What is a BMC-91 filing, and who files it?
The BMC-91 is the form your insurer — not you — files with FMCSA to prove you carry the public liability insurance your operating authority requires. You cannot file it yourself, and authority is not granted or kept without it.
Tell us the situation.
A licensed human replies the same business day — not an auto-responder, and not five producers calling at once. We shop it across our carriers and tell you if the policy you already have is the right one.
We use this to quote and service your insurance, and we do not sell it or pass it to lead networks. Privacy policy.
The detail
Proof of public liability insurance must be filed with FMCSA by the insurer before operating authority becomes effective.
The BMC-91X is the same filing in a form that allows more than one insurer to share the required limit, used where the primary policy sits below the federal minimum and excess sits above it.
When an insurer cancels, it files a notice of cancellation with FMCSA, and authority is revoked if no replacement filing is on file when that cancellation takes effect.
What this means for you
- A lapse is not a paperwork problem, it is an operating problem. Without a filing on file the authority goes inactive and the loads stop.
- Because the insurer files it, changing carriers is a sequencing exercise: the new filing has to land before the old cancellation takes effect, not after.
- Most agencies do not handle filings at all. Ask before you move a policy, not after the cancellation notice has gone in.
Related questions
- How long does a BMC-91 filing take to show up?
- The filing is electronic and usually appears against your record quickly, but it is the effective date that matters rather than the date it was transmitted. If a cancellation is already pending, the replacement has to be effective on or before that date.
- Can I file the BMC-91 myself to save time?
- No. It is a filing made by an insurer authorised to do so, evidencing a policy that already exists. What you can do is make sure whoever handles your insurance actually does filings — many do not.
Need this handled?
We do the filings, and we place the accounts other brokers decline — lapsed authority, claims history, new ventures. Tell us the situation and a licensed human replies the same business day.