Moving the business is an FMCSA event, not just a postal one. The agency's registration guidance requires you to update your registration information within 30 days of any change — address included — on top of the regular biennial update cycle. The update is free, takes minutes online, and the cost of skipping it is paid later: failed PIN recovery, missed audit notices, and a SAFER record that contradicts your insurance paperwork.
The Two Addresses on Your USDOT Record
The MCS-150 captures two separate address fields, and a move can touch either or both:
- Principal place of business — the physical street address where the operation is run and records are kept. This is where the FMCSA directs audit and investigation activity.
- Mailing address — where correspondence lands. A PO Box is acceptable here, but not as the principal place of business.
Both flow to your public SAFER record, which brokers, shippers, and insurers check against your other paperwork.
How to File the Address Change (Free, Online)
- Sign in to Motus at motus.dot.gov with your Login.gov account. No account yet? The setup path (Login.gov first, then connecting your USDOT record) is covered in our PIN and Login.gov guide.
- Update your registrationwith the new address — the FMCSA lists “Change of address” among the transactions handled fully online, at no charge.
- Update the changed fields— principal place of business, mailing address, phone, and email as applicable — and submit.
- Verify on SAFER within 1-2 business days. If you must file on paper instead, the FMCSA quotes a minimum of 8 business days for review, and the form must be the current MCS-150 version.
Does the Address Change Count as Your Biennial Update?
Often, yes. The FMCSA's biennial-update guidance states that an update reported within the 12 months before your biennial due date is considered to complete that biennial — you will not receive another reminder until the next cycle. The schedule itself never moves, though: your due month and year stay fixed by the last two digits of the USDOT number for the life of the registration. If the move lands more than a year before your due date, plan on both filings.
The MC Authority Record Updates Separately
For-hire carriers and brokers have a second federal record — the operating authority (MC number) docket — with its own address and phone fields. Per the FMCSA, you update it either online through the same FMCSA registration account (Motus) or on paper with a signed Form MCSA-5889 showing the MC number, company name, and the former and current addresses. Paper submissions take up to 8 days to process. If the move coincides with a rename or entity change, the sequencing rules in our name-change guide apply on top.
Moved? Get the Update Filed Today
FastMCS150 files address changes and biennial updates the same business day. $110 standard or $250 lifetime updates — every future filing covered.
File at Fast Trucking ComplianceAfter the FMCSA: the Downstream Updates
The federal record is the anchor, but four other parties key off your address. Update your insurer (certificates carry the garaging and business address), your IRP and IFTA base-state accounts, your UCR registration, and your factoring or fuel-card providers. The quiet failure mode is mismatched records: a broker's compliance system sees one address on SAFER and another on the insurance certificate, flags the discrepancy, and holds the load while you sort it out. The full walkthrough of the form itself lives in our step-by-step MCS-150 guide.
Bottom line:file the address change through Motus within 30 days of the move — free, reflected on SAFER in 1-2 business days. Update the MC authority record separately, and if the change lands within 12 months of your biennial due date, it counts as the biennial too.