Do You Need To Pay a UCR Fee for a Box Truck?

When you are operating commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) in interstate commerce, you need to follow the rules of the Unified Carrier Registration (UCR) Act. When doing UCR registration in 2025, you must pay UCR fees for the trucking assets you own. If you own a box truck, use it for commercial purposes, and have enough trucks in your fleet, you may have to pay UCR fees.

Learn more about how box trucks fit into UCR compliance and how the experts at FMCA Filings can make it easier for you to remain in compliance.

How Do UCR Fees Work for a Carrier Company?

If you are operating a CMV for your business, you need to file UCR and pay fees. These fees go to pay for several items, including:

• Funding safety programs
• Officer training for the USDOT
• Administrative costs for the program

Understanding UCR can be a challenge for freight hauling companies and truck dispatch services. Although UCR is a federal program from the FMCSA (Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration), the states manage it. If you‘re unsure whether you must pay UCR fees, our team at FMCA Filings can provide advice on the process and calculate the fees for you, ensuring accuracy.

Changes in 2025 Fees for UCR

The UCR fees for trucking increased beginning in 2025 by more than 24%. No matter which of the six tiers your company occupies, you have the same percentage increase from 2024 to 2025.

Even though you register for UCR in your own state, all states charge the same annual UCR fees.

What Makes a Box Truck a CMV Under UCR?

Understanding UCR fees for trucking and your box trucks depends on the number of box trucks you own and the total number of CMVs in your fleet. 

A box truck is a truck with a large cube or rectangular box on the back and a cab in the front. Box trucks are convenient for moving goods because the open box in the back can accommodate different sizes of items and they are easy to load and unload.

Most of the time, a box truck qualifies as a CMV for UCR purposes. As long as the box truck has a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) or gross combination weight rating (GCWR) of more than 10,000 pounds, it is a CMV. 

The GVWR is the maximum amount of weight the box truck can legally carry. If the box truck is hauling a trailer, GCWR would apply to determining whether it’s a CMV. It doesn’t matter if you don’t operate the box truck at full capacity. As long as the truck can carry more than 10,000 pounds, it qualifies.

If the box truck is small and has a limited weight capacity, it might not qualify as a CMV and you wouldn’t have to include the box truck as part of your UCR filings.

How Does Adding Box Trucks Affect Your UCR Fees?

If your box trucks qualify as CMVs, they could change the UCR tier or bracket for your carrier company. The different brackets for UCR include:

• Bracket 1 allows one or two CMVs.
• Bracket 2 allows three to five CMVs.
• Bracket 3 allows 6 to 20 CMVs.
• Bracket 4 allows 21 to 100 CMVs.
• Bracket 5 allows 101 to 1,000 CMVs.
• Bracket 6 allows more than 1,000 CMVs.

When purchasing box trucks for your company, you might want to think about how the purchase will affect your bracket. If you need to add more box trucks, you might consider retiring or selling other kinds of CMVs to keep your fleet size within your current bracket. You might also consider adding smaller box trucks that don’t match the definition of CMVs to remain in a lower UCR bracket.

Our experts at FMCA Filings can provide advice about keeping UCR fees in mind when planning for the size of your fleet by adding more box trucks and other CMVs. 

Let FMCA Filings Help With All Your UCR Filing Requirements

When it’s time for your UCR registration renewal, making a mistake can create significant problems for your company. Instead of trying to juggle the multiple forms and ensuring that all the information is perfect, let the experts at FMCA Filings handle the entire process for you.

If you have one or more box trucks as part of your fleet, calculating your UCR fees for the trucking fleet can be challenging. We provide advice that ensures you remain within CDL requirements and FMCSA rules. To learn more, chat with one of our team members at FMCA Filings today.