$750k, $1 Million, and $5 Million: Which Floor
A dry van is being told to buy $5 million, or a hazmat load is being quoted at $750,000. The schedule is a table, not a slogan. Hazmat is not automatically $5 million.
$750,000
Most for-hire property
$1,000,000
Listed oil and other hazmat
$5,000,000
The high-risk list only
387.33
Passengers, different table
Ahmad Qazi
Founder & CEO, O Trucking LLC
Fact-Checked by O Trucking Owner-Operator Desk
Walks new authorities through Motus filings, insurance, and the first legal load after ACTIVE
Sources:
Written by Ahmad Qazi, founder of O Trucking LLC, drawing on 9+ years dispatching for owner-operators. Learn more about us.
O Trucking$750k, $1 Million, and $5 Million: Which Floor
Key Takeaways
- 387.9 row for ordinary for-hire property at 10,001 pounds or more is $750,000.
- Oil and many hazardous materials are $1,000,000, not $750,000 and not automatically $5,000,000.
- The $5,000,000 rows are a specific list, including bulk 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 materials, Division 2.3 Hazard Zone A, and highway-route-controlled Class 7.
- Passengers use 387.33, $1,500,000 or $5,000,000. They are not this table.
- A broker demand of $1,000,000 is a contract above the $750,000 federal floor.
- Filed limit, policy limit, and contract limit can be three different numbers.
The general-freight floor is $750,000
49 CFR 387.9 is the schedule of public-liability minimums for motor carriers of property. The first row is the one most dry vans, reefers, and flatbeds that are not hauling hazardous materials live on: for-hire carriage in interstate or foreign commerce, gross vehicle weight rating of 10,001 pounds or more, property that is nonhazardous. The minimum is $750,000.
That figure has been the statutory floor for a long time. It is not a suggestion and it is not what a broker thinks is comfortable. It is the filing minimum for that row. If your GVWR is under 10,001 pounds and you are not in a later row, you may be outside this line entirely. Do not borrow $750,000 as a universal sticker for a cargo van that the schedule does not cover, and do not go below it when the schedule does cover you.
Primary liability, how policies are built, and what a BMC-91 proves are discussed on primary liability insurance. This page only picks the floor.
When the schedule jumps to $1 million
The $1,000,000 row in 49 CFR 387.9 is not a premium upgrade for careful carriers. It is a commodity row. It covers for-hire and private carriers, in interstate or foreign commerce in any quantity, or in intrastate commerce in bulk only, with a GVWR of 10,001 pounds or more, when the commodity is oil listed in 49 CFR 172.101, or hazardous waste, hazardous materials, or hazardous substances defined in 49 CFR 171.8 and listed in 49 CFR 172.101, but not mentioned in the $5,000,000 rows.
Read the but not mentioned clause. If your commodity is named in the $5,000,000 row, you do not get to stay at $1,000,000 because oil is also hazardous. If your commodity is a hazardous material that the $5,000,000 row does not name, the $1,000,000 row is the one to quote. Compressing all hazmat to $5 million makes you buy the wrong analysis, and quoting $750,000 on a placarded oil load makes you under-file.
Private carriers appear in this row. The $750,000 row is for-hire only. A private fleet that hauls its own hazardous materials can still have a filing minimum. Do not assume private means unregulated once the commodity changes.
When the schedule jumps to $5 million
The $5,000,000 rows are specific. One of them, for for-hire and private carriage in interstate, foreign, or intrastate commerce at 10,001 pounds or more, names hazardous substances transported in bulk in cargo tanks, portable tanks, or hopper-type vehicles; bulk Division 1.1, 1.2, or 1.3 materials; bulk Division 2.3 Hazard Zone A material; bulk Division 6.1 Packing Group I Hazard Zone A material; bulk Division 2.1 or 2.2 material; and highway-route-controlled quantities of a Class 7 material as defined in 49 CFR 173.403. A further row applies the $5,000,000 minimum to certain of those high-risk materials in interstate or foreign commerce even under 10,001 pounds GVWR.
That is the high-risk list. It includes specified explosives, poison-inhalation hazards in the zones the row names, and radioactive material in highway-route-controlled quantity. It is not the sentence hazmat is $5 million. A limited quantity of a consumer hazardous material that never enters those rows is not this line. A bulk inhalation-hazard load is.
If you cannot point at the row that names your UN number and your packaging, you do not know your floor. Look it up in 172.101 and 387.9 before you let an agent pick $750,000 because the truck is a van, or $5 million because the word hazmat appeared in a text.
| 387.9 situation | Commodity, shortened | Minimum |
|---|---|---|
| For-hire, interstate or foreign, GVWR 10,001 or more | Nonhazardous property | $750,000 |
| For-hire or private, interstate or foreign in any quantity, or intrastate in bulk, GVWR 10,001 or more | Oil, or hazmat or hazardous waste or hazardous substances listed in 172.101 and not in the $5,000,000 rows | $1,000,000 |
| For-hire or private, the bulk and high-risk list in 387.9 | Specified explosives, poison inhalation Zone A, bulk Division 2.1 or 2.2, highway-route-controlled Class 7, and the other materials that row names | $5,000,000 |
Passenger numbers are a different table
Passenger floors are $1,500,000 or $5,000,000 under 49 CFR 387.33, not this table. Fifteen passengers or fewer, including the driver, is the $1,500,000 line. Sixteen or more, including the driver, is the $5,000,000 line. A fleet that runs both a dry van and a shuttle has two schedules. The van does not pull the shuttle down to $750,000, and the shuttle does not pull the van up to a passenger limit.
Do not let a single any auto figure on a certificate erase the split. If both operations exist, say so, and file what each authority type requires.
This page will not restate the passenger new-entrant story. It will keep the tables apart so a freight agent stops quoting 387.9 at a bus.
What brokers demand above the floor
A broker requirement of $1,000,000 auto liability is a contract term above the $750,000 federal floor for ordinary property. It does not change what FMCSA requires, and it does not let you file less than the federal floor. You can file $750,000 and still be unable to haul that broker. You can carry $1,000,000 on the policy to satisfy the broker and still have to file at least the floor. If your commodity is in the $5,000,000 row, the broker's $1,000,000 demand is below the law and irrelevant as a ceiling.
Shippers copy these numbers from each other. Some ask for $2 million or $5 million on general freight because a template said so. That is a commercial negotiation. It is not a new row in 387.9. Decide what you will buy. Do not tell FMCSA the broker waived the schedule.
Additional insured wording does not change the scheduled limit. A $750,000 filing with the broker named as a certificate holder is still a $750,000 filing.
Filing limit versus policy limit versus contract limit
The filed limit, the policy limit, and the contract limit can be three numbers. The filed limit is what the BMC-91 or BMC-91X tells FMCSA. The policy limit is what the policy will pay, subject to exclusions and to the MCS-90's separate federal endangerment. The contract limit is what the rate confirmation or the broker-carrier agreement requires. They match only when someone forces them to match.
Example, ordinary dry van, nonhazardous: federal floor $750,000, so the filing is at least that. The policy is written at $1,000,000 because the broker's packet says $1,000,000 combined single limit. The contract is $1,000,000 auto, $100,000 cargo, and additional insured status. Cargo is not this schedule at all. The filing the broker never sees is still the BMC form at the liability limit the insurer transmitted. If the insurer files $750,000 and the policy says $1,000,000, know that before a claim, and ask the filer to make the filing match what you bought if the form should show the higher number.
A second example, so the columns stay honest: a bulk inhalation-hazard load in the $5,000,000 row cannot be saved by a policy at $1,000,000 and a contract at $1,000,000. The federal column is the highest of the three and it controls the filing. Buy and file $5,000,000 before that load is dispatched.
| Column | Dry van illustration | High-risk hazmat illustration |
|---|---|---|
| Federal floor | $750,000 under 387.9 for nonhazardous for-hire property | $5,000,000 if the commodity is in that row |
| Policy limit | $1,000,000, bought to meet a broker | Must be at least the federal floor |
| Contract limit | $1,000,000 auto plus cargo and wording | $1,000,000 would be below the law and would not control |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is $750,000 enough for a dry van?
For the federal filing, 49 CFR 387.9 sets $750,000 for for-hire interstate or foreign carriage of nonhazardous property in a vehicle with a GVWR of 10,001 pounds or more. A broker can still require $1,000,000 by contract. The contract does not change the federal floor, and the floor does not satisfy the contract.
Is every hazmat load $5 million?
No. That compression is wrong. Many oil and hazardous materials fall in the $1,000,000 row of 387.9. The $5,000,000 rows are the high-risk list described in the section, including bulk explosives of Divisions 1.1, 1.2, and 1.3, Division 2.3 Hazard Zone A, and highway-route-controlled quantities of Class 7 material. Read the row that names your commodity.
We haul a placarded load sometimes. Which number do we file?
File for the operation you actually conduct. If you will haul commodities in the $1,000,000 or $5,000,000 rows, the filing has to meet that row before those loads move. A $750,000 filing does not become $5,000,000 because the bill of lading changed this morning.
Are buses on this table?
No. For-hire passenger minimums are in 49 CFR 387.33: $1,500,000 for vehicles designed to carry 15 passengers or fewer including the driver, and $5,000,000 for 16 or more. Do not quote 387.9 at a bus.
Our policy says $1 million and the filing says $750,000. Which is real?
Both, for different audiences. The filing is what FMCSA has. The policy limit is what the policy pays up to, subject to its terms. The contract limit is what the broker required. This page includes a three-column example because those numbers come apart.
Does this page replace a hazmat endorsement class?
No. It is the financial-responsibility schedule only. Endorsements, placards, and routing are a different body of rules.
File the row you actually haul.
O Trucking does not set your liability limit. After the filing matches the operation and authority is ACTIVE, dispatch is flat weekly.