TL;DR: Montana's deregulated general freight carries only the 25/50/20 registration minimum as a legal floor, with PSC-set limits surviving for garbage, regular-route, and household goods classes. Interstate vehicles over 10,001 pounds take the federal tiers from $750,000 to $5,000,000, and the market expects $1,000,000 everywhere.
What is the legal floor for a Montana truck?
For general intrastate freight, the registration minimums: $25,000 for injury or death of one person, $50,000 for two or more, and $20,000 in property damage. When Montana repealed its property-carrier certificate classes, the trucking-specific liability schedule went with them for ordinary freight, leaving the same floor a passenger car carries. The surviving PSC classes, garbage haulers, regular-route carriers, household goods and passenger operations, carry commission-set limits evidenced through the MV-4 casualty endorsement, and hazmat freight answers to the federal schedule regardless of radius.
What do the federal tiers require?
Interstate operation over 10,001 pounds means at least $750,000 for general freight, $1,000,000 for oil products, and $5,000,000 for the highest-hazard cargo, unchanged since 1985 and evidenced by the insurer's BMC-91X filing or MCS-90 endorsement. Montana's regional lanes make the tiers the operative law for most of the fleet: grain moving to Pacific Northwest ports, cattle to feedlots in neighboring states, and equipment on I-90 and I-94 all cross borders, and through freight in interstate commerce carries the federal floor even when a particular tractor stays home.
Why is the 25/50/20 floor a trap?
Because it bears no relation to what a loaded truck can do. A single serious crash on a two-lane at highway speed produces medical costs that consume $25,000 in the first hours, and everything above the limit comes from the business. Montana's roads concentrate exactly that exposure: high speed limits, long distances, wildlife at dusk, and passes in winter. The state's moderate legal climate and comparative negligence rules help at the margins, but no doctrine shrinks economic damages, and remote-area trauma care is expensive precisely because it is far away.
| Operation | Minimum | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Intrastate general freight | 25/50/20 registration floor | Montana vehicle law |
| PSC classes | Commission-set, MV-4 | PSC rules |
| Interstate general freight | $750,000 | 49 CFR 387.9 |
| Oil products | $1,000,000 | 49 CFR 387.9 |
| Highest-hazard cargo | $5,000,000 | 49 CFR 387.9 |
What does the market actually demand?
The same thing it demands everywhere: $1,000,000 in liability before a broker tenders a load, cargo coverage around $100,000, and physical damage for financed equipment. Montana's small carrier market means shippers often know their haulers personally, but the contracts still specify the standard limits, and the grain elevators, ranches, and mills that anchor the freight base increasingly follow national practice. A carrier quoting at the registration floor is quoting itself out of the market, not into it.
How should a Montana carrier set limits?
Buy $1,000,000 primary liability as the entry point, take the federal tiers as floors for hazmat and interstate work, and size umbrella capacity to the largest contract and the realistic worst case on the routes actually run. Match cargo to the freight, livestock mortality terms for cattle, weather terms for hay and grain, and set physical damage deductibles with recovery distances in mind. Review annually as lanes change, because a new contract into Washington or Alberta changes the applicable law as well as the exposure. Montana's floors are the nation's lightest touch; the distances, speeds, and wildlife that fill its loss runs argue for limits built on the risk instead.
Real questions Montana owner-operators and fleet managers ask
What is the minimum liability to haul freight inside Montana?
Legally, the 25/50/20 registration minimum, since general freight was deregulated and no trucking-specific floor survives. Practically, shippers and brokers require $750,000 to $1,000,000 before freight moves.
Do any Montana carriers still have state-set limits?
Yes. The PSC's surviving classes, garbage haulers, regular-route and passenger carriers, and household goods movers, carry commission-set limits evidenced through MV-4 casualty endorsements.
When do federal limits apply to a Montana carrier?
Whenever a vehicle over 10,001 pounds operates in interstate commerce, including through freight. Regional lanes to ports, feedlots, and neighboring states make the federal tiers the operative floor for most fleets.
Does Montana's legal climate reduce the need for high limits?
Only modestly. Comparative negligence and moderate venues help outcomes, but economic damages drive catastrophic claims, and remote-area trauma care is costly, so serious losses still consume small limits quickly.
What limits should a Montana livestock hauler carry?
The market standard $1,000,000 liability plus cargo with livestock mortality terms. Interstate hauls to feedlots and sale barns trigger the federal tiers, and contracts with larger operations specify the standard limits.
Can Morrow write trucking insurance in Montana?
Not directly today. Morrow is the brand name of Afthonea Inc, licensed in Massachusetts, Florida, California, New York, Pennsylvania, Oregon, and Texas. If your trucking company is based in Montana, we can refer you to a licensed Montana agent, and this guide still shows you exactly what to ask that agent for. Everything above comes from public Montana and federal sources, not from us selling you a policy.
Related Montana trucking guides
The other Montana trucking questions, answered the same way.
- Trucking insurance in Montana (start here)
- Trucking insurance requirements
- Intrastate authority and filings
- Cost of trucking insurance
- Business insurance in Montana
- Federal minimum liability limits by commodity
- What is an MCS-90 endorsement?
- Federal minimum liability limits by commodity
This guide is general information, not legal, tax, or insurance advice. Limits, forms, and deadlines change, so verify current requirements with the Montana Public Service Commission, MDT Motor Carrier Services, and the Commissioner of Securities and Insurance before you rely on them. Morrow is a brand name of Afthonea Inc. Last updated: July 2026.