Behind that movement are two groups: people deciding how to start and owners deciding whether to stop. TruckBiz’s marketplace idea is to help them find each other and compare a sale of the whole LLC or corporation — not a stand-alone MC number.
Every complete month
5,458 newApril 2026
people deciding how to start
TruckBiz Marketplace
help them find each other
compare a sale of the whole LLC or corporation — not a stand-alone MC number
Every complete month
6,625 exitsApril 2026
owners deciding whether to stop
About these numbers. Source: public data from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) — AuthHist - All With History (9mw4-x3tu) and Company Census File (az4n-8mr2), pulled October 11, 2026. The counts and percentages are TruckBiz’s own analysis; FMCSA has not reviewed them. TruckBiz is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, FMCSA or the U.S. Department of Transportation. A revoked authority does not always mean a company closed, and revoked authority can sometimes be reinstated. FMCSA moved to its new Motus system in May 2026, and its data can lag or be revised, so recent months may change. These numbers describe the market as a whole. They are not a forecast for any company and not a price for any listing. See “How we count” below.
TruckBiz is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, FMCSA or the U.S. Department of Transportation. The data is public; the analysis is ours.
April 2026, in three numbers
New
5,458
What it is. April 2026 had 5,458 new property-carrier MC dockets.
Exits
6,625
What it is. April 2026 had 6,625 exits.
Net
+863
What it is. April 2026 ended with net +863 and 352,124 active property-carrier MC dockets.
5,458 new
Why it happens. FMCSA data records when authority becomes active; it does not record why an owner started. We count the status change and do not invent a motive.
Caveat. These are distinct MC dockets, not companies. We count a docket as new only when its first activation is the first grant of property-carrier authority. Brokers, passenger carriers and household-goods authorities are excluded.
6,625 exits
Why it happens. The data records that the last active property authority ended, but it does not tell us whether the owner stopped operating, chose to close or later returned. A later reinstatement is possible.
Caveat. An exit means the docket lost its last active property authority. It does not prove bankruptcy, business closure, or whether the change was voluntary. Notices withdrawn after the carrier fixed the issue are excluded. We use the date the ending decision was served; if that date is missing, we use the decision date.
Net +863
Why it happens. Net is not simply new minus exits. It also adds dockets that became active again.
What it means for you. The active pool grew that month even though exits were higher than first grants, because re-entries also returned to the pool. This describes docket status only.
Exact caveat. Net = 5,458 new + 2,030 re-entries − 6,625 exits; distinct MC dockets, not companies.
The monthly movement
From October 2024 through April 2026, full months ranged from 3,702 to 5,458 new dockets and 5,865 to 8,200 exits, with an average net change of −325 dockets per month.
New, exited and net property-carrier MC dockets, October 2024–April 2026.
Legacy data becomes partial in May 2026; do not compare it as a full month.
| Month | New | Exits | Net |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 2024 | 4,864 | 7,128 | −155 |
| Nov 2024 | 4,274 | 6,266 | −346 |
| Dec 2024 | 3,702 | 6,897 | −1,989 |
| Jan 2025 | 3,748 | 6,406 | −965 |
| Feb 2025 | 4,072 | 6,146 | −292 |
| Mar 2025 | 4,970 | 7,099 | −58 |
| Apr 2025 | 5,453 | 7,039 | +501 |
| May 2025 | 4,997 | 6,532 | +528 |
| Jun 2025 | 4,989 | 7,601 | −607 |
| Jul 2025 | 5,039 | 6,895 | +224 |
| Aug 2025 | 4,920 | 6,464 | +339 |
| Sep 2025 | 4,448 | 7,642 | −1,219 |
| Oct 2025 | 4,974 | 6,887 | +45 |
| Nov 2025 | 3,830 | 6,367 | −804 |
| Dec 2025 | 4,121 | 8,200 | −2,366 |
| Jan 2026 | 4,005 | 6,278 | −451 |
| Feb 2026 | 4,364 | 5,865 | +364 |
| Mar 2026 | 5,148 | 7,044 | +204 |
| Apr 2026 | 5,458 | 6,625 | +863 |
Caveat. These are distinct MC dockets, not companies. “New” means first activation on the first grant of property-carrier authority. “Exit” means loss of the last active property authority; it does not prove bankruptcy, business closure, or whether the change was voluntary. Cured notices are excluded. We use the served date for an exit and the decision date only when the served date is missing. May 2026 is excluded because the data ends May 20.
Source: FMCSA public data, pulled October 11, 2026. TruckBiz analysis. Not affiliated with FMCSA or DOT.
Three time checks on new dockets
These cohort views answer two different questions. “Exited within” asks whether a docket left the active pool at least once during the period. “Inactive at” asks whether it was inactive on one exact checkpoint date. A temporary exit followed by re-entry can count in the first measure but not the second.
Six monthsOct 2025 cohort · 4,974 dockets
Twelve monthsApr 2025 cohort · 5,453 dockets
Eighteen monthsOct 2024 cohort · 4,864 dockets
- Six months: About 23% (1,117 of 4,974) exited within six months; about 20% (1,019 of 4,974) were inactive exactly six months after first grant. Caveat: “Any exit” includes temporary exits followed by re-entry.
- Twelve months: About 38% (2,054 of 5,453) exited within 12 months; about 34% (1,839 of 5,453) were inactive exactly 12 months after first grant. Caveat: “Any exit” includes temporary exits followed by re-entry.
- Eighteen months: About 51% (2,487 of 4,864) exited within 18 months; about 46% (2,218 of 4,864) were inactive exactly 18 months after first grant. Caveat: “Any exit” includes temporary exits followed by re-entry.
Source: FMCSA public data, pulled October 11, 2026. TruckBiz analysis. Not affiliated with FMCSA or DOT.
These numbers describe new authorities overall. They do not show that buying a company makes any business more likely to succeed.
Two details that are easy to misread
A name suffix is not a legal-form check
In the April 2026 cohort, about 94% of census matches — 5,100 of 5,455 — had a current legal name ending in LLC, Inc, Corp or Ltd.
The mechanism is only a text match against the current census name. It does not prove the company’s legal form when authority was granted.
From October 1, 2024 through May 20, 2026, 42,137 dockets that had exited and had not returned by the data horizon met a narrow research screen: no earlier authority exit, no property-carrier revocation notice in the preceding 12 months, and a current LLC/Inc/Corp/Ltd name suffix.
What it means. Only that those dockets met three filters. The screen did not measure insurance, out-of-service history, company quality, or whether any business could be sold. It is not a quality label, a listing assessment or a valuation.
Source: FMCSA public data, pulled October 11, 2026. TruckBiz analysis. Not affiliated with FMCSA or DOT.
Myth vs fact
Myth:
A revocation notice means the company closed.
Fact:
A revocation notice is not a closing. If the carrier fixed the issue and FMCSA withdrew the notice, we exclude it; that withdrawn notice does not end authority in this analysis.
Authority status
Not counted as an exit
Authority status
Check the authority disposition; do not infer closure or bankruptcy.
What this means for buyers
The market has both new grants and exits every month. That does not prove that buying an existing company is better than starting one. It means you have two paths to compare, and the company path must be judged as a whole business — history, liabilities, contracts and records included — not as a number with an age.
Before you decide, read the company’s FMCSA record, understand its debts and claims, get your own insurance quote and ask each outside platform what it will require after an ownership change. Approval belongs to those third parties.
What this means for sellers
If you are thinking about stopping operations, closing is not the only question to examine. Check first whether the whole LLC or corporation could be sold. A possible sale is not a promise: TruckBiz does not promise a price, a buyer or a date.
Selling the company does not remove its debts, claims, FMCSA history or penalties, and it does not end a personal guarantee you signed. Those facts must be disclosed and reviewed with your own lawyer and accountant.
How we count
- Unit:
- a distinct MC docket, not a company or USDOT number. One USDOT can have more than one docket.
- Included authority types:
- motor property common and contract carrier, including the legacy bare
COMMONandCONTRACTtypes. Brokers, freight forwarders, passenger and household-goods authority types are excluded. - New:
- the first time a docket is ever granted property-carrier authority. Dockets that first appear as a reinstatement, or through another kind of first activation, are counted separately.
- Exit:
- the docket loses its last active property-carrier authority. We date it by the day FMCSA served the decision; if that date is missing, we use the day the decision was made.
- Net:
- new plus other first activations plus re-entries minus exits.
- Cohorts:
- a six-, 12- or 18-month cell is published only after the full observation window fits inside the May 20, 2026 data horizon.
- Corrections:
- methodology or number changes belong in the dated change log below; they are not replaced silently.
Sources
Publisher for all four datasets: Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
- AuthHist - All With History (9mw4-x3tu) — used for grants, exits, re-entries, active counts and cohorts; pulled October 11, 2026.
- Company Census File (az4n-8mr2) — used for current legal-name suffixes; pulled October 11, 2026.
- Motus InsHist - All With History (3uet-3z4i) — October 7, 2026 raw series; not used for the headlines above.
- Motus AuthHist - All With History (yu5v-wbh6) — October 7, 2026 raw series; not spliced into the legacy monthly line and not used for the headlines above.
Reproducible method and output: research/market-data/market_data.py and research/market-data/out/tables.md.
Change log
- October 11, 2026: First reviewed draft based on the VPS recompute; legacy monthly chart ends with April 2026 and excludes partial May.
Compare your next step
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