May 2026 brought the largest change to motor carrier registration in decades, while fuel remained the biggest pressure on carrier margins. Rates kept rising, but DAT's April data showed that most of the gain was fuel surcharge rather than better linehaul pay.
Motus replaces the FMCSA Portal
FMCSA's legacy Portal registration functions went dark at 8:00 p.m. Eastern on May 14, 2026, and the agency's new Motus system took over registration for carriers, brokers and freight forwarders. Motus replaces the decades-old Unified Registration System. Supporting companies such as insurers and process agents were able to set up Motus profiles earlier, starting in December 2025.
Ahead of the cutover, FMCSA asked registrants to complete several steps in the old Portal by May 14:
- Confirm the Portal account was active (accounts are disabled after 90 days of inactivity and archived after 12 months).
- Verify company information, operation classification, contact details and authorized users.
- Make any company updates through the Biennial Update (MCS-150).
Access to Motus runs through Login.gov. The Company Official's Login.gov email must match the email used on the old Portal account, and a mismatch prevents the company from claiming its USDOT number in Motus. Only the Company Official, an owner or authorized internal employee rather than an outside consultant, can claim the number.
The rollout was rough. FreightWaves reported that FMCSA had sent 2.2 million letters to registered users before the transition and that roughly 18%, about 396,000, came back undeliverable, a sign of how many registration records were out of date.
What Motus changes for fraud
Motus adds identity verification at the point of registration. New registrants verify their identity with a government-issued ID and a facial scan through FMCSA's verification partners, IDEMIA and CLEAR, and a separate verification company confirms a business's legal name, ownership, principal place of business and registration standing. The goal is to stop impostors and reincarnated carriers before they get authority, which is where much double brokering and identity theft starts.
Some things did not change at launch: MC, FF and MX docket numbers were not eliminated, Safety Registration requirements were not included, and the BOC-3 process stayed the same.
For a carrier that factors, the practical points were simple. Claim your USDOT number promptly, keep your Login.gov credentials with the actual Company Official, and make sure the legal name and address in Motus match your factoring agreement and Notice of Assignment. Mismatched records slow down broker setups and the factor's own verification.
Diesel near record territory
EIA's weekly U.S. average retail diesel price was $5.596 a gallon for the week of May 18, 2026, after peaking for the month at $5.640 on May 4. That was about 47% above the $3.809 average in the week of February 23, before prices jumped in March, and $2.06 above the same week of 2025. The all-time weekly record at the time was $5.810, set in June 2022.
The driver was supply. EIA's May Short-Term Energy Outlook assumed the Strait of Hormuz would stay effectively closed through late May, with traffic resuming gradually in June, and expected Brent crude to stay near $106 a barrel in May and June.
DAT's April data shows how that reached the rate sheet: the average van fuel surcharge on spot loads was 71 cents a mile, the highest monthly average since July 2022.
April rates: fuel did the lifting
DAT's April 2026 report, released May 18, put the national average spot van rate at $2.67 a mile, up 15 cents from March and 71 cents from April 2025. Reefer averaged $3.11 and flatbed $3.46. Contract van rates averaged $2.85, up 13 cents month over month, so contract still ran 18 cents above spot, down from a 20-cent gap in March.
The catch was in the linehaul numbers. Excluding fuel, van linehaul rose only 5 cents to $1.96 a mile and reefer 4 cents to $2.34. Flatbed linehaul rose 25 cents to $2.61, the only move that suggested real demand. Load volumes, measured by DAT's Truckload Volume Index, fell month over month for all three equipment types. DAT analyst Dean Croke summed it up: fuel was the story in April.
DAT's dry van commentary described the recovery as supply-driven: capacity leaving the market, not stronger demand, was doing most of the work on rates.
For carriers, that means a higher invoice does not necessarily mean a better margin. When much of the rate is fuel surcharge, the dollars collected rise along with the dollars spent. A factoring fee charged as a percentage of the gross invoice also rises with the fuel surcharge, so it is worth checking what you actually pay per load. Our guide to factoring hidden fees covers what to look for.
One year of English proficiency enforcement
On May 1, 2026, USDOT and FMCSA marked the anniversary of the April 2025 executive order on truck driver rules. According to the agency's summary, as reported by CDLLife:
- English language proficiency was put back into out-of-service criteria in June 2025, and more than 20,000 drivers have since been placed out of service for failing it.
- FMCSA withheld about $40 million from California in October 2025 over ELP enforcement. California began enforcing in January 2026.
- A February 2026 final rule restricted who can obtain a non-domiciled CDL. FMCSA said more than 28,000 improperly issued licenses had been revoked nationwide, and it withheld $160 million from California and $73 million from New York over unrevoked licenses.
- FMCSA and NHTSA withdrew the proposed heavy-vehicle speed limiter rule, and FMCSA affirmed the ELD exemption for pre-2000 model year trucks.
- Two hours-of-service pilot programs were introduced: one letting drivers split the 10-hour off-duty period, and one letting drivers pause the 14-hour on-duty clock for 30 minutes to 3 hours.
For small fleets, the driver-side rules matter most. An out-of-service order idles a truck and stops invoices. The non-domiciled CDL rule also keeps reducing the driver pool, which supports rates but makes hiring harder.
Tariffs: the July deadline
The temporary Section 122 tariff that took effect at 12:01 a.m. Eastern on February 24, 2026 was set to run only until 12:01 a.m. Eastern on July 24, 2026 unless Congress acted. Carriers in cross-border and port drayage lanes were planning for volume shifts either way.
What this meant for factoring customers
- Registration records. Factors verify authority before funding. A USDOT number that has not been claimed in Motus, or company details that do not match, can delay funding. Sort it out before you need it.
- Fuel. With diesel above $5.50, fuel advances and fuel discount programs offered by factors are worth comparing on actual cents per gallon and network coverage. See our fuel card comparison.
- Contract terms. In a volatile market, long contracts with high monthly minimums are riskier. Read the termination and minimum-volume clauses; our guide on how to read a factoring contract walks through them.
- Credit risk. With carrier and broker exits continuing, know whether your agreement is recourse or non-recourse and what non-recourse actually covers. See recourse vs non-recourse factoring.