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Indiana trucking rules

Fees, CDL costs, weight and size limits, chain laws and new bills for truckers and trucking companies in Indiana. Updated 2026-10-24.

Must-know rules · Weight, oversize & chains · Fees · Bills

Must-know rules

Indiana splits car and truck limits on rural interstates: trucks over 26,000 lbs declared gross weight run 65 mph where cars run 70. Motor carrier credentialing (IRP, IFTA, oversize/overweight permits) is handled by the Department of Revenue's Motor Carrier Services office, not the BMV. I could not confirm winter chain rules, hazmat routing and tunnels, or a weight-distance tax from sources I could retrieve, so I left them out.

Researched by our AI agent from the linked sources on 2026-10-21. Always confirm with the source.

• Must knowLegal size/weight limits and when a permit is required

  You need an OSOW permit before traveling in Indiana if you exceed 13 ft 6 in height, 8 ft 6 in width, 53 ft length (semi-tractor/semi-trailer combination), or 80,000 lbs gross, subject to axle weights.

  Oversize/Overweight (OSOW) - Indiana DOR Motor Carrier Services
• Must knowOversize/overweight permits: annual/90-day and Toll Road

  A 90-day or annual permit covers only oversize loads up to 12 ft 4 in wide, 110 ft long, 13 ft 6 in high and 80,000 lbs (subject to axle weights), for any number of trips. You may not use the Indiana Toll Road with a 90-day or annual oversize-only permit. This handbook looks several years old, so confirm current terms with DOR.

  Indiana DOR Oversize/Overweight Vehicle Permitting Handbook

Weight limits, oversize permits and chain laws

Indiana's legal limits are the standard federal ones: 8.5 ft wide, 13.5 ft high, a 53 ft semitrailer and 80,000 lb gross. Oversize and overweight permits come from the Department of Revenue (DOR), not INDOT. Indiana has no truck chain requirement, and I found no official statewide frost law, though counties post their own frost laws on county roads. Several numbers, including current permit fees and some travel-hour windows, come from older official documents or non-official sources, so check th

Weight limits

80,000 lb gross, 20,000 lb single axle, 34,000 lb tandem
(1) Heavy duty highways: INDOT may designate a highway as "heavy duty" or "extra heavy duty" under IC 9-20-5, and vehicles may operate there within the limits set for that designation (IC 9-20-4-1(b)). I did not find the specific designated roads or their limits in an official source. (2) Divisible-load (overweight commodity) permits: DOR issues them for loads that could be hauled at legal weight
DOR Motor Carrier Services issues OSOW permits for loads over 80,000 lb gross (subject to axle weights). Permits are ordered through DOR's online system, and the operator must follow the M-204 General Provisions. An ISP escort is required above 200,000 lb (see M-204S). Superloads need a separate ISP escort agreement. Carriers running over legal limits where no permit is available face civil penalt Source

Legal size without a permit

8 ft 6 in wide, 13 ft 6 in high, 53 ft semitrailer
Single-trip oversize permit: $20 from Indiana Department of Revenue (DOR), Motor Carrier Services. DOR sells the OSOW permits. INDOT sets the rules and fees (105 IAC 10-1.5-3, per a secondary source
Escorts: DOR's General Provisions (M-204) require an escort above 12'4" wide, 110' long or 14'6" high. The escort rides in front on undivided highways and in the rear on divided highways. I read this from a copy of the form hosted on a third-party site, not the in.gov PDF. Loads over 14'6" high need an escort with a height stick traveling in front. DOR's M-204S says an ISP escort is required for a Source

Chain law

No chain law for trucks
Indiana has no chain, traction or carry-chains requirement for trucks. The statute (IC 9-19-18-3) only permits tire chains of reasonable proportions when needed for safety in snow, ice or similar conditions. I could not open the official statute text directly, so this rests on secondary summaries of the statute. No fine is stated. Source Non-government source

• Must know1975 grandfather limits on non-heavy-duty highways

  The greater of the bridge-formula limits or the January 4, 1975 limits applies. On highways not designated heavy duty, the 1975 figures are 73,280 lb gross, 18,000 lb single axle and 32,000 lb tandem (per the deskbook). A state-law text summary lists 16,000 lb per axle of a tandem. Check whether your route is a designated heavy duty highway.

  Commercial Motor Vehicle / Driver Enforcement Deskbook

Fees and DOT requirements

Indiana's BMV charges $35 for a commercial driver's license (CDL), and a CDL is good for 4 years. Heavy-truck registration costs more: a weight-based fee plus a commercial vehicle excise tax (CVET). Indiana runs intrastate carrier compliance through the Department of Revenue's Motor Carrier Services (MCS) division, not the BMV. I found no state operating-authority certificate for ordinary for-hire freight carriers, only for passenger and household-goods carriers.

Class B CDL

$35 for 4 years (about $8.75 a year)
Commercial learner's permit (CLP) $17. Add or remove a CDL endorsement $19. A late-renewal penalty of $6 applies. The BMV chart lists no separate knowledge-test or skills-test fee. Skills testing is routed through BMV-authorized third-party test sites, and I found no official price for those. A stat Source

Class A CDL

$35 for 4 years (about $8.75 a year)
The BMV chart lists a single CDL fee, so I found no separate Class A price. The CLP is $17 and each CDL endorsement add or remove is $19. The endorsement fee is charged only the first time it is applied to the license, not at renewal. Skills tests are given by third-party sites at prices the BMV doe Source

Registration, 26,001 lb straight truck

$372 a year Source

Registration, 80,000 lb combination

$1,692 a year Source

How registration is figured

The annual registration fee is set by declared gross weight bracket. Declared weight is the truck's empty weight plus the heaviest load expected during the registration year. A separate weight-based CVET is added (based on the vehicle's declared gross weight). Indiana has no value-based component fo
At 26,001 lb, the 26,001-36,000 lb bracket is $372.00, plus CVET of $119.00 for 12 months. That totals $491 before local taxes. At 80,000 lb, the >78,000 lb bracket is $1,692 (registration fee). That figure comes from a reproduction of the BMV fee chart (https://indianalicenseplate.org/vehicle-registration-fees). The official chart text I retrieved was cut off at $1,200 for the 66,001-78,000 lb br Source

Intrastate operating authority

Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (Indiana Operating Authority), for passenger and household-goods carrier. $100, annual.
Carriers transporting household goods or passengers for hire must obtain a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity from the Department of Revenue. Applications take 30-60 days, and you are not authorized to haul during that time. The authority must be renewed every year by November 30. The Department of Revenue's guidebook indicates that for-hire carriers of ordinary freight do not need th Source

State DOT requirements

• Must knowUSDOT or Indiana ID number (intrastate)

  Indiana requires a USDOT number for commercial vehicles of 10,001 lb GVWR/GCWR or more, whether interstate or intrastate. All motor carriers must obtain and/or renew a USDOT number or Indiana ID number, using Form IOA-1 for intrastate carriers.

  Indiana DOR Motor Carrier Services Commercial Motor Vehicle Guide

See all 8 DOT requirements with full access

Fees change; confirm with the linked state source. Compare all states.

New Indiana trucking bills

No new trucking bills found here recently. The agent checks every morning.