What is the difference between a Carrier and an Owner Operator?

This is a common misconception among truckers knowing which is which. Are you a carrier? Are you an Owner Operator? Is it possible to be both? Let us find out in this article.

This is a common misconception among truckers knowing which is which. Are you a carrier? Are you an Owner Operator? Is it possible to be both? Let us find out in this article.

 

By definition, a motor carrier is a company that moves freight under a Department of Transportation (DOT) authority and is subject to the FMCSA regulations. A carrier can have thousands of employee or just a one-man show. The key is the DOT authority makes it a carrier. Whereas an Owner Operator is a trucker that operates his or her own vehicle. So let us elaborate on this and look more at their background to understand better.

 

When we say “Carrier” there are things we can know for sure. First, they must have their own DOT Number and/or MC whichever is required for operating authority for business needs (i.e. interstate or intrastate, under 10000 lbs or more than 26,000 lbs, etc). A carrier can have one or multiple sets of equipment but it won’t necessarily mean the owner operates or drives themselves. A carrier can also have many different Owner Operators with own companies that run under that carrier's authority.

 

On the other hand, an “Owner Operator” does operate under their own authority. They run under someone else’s authority. But for sure, they drive, operate, and run their own equipment. Though, they might or might not be the ones responsible for the backend office processes of moving freight depending on who they are leased under. Owner Operators will sometimes drive under someone else's authority but they have under the radar activated their own authority to accumulate some age before they fully branch out on their own.

 

What do we learn from this?

 

Given all those scenarios, we can confirm that you can be both a Carrier and an Owner Operator and you can also be just one of either two. And because of this article, we can be certain that you will not get confused as to which category you are in.

 

Do you have anything for us? Feel free to share them below in the comments.