Motus help
How Long Motus Takes, and How to Reach a Human
Updated September 2026
Two questions every new carrier asks in the same breath. The honest answers, from FMCSA's own numbers and the reporting since launch.
How long things take
Most of the delay is not FMCSA - it is the two filings other companies make for you. Line up the insurer and the process agent before you pay the $300 and the clock runs at its shortest.
How to reach FMCSA
- Ticket (FMCSA's preferred channel): ask.fmcsa.dot.gov/app/ticket, or the in-app link at motus.dot.gov/contact-fmcsa. FMCSA's administrator asked carriers in good standing to use the ticket rather than call during the rollout.
- Live chat: ask.fmcsa.dot.gov/app/chat/chat_launch.
- Phone: the FMCSA Contact Center at 1-800-832-5660. Hours differ between FMCSA's pages (one says weekdays 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Eastern plus Saturdays, a Motus job aid says 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.) - check ask.fmcsa.dot.gov before you dial.
- Identity check problems: the IDEMIA enrollment-center hotline, 1-833-832-5530.
- Registration alerts by email: FMCSA's GovDelivery list, and the Motus Resources Hub at fmcsa.dot.gov/registration/resources-hub.
What the waits have looked like
Overdrive reported holds of more than an hour in the first days, about 40 minutes a week later, then two-hour holds and a 19-business-day callback in June; a caller in late August was 275th in line before the call dropped (CCJ). FMCSA said in mid-September that staff and contractors were working around the clock, that average hold times kept dropping, and that complaints had declined sharply - and also that there is no separate escalation channel and no reimbursement for losses.
What to put in a ticket
- Your USDOT number and, if you have one, the docket number or application ID.
- The company official's name and the Login.gov email on the account.
- One sentence on what you expected and what happened, with the date and time.
- Screenshots of the error, the payment screen, or the status page.
- Proof of ownership if the issue is claiming an account: an IRS letter, articles of organization or your state registration.
Fewer tickets when the order is right.
The walkthrough sequences the business name, the EIN, the insurance quote, Login.gov and the ID check before the application - the mistakes that make people call are the ones it is built to prevent.
Keep reading