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IRP registration: who needs apportioned plates and a cab card

Short answerIRP, the International Registration Plan, lets you register a truck once in your home (base) jurisdiction and run it in the other member states and provinces, with the fees split by the miles you drive in each. You need it if your power unit runs in two or more member jurisdictions and has two axles and a gross or registered weight over 26,000 pounds, three or more axles at any weight, or runs in a combination over 26,000 pounds. You get one apportioned plate and a cab card for each truck.

What IRP is

The International Registration Plan is an agreement between U.S. states and Canadian provinces for registering trucks that travel in two or more member jurisdictions. Instead of buying plates in every state, you register the truck once with your base jurisdiction. Registration fees are based on the miles you run in each jurisdiction and each jurisdiction's own fee schedule, and declared weight also factors in. Your base jurisdiction collects the money and passes each state its share.

You end up with one plate (or set of plates) per truck, called an apportioned plate, plus a cab card.

Which trucks need apportioned plates

The IRP calls these apportionable vehicles. It's a power unit used, or meant to be used, in two or more member jurisdictions that carries property, or carries people for hire, and meets one of these:

Two axles and a gross vehicle weight or registered gross vehicle weight over 26,000 pounds
Three or more axles, no matter the weight
Used in a combination where the combined gross weight is over 26,000 pounds

Only the power unit is apportioned. Trailers are handled separately; Florida, for example, registers semi-trailers with the county tax collector.

Wyoming's IRP page lists what is not apportionable: recreational vehicles, vehicles with restricted plates, SUVs, passenger vans and government-owned vehicles. Trucks and combinations at 26,000 pounds or less don't have to register under IRP but can choose to.

The cab card

The cab card is your registration document. It lists the jurisdictions you're registered in. Florida's rule is typical: the cab card has to be with the driver or in the truck at all times, and it's the only registration credential you need in the other member jurisdictions. If you run into a state that isn't on your cab card, you need a trip permit for that state before you enter.

Where to apply: your base jurisdiction

You don't apply to IRP directly. You apply to your base jurisdiction, which is normally the state where you have an established place of business. Florida and New Jersey both describe that as a physical building you own, lease or rent, with a street address, where someone works for the business and where the fleet's operational records are kept. Florida adds that the staff have to be employees, not contractors or service agents. A PO box doesn't qualify.

Requirements vary a little by state, so check with your state's IRP office (usually the DMV or DOT). New Jersey, for example, notes that your USDOT number has to be registered as interstate to be accepted for IRP. If you're still deciding that, read interstate vs intrastate USDOT.

Plates on the bumper, lettering on the doors

Apportioned plates and the cab card cover registration. They don't replace the federal marking rule. Under 49 CFR 390.21 your truck still needs your legal name or single trade name and "USDOT" plus your number on both sides of the power unit, readable from 50 feet in daylight. Officers check both, and one real Level I inspection record we pulled from FMCSA's public data shows an IRP registration violation and a marking violation written on the same truck.

Our USDOT truck lettering comes as one pre-spaced cut vinyl sheet per door, from $59 for both doors with free shipping.