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Published: May 21, 2026 | Reading time: 4 minutes
MOTUS went live Tuesday, May 19, 2026. Two days in, most of it still isn't working smoothly. But one thing every carrier should do today: claim your USDOT number in MOTUS. Whoever claims it first controls the account going forward. You want that to be you — not a former employee, a stale compliance service, or a stranger guessing at PINs.
This is the official 5-step process FMCSA published in its Claim a USDOT Number Job Aid, plus the snags we're seeing carriers hit right now.
The most important thing to know before you try to claim: only the FMCSA Portal Company Official can do the first claim, and the email on their Login.gov account must match the email on the Portal account. If the wrong person is listed as Company Official, or if their Login.gov email is different from the one in the Portal, the claim won't go through. Fix that first.
Here's the checklist:
- An active FMCSA Portal account (or your USDOT PIN if you don't have a Portal account yet — request one at safer.fmcsa.dot.gov).
- The correct Company Official listed on the Portal account.
- A Login.gov account that uses the same email as the Portal Company Official.
- Identity verification documents ready for Login.gov (driver's license, Social Security number, phone for verification).
- Your business information current — address, contact info, vehicle count, operation type. MCS-150 should be up to date.
If you haven't done these yet, call us at 651-482-1124. We'll tell you where you stand and what to do first.
Go to motus.dot.gov and log in with your Login.gov account. Set up your user profile and complete the identity verification step. This is where most carriers get stuck — see "Common Snags" below if it fails.
After login, MOTUS will show a pop-up that says one or more USDOT numbers are associated with your Login.gov account. Click Link USDOT Number to start the claim.
If you don't see the pop-up, the system didn't find a match between your Login.gov email and a Portal record. That usually means an email mismatch or that the Company Official was someone else.
Review the list of USDOT numbers tied to your profile. Pick the one you want to claim and click Continue.
MOTUS will email a verification code to the address tied to your Login.gov account. Open your email, copy the code, and paste it into MOTUS's verification window.
Read the Certification Statement carefully. You're attesting that you are the owner, an official partner, or an authorized corporate officer of the carrier. Type your name as an E-Signature and click Accept.
You're done. MOTUS will import your company data automatically.
Once the claim goes through:
- Review and certify your business information. MOTUS pulls everything from your Portal record. Check it for accuracy — address, contact info, vehicle count, operation type — and fix anything stale before certifying.
- Add users. From your MOTUS account, use Add a User to invite staff or a third-party compliance service to help manage the account. You can invite multiple people, but only two officers can be listed under a single company ID.
- Note who else has access. If a previous employee or a former compliance service was listed as a user in the old Portal, they may still have access in MOTUS. Remove anyone who shouldn't be there.
MOTUS is two days into its launch and rough around the edges. The most common problems we're seeing so far:
- Identity verification failures. This is the most common snag. Login.gov is the gate, and it's been inconsistent. If it fails, try a different browser, clear cookies, and confirm your phone and email are reachable.
- No pop-up after login. Usually an email mismatch between Login.gov and the Portal Company Official, or a Portal record that didn't migrate cleanly. Fix the Portal first.
- Wrong or stale Company Official. Whoever is listed as Company Official in the old Portal is the one who needs to claim. If that's an ex-employee or a service you no longer use, update the Portal before attempting the claim.
- Long FMCSA call center waits. Even when MOTUS isn't your fault, the support line is buried. Expect long hold times if you call.
We're early MOTUS test users and work in the FMCSA Portal every day on behalf of carriers nationwide. If you've tried to claim your number and gotten stuck — wrong Company Official, identity verification failing, missing pop-up — we can walk you through fixing it.
DNA is our sister company and handles FMCSA authority work every day. Call Don Norman Associates at 703-821-0000 — we'll get you unstuck.
For background, see our earlier posts: FMCSA's warning to carriers, our MOTUS preparation guide, and our take on the messy launch.
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