Definition
What is an MCS-90 endorsement, and why is it not in the record?
The MCS-90 is a promise to the public, attached to an insurance policy and kept in a filing cabinet at the company. What FMCSA publishes is a different piece of paper — and the difference decides what a lookup can and cannot prove.
The field that answers this
The card's insurance section lists each policy FMCSA holds by its form code — you will see BMC-91X, and for brokers BMC-84 — with the insurer, the policy number, the coverage amount and the effective date, next to the coverage this company is required to carry. You will not see an MCS-90 there, and that is correct: it is not filed.
The short answer
The MCS-90 is an endorsement added to a motor carrier’s liability policy under Sections 29 and 30 of the Motor Carrier Act of 1980. It obliges the insurer to pay a final judgment against the insured for bodily injury, death, property damage or environmental restoration resulting from the negligent operation, maintenance or use of vehicles subject to the federal minimums — even where the policy itself would not have responded — with a right to be reimbursed by the insured afterwards.
That last clause is the whole character of the thing. The MCS-90 is not extra coverage bought for the company’s benefit; it is a safety net stretched under the public so that an injured party is not left with nothing because of an exclusion buried in a policy. Reading it as "the company has insurance" gets the direction of the promise backwards.
Where the MCS-90 actually lives
Under 49 CFR 387.7(d) the proof of financial responsibility is kept at the company’s principal place of business, and it consists of one of three things: the MCS-90 endorsement issued by an insurer, an MCS-82 surety bond, or a written FMCSA authorisation to self-insure. It is public information and must be produced on reasonable request under 387.7(e)(1) — but "produced on request" is not the same as "published", and no federal search screen will hand it to you.
The one place a copy travels is on board: vehicles operated in the United States by companies domiciled in a contiguous foreign country must carry a legible English copy of the MCS-90 or MCS-82, and a vehicle without it is denied entry (387.7(f)–(g)).
What FMCSA holds instead: the BMC-91X
For-hire carriers subject to 49 CFR 387.301 cannot be issued a certificate, or keep one in force, until a certificate of insurance or surety has been filed with and accepted by FMCSA. That filing is what becomes a public record — and the form code on it is what this site shows you.
So the two documents answer two different questions. The MCS-90 asks "if this company is found negligent, will an insurer pay the judgment?" The BMC-91X asks "has an insurer told the federal government it covers this company, and for how much, since when?" Only the second one is checkable from a keyboard.
The minimum levels, and why they differ company to company
49 CFR 387.9 sets the schedule, and it turns on what is being hauled rather than how large the company is (read 2026-09-03):
- $750,000 — for-hire, non-hazardous property, 10,001 lbs GVWR or more.
- $1,000,000 — oil, and most hazardous materials, waste and substances.
- $5,000,000 — bulk hazardous substances, bulk Division 1.1/1.2/1.3, certain Hazard Zone A materials, and highway route controlled quantities of Class 7.
What "no insurance on file" does not mean
A private fleet moving its own goods, and an exempt for-hire carrier hauling only exempt commodities, generally file nothing with FMCSA at all. They still have to carry the coverage and still have to keep the MCS-90 at the office — the filing requirement and the insurance requirement are separate rules.
So an empty insurance section is a filing fact, not a coverage verdict. It tells you FMCSA holds no certificate for this company; it does not tell you the company is uninsured, and this site will never write the second sentence for you. If coverage matters to the decision in front of you, the certificate you want comes from the company or its insurer, not from a record.
How to check what is there
Enter a USDOT or MC number above. Compare three things in this order: the amount on file against the amount required, the effective date against today, and the form code against what the company says it is. A broker showing a BMC-84 and no BMC-91X is a broker, not a carrier, however the load was described to you.
Questions
Is the MCS-90 an insurance policy? +
No. It is an endorsement attached to a policy. The policy is the coverage; the endorsement adds an obligation to pay a public-liability judgment even in situations the policy itself excludes, and gives the insurer the right to recover that payment from the insured.
Can I get a copy of a company’s MCS-90 from FMCSA? +
Not as a published record. 49 CFR 387.7 keeps the proof at the company’s principal place of business and makes it public information on reasonable request, which means the request goes to the company or its insurer. What FMCSA publishes is the certificate its insurer filed — the BMC-91X.
What is the difference between an MCS-90 and a BMC-91X? +
The MCS-90 is the endorsement on the policy, held by the company. The BMC-91X is the certificate the insurer files with FMCSA to prove the required coverage exists. One is the promise; the other is the notification that the promise was made.
Does the MCS-90 cover freight? +
No. It reaches public liability — bodily injury, death, property damage of others and environmental restoration. Cargo is a separate filing altogether, and shows in the record under its own form codes.
What is an MCS-82? +
The surety-bond equivalent. 49 CFR 387.7(d) accepts an MCS-90 endorsement from an insurer, an MCS-82 bond from a surety, or an FMCSA authorisation to self-insure. All three satisfy the same requirement by different means.