Trucking Laws · West Virginia · November 10, 2026

Truckers: Owner-Operator Says a Glitch Shut Off His Authority

Illustration of a truck owner on the cab step of a white semi with a flatbed, checking his phone with a folder on his knee — Illustration for this story. Not a photo of a specific location.

Image caption: Illustration: AI-generated illustration, not a photo of the people, vehicles or places in this story. It shows a truck owner on the cab step of a white semi with a flatbed, checking his phone with a folder on his knee.

A West Virginia owner-operator who runs his own truck under his own authority found out it had been switched off only when a city patrolman ran his DOT number at a Pennsylvania load site, Overdrive reported Nov. 9. Michael Sparks, who hauls with a 2001 Freightliner, said the officer "informed me that my authority was inactive."

Sparks was one of more than 5,600 carriers whose operating authority was suspended on a single day, Oct. 27, in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's new Motus registration system, according to Overdrive.

Told it was a glitch

After several calls to FMCSA, Sparks said, he was told a full week and more later that a "glitch in the system" had moved him, like "a lot of carriers," into a category that requires $1 million in liability insurance. His insurer's filing showed $750,000.

Overdrive reports that Motus ties the type of freight a carrier says it hauls to the insurance minimum it must carry. Sparks' records listed motor vehicles and machinery among the freight he might haul, and motor vehicles generally call for $1 million in coverage. He said he rarely hauls cars but was paying for a $1 million policy for the occasional vehicle, and he is not sure why his insurer filed at $750,000. A corrected filing and persistence with FMCSA customer service appear to have solved it. His authority was restored Friday, Nov. 6.

FMCSA's public affairs office said it shared Sparks' case with the registration team on Nov. 5. He had been suspended 10 days when it lifted the next day, according to Overdrive. FMCSA did not respond to questions about why so many suspensions happened on Oct. 27.

The cost of a pause

Sparks shut himself down when he learned of the suspension and canceled more than one scheduled pickup that day. He told Overdrive he is out as much as $8,000 to $10,000 in revenue he does not expect to recover. He is also in the early stages of challenging a violation on his record for operating without authority.

For most of the 5,600 carriers suspended Oct. 27, the suspension appeared to stem from a mismatch between a system-set $1 million insurance minimum and insurer filings showing the standard $750,000 minimum for carriers that do not haul hazardous materials. All of them had their authority before Motus, according to a snapshot of registration data cited by Overdrive.

Advice: check, but do not log in

Compliance consultant Jeff Davis of Fleet Safety Services and insurance agent Mike Jordan told a small-carrier conference Oct. 29 that logins and attempts to change details in FMCSA registration records have, in some cases, triggered suspensions or inactive designations. Davis urges small fleets to check their authority status at least once a week through the Motus public lookup without logging in. If the status shows inactive, he advises calling FMCSA's registration contact center at 800-832-5660 rather than logging in to make changes.

An Oct. 22 message from Ken Riddle, director of FMCSA's Office of Registration, quoted by Overdrive, said carriers that are active and in good standing have "no urgency" to access Motus, and that the agency has temporarily suspended enforcement of the biennial update requirement.

Big Rig Daily's guide to the Motus registration system explains how the system works.