Motus, you'll also go through identity verification (confirming you're a real person with a real ID) and business verification (confirming your company is really your company). That one-time vetting is a big part of why the FMCSA built the new system — the old one made carrier-record hijacking too easy.

Cost: free. Login.gov accounts, identity verification, and claiming your record cost nothing.

Your biennial update (MCS-150) now happens in Motus

The obligation didn't change: every carrier still updates their information every two years, on the schedule set by your USDOT number, even if nothing changed. What changed is where you file it. The old “Biennial Update (MCS-150)” button in the FMCSA Portal is gone — the update is filed inside Motus now.

The FMCSA has floated bigger changes down the road (a “safety registration” that could eventually replace MCS-150 updates), but those require formal rulemaking and public comment. Nothing about your update schedule is different today.

Cost: free. It has always been free, it is still free, and the letters offering to file it for $100+ are counting on you not knowing that.

Claiming your existing record — one detail that trips people up

If you were already registered before May 2026, your record migrated to Motus automatically — you don't re-register. But to manage it, someone has to claim the company account, and here's the detail: the first person to claim it must be the company officialfrom your FMCSA Portal account, using a Login.gov account tied to that same email address. For a one-truck operation, that's you. Once you've claimed the account, you can invite other users (a dispatcher, a spouse who handles paperwork) as sub-account holders.

If your old Portal account went dormant — they're disabled after 90 days of inactivity — call the FMCSA at 1-800-832-5660 and they'll help you sort it out. Free.

What is not changing

Your USDOT number stays the same. Existing carriers keep their current numbers. Nothing to re-apply for.

Your MC number still exists. The FMCSA has proposedphasing out MC numbers and using the USDOT number with suffix letters (C for property carrier authority, B for broker, and so on) as the single identifier. That's a proposal — it needs formal rulemaking and a public comment period, and it did not take effect with the Motus launch. You may see suffixes displayed in Motus for reference, but they are not a truck-marking requirement. Anyone telling you that you must urgently pay to “update your MC number” because of Motus is selling you something.

Fees didn't go up. The FMCSA says there are no fee changes with the initial release. The things that were free are still free; the things that had a government fee have the same fee.

Paper forms still workif you truly can't do it online — they just take longer to process. Eliminating them would require a future rulemaking.

If you got your authority recently

Applied after May 14, 2026? Then Motus is the only system you've ever known — your application, your record, and your future updates all live there. Applied before that through URS? Your record migrated; you just need to claim it as described above. Either way, your first-year to-do list is unchanged — insurance, BOC-3, drug and alcohol testing, and the rest all still apply, and the New Entrant Safety Audit still comes within your first 12 months.

About the letters (yes, again)

System changes like this are prime season for paid-solicitation mail: urgent-looking notices about “mandatory Motus migration,” “registration system compliance,” or deadlines that don't exist. The real system is at fmcsa.dot.gov, real help is at 1-800-832-5660, and real questions go to NewRegSys@dot.gov — all free. If a letter has a fee and a scare deadline, read our guide to spotting fake DOT compliance mail before you pay anyone anything.

EntrantReady is an independent compliance-readiness service, not affiliated with the FMCSA or any government agency. Anything the government provides for free, we tell you it's free. Details in this guide reflect FMCSA announcements and FAQs as of July 2026 — the Motus rollout is ongoing and specifics can change. This is general information, not legal advice.