Two temporary credentials cover a truck that is not set up for a state it is about to enter. A trip permit stands in for IRP apportioned registration. A fuel permit— called a fuel trip permit, temporary fuel-use permit, or motor fuel use tax permit depending on the state — stands in for an IFTA license. Every IRP and IFTA member state sells some version of each. Most run 72 hours to 10 days, and the fees we could verify today range from $10 (Missouri) to $50 (the Texas 144-hour permit). The table is the reference. The sections around it cover the rules that get drivers cited even when they bought the right permit.
What a Trip Permit and a Fuel Permit Each Replace
IRP registers a truck once, through its base state, and apportions the registration fee across every jurisdiction it runs. IFTA does the same for fuel tax on one quarterly return. A truck that meets the qualifying definition — more than 26,000 lbs, or three or more axles — but holds neither credential has to buy the state’s temporary version before it crosses. The two are separate purchases, and in many states they come from separate agencies: Texas sells the registration permit through TxDMV and the fuel permit through the Comptroller; California splits them between DMV and CDTFA. A truck with neither IRP nor IFTA needs both permits in every state it enters.
Both are per vehicle. One permit does not cover a second truck, and the clock runs from the start date and time printed on the permit, not from the moment the truck actually crosses the line.
How to Read the Table
Fees shown were read today on the issuing agency’s page or in the statute or regulation that sets them. Where the agency page could not be checked, the cell says “verify” — call the office or open its portal rather than trust a third-party price list, because these numbers move. “Online” means the agency itself sells the permit through a portal; several states still route sales through approved wire services, permit services, or the first port of entry, and the last column says which. Each state name links to our own state page with the agency contact.
| State | Trip (registration) permit | Fuel permit | Agency and how to buy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arizona | Single-trip motor carrier permit: 96 hours or until you exit; $12 (0–50 mi) / $48 (over 50 mi) | Use-fuel single-trip permit: 96 hours or exit; $16 (0–50 mi) / $65 (over 50 mi) for diesel units over 26,000 lbs GVWR with more than two axles | ADOT MVD Commercial Vehicle Permits — online, ports of entry, permit services |
| Arkansas | Trip permit sold at Arkansas Highway Police weigh stations on entry or through DFA myDMV; window and fee: verify | IFTA state; ask DFA Motor Fuel Tax whether a temporary fuel permit is offered | Arkansas DFA / ArDOT Highway Police |
| California | Nonresident Commercial Vehicle Trip Permit (REG 41): 4 consecutive days, $45, laden | California Fuel Trip Permit: up to 4 consecutive days, $30 per vehicle | DMV (REG 41 at DMV offices and permit services) / CDTFA (fuel permit online, CDTFA offices, most DMV offices) |
| Colorado | 72-hour laden-weight trip permit; weight-tiered fee: verify | Temporary fuel permit at ports of entry; fee: verify | Colorado State Patrol Port of Entry — at the first port, or by phone/email in advance |
| Florida | Trip permit: expires 10 days after issuance, $30 | Temporary fuel-use permit: expires within 10 days, $45 | FLHSMV — online (Commercial Vehicle Permit Portal) and approved wire services |
| Georgia | 72-hour IRP trip permit, $30 | 10-day Motor Fuel Use Tax Permit, $16 | Georgia DOR Trucking Portal — online |
| Idaho | 120-hour temporary registration permit; limit 3 per calendar year; fee: verify | 120-hour fuel permit; fee: verify | ITD Motor Carrier Services — self-issue in CRS (needs USDOT + MC account) or any Idaho port of entry |
| Illinois | Registration trip permit: 72 hours / 3 calendar days; fee: verify | Motor fuel use tax single trip permit: 96 hours, $40 | IL Secretary of State (trip) / IL DOR (fuel) — fuel permits only through approved providers, bought before entry |
| Indiana | 3-Day Trip permit for a base-plated carrier from another state; fee: verify | 5-Day Trip permit (travel exempt from fuel taxes); fee: verify | Indiana DOR Motor Carrier Services — online at motorcarrier.dor.in.gov |
| Kentucky | IRP non-reciprocal temporary permit: $25 (55,000 lbs and under) / $40 (over 55,000 lbs); window: verify | 10-day IFTA temporary permit, $40; plus 10-day KYU permit, $40, for trucks over 59,999 lbs | KYTC Motor Carrier Permits portal — online, credit card plus 4% fee |
| Louisiana | 48-hour trip permit; fee: verify | No temporary fuel permit listed — verify with Louisiana Dept. of Revenue | Louisiana OMV / State Police ports of entry — approved wire services |
| Missouri | 72-hour reciprocity trip permit, $10 | 72-hour IFTA permit, $10 (trip + fuel combination $20) | MoDOT Motor Carrier Services — online (MoDOT Carrier Express) |
| Nebraska | 72-hour trip permit, $25 + $2 processing | 72-hour fuel permit, $20 + $2 (combined trip + fuel $45 + $4) | Nebraska DMV Motor Carrier Services — online |
| New York | IRP trip permit through NY DMV; window and fee: verify | IFTA temporary permit: verify. Separate HUT trip certificate (weight-distance, not fuel): $25, expires midnight of the third day after issue, max 10 per calendar year | NY DMV / NY Tax Dept. — HUT trip certificate online on OSCAR or through an approved permit service |
| Oklahoma | 72-hour commercial vehicle registration trip permit, $22 | 120-hour fuel permit, $35 | Oklahoma Corporation Commission Transportation Division — online (OCC IRP/IFTA site) or Comdata |
| Oregon | Heavy Motor Vehicle Trip Permit: 10 consecutive days, $43 | Weight-Mile Temporary Tax Pass: 10 days or the miles purchased, $9 + weight-mile tax (Oregon taxes heavy trucks by the mile, not at the pump) | ODOT Commerce and Compliance Division — Oregon Trucking Online (account holders) or the Commercial Vehicle Tax Service Center, 503-378-6699 |
| South Carolina | 72-hour trip permit, $15 | 10-day fuel permit, $15 | SCDMV Motor Carrier Services — online (MCS portal) |
| Texas | 72-Hour Permit $25 / 144-Hour Permit $50, each + $4.75; USDOT number required | Fuel trip permit: one entry, 20 days, $50; max 5 entries per calendar year | TxDMV (online, county tax office, Regional Service Center) / Texas Comptroller (Webfile application, mailed cashier’s check or money order) |
| Utah | 96-hour temporary registration; fee: verify | Temporary fuel permit; fee: verify | Utah State Tax Commission Motor Carrier Services / UDOT ports of entry — verify |
| Virginia | 10-day IRP trip permit, $15 | 10-day IFTA trip permit, $20 (combination $35) | Virginia DMV Motor Carrier Services — form MCTS-271 to DMV or an approved permit service |
| Washington | Trip permit: 3 consecutive days, $36 ($25 + $11 service fee); max 3 per vehicle per 30 days | Fuel permit: 3 consecutive days, $33 | WA Dept. of Licensing — vehicle licensing offices, WSDOT permitting offices, third parties |
States the searches also ask about — New Mexico, Nevada, Tennessee, North Carolina, Iowa, Mississippi— all sell temporary registration and fuel permits through their motor carrier office, ports of entry, or approved wire services. New Mexico adds a temporary weight-distance permit on top of the registration and fuel pieces. Verify the current window and fee with the agency; the state pages list the contact for each.
States That Cap How Many Temporary Permits You Can Buy
A trip permit is designed for the occasional crossing, and several states put a number on “occasional.” Washington will not issue more than three trip permits for one vehicle within a 30-day period. Idaho limits temporary registration permits (120-hour and 30-day) to three per vehicle per calendar year unless the vehicle is a wrecker, transporter, laden dealer unit, or on a manufacturer plate. Texas allows the fuel trip permit only if the vehicle makes no more than five entries into the state in a calendar year — and a round trip counts as two. New York caps HUT trip certificates at ten per calendar year. Oregon tells carriers to open an account once any one vehicle exceeds five temporary passes or the account exceeds 35 in twelve months.
Read the caps as the state telling you when it expects registration. A truck that hits one of these ceilings mid-year does not get a sixth Texas fuel permit; it gets IFTA or it stays out of Texas.
Buy Before You Cross
No state on the table sells a retroactive permit. Georgia’s trip permit “must be secured prior to entry into Georgia” and stay with the vehicle. California’s fuel trip permit is issued for specific dates and is not valid before or after them, and CDTFA says to complete it before entering the state. Illinois fuel single-trip permits must be purchased before entering Illinois. Florida’s permits are checked at the port-of-entry weigh stations that sit just inside the state line on I-10, I-75, and I-95. The Texas fuel trip permit is the slowest of the group: you apply on the Comptroller’s Webfile, mail a cashier’s check or money order, and the receipt is the permit, so a same-morning Texas entry on a fuel permit is not realistic.
The other timing trap is the window itself. A 72-hour permit that starts at 6:00 a.m. Monday is dead at 6:00 a.m. Thursday whether or not the trailer got unloaded. If the delivery appointment is soft, buy the longer window where the state offers one (Texas 144-hour, Oklahoma 120-hour fuel) rather than gambling on a second purchase from the shoulder.
When to Stop Buying Trip Permits
The math turns fast. A single Texas round trip on temporary credentials is two 144-hour permits ($109.50 with processing) plus two fuel trip permits ($100) — about $210 in state fees for one truck, one lane, one week, before any service fee. A truck doing that lane monthly spends more in a year on paper than an IRP registration plus IFTA decals would cost, and it burns through Texas’s five-entry fuel cap by March. The trip permit vs annual permit guide walks the break-even, but the short version is: more than three or four crossings a quarter into any state, and the ongoing credential wins.
Once a truck is apportioned, the Full Reciprocity Plan makes its cab card valid in every IRP jurisdiction, so the trip-permit line of the table disappears entirely. Once it holds IFTA decals, the fuel line disappears too — replaced by the quarterly IFTA return.
What Trip and Fuel Permits Do Not Cover
Registration and fuel are two of the credentials a scale checks; they are not all of them. Five states tax distance separately, and each has its own temporary version: New York HUT (the $25 trip certificate above), Kentucky KYU (the $40 10-day permit above, for trucks over 59,999 lbs), New Mexico WDT, Oregon’s weight-mile temporary pass, and Connecticut HUF (verify trip-style coverage with CT DRS). A load over legal weight or dimensions needs the state’s oversize/overweight permit no matter what registration it carries. And two of the biggest freight states layer intrastate authority on top: California requires a CA number and Motor Carrier Permit, and Texas requires TxDMV operating authority for for-hire loads that stay inside the state. The state trucking permits overview maps the whole stack.
Getting One Filed
If you would rather not juggle five portals and a mailed money order, we file trip and fuel permits directly with the issuing agency for $75 flat per permit. You give us the truck (plate, VIN, declared weight), the state, and the entry date and start time; the state issues the credential and we send it to the cab. Start from the state page — Texas, Florida, California, Oregon — or the permit cost guide if you are pricing a whole lane.