It’s that time of year when truckers need to pay fees for the new Unified Carrier Registration Agreement.

The new program, UCR, replaced the old Single-State Registration System. Its first year was 2007. Now it’s time to pay the 2008 fees.

With the program still relatively new – it wasn’t off the ground until late ’07 – all states may not be 100 percent uniform in their enforcement on the payment of fees.

OOIDA Director of Regulatory Affairs Rick Craig served on the board that put together the UCR program and fees structure.

There’s no official due date for the 2008 fees, Craig explained. The National Conference of State Transportation Specialists agreed by consensus that June 1 will be the enforcement date, but they have no authority to make the states stick to that date, he said.

He added that some states are saying they will begin enforcing earlier on those carriers based within their state.

With all of that in mind, states are mailing, or are getting ready to mail, UCR notifications. Craig suggests that carriers should register and pay the fees as soon as possible upon receiving notice to avoid being fined.

Fees are based on the size of the motor carrier operation. Companies with:

• 0 to 2 trucks and trailers will pay $39;
• 3 to 5 trucks and trailers will pay $116;
• 6 to 20 trucks and trailers will pay $231;
• 21 to 100 trucks and trailers will pay $806;
• 101 to 1,000 trucks and trailers will pay $3,840; or
• 1,001 or more trucks and trailers will pay $37,500.

– By Jami Jones, senior editor
jami_jones@landlinemag.com