Case 02 · Motus problem file

Registered as a TSP in Motus by mistake

STUCK  Readout first. Full fix below. This page asks for nothing — no login, no PIN, no email.

What it means
Your Motus account was created with the wrong account type. A Transportation Service Provider (TSP) account belongs to companies that file on behalf of carriers — it cannot claim a carrier's USDOT record, so every carrier function in your account is a dead end.
Whose side the fix is on
FMCSA's — account type cannot be changed from inside the account
First move
Stop trying to claim from the TSP account. Open an AskFMCSA ticket asking for account-type correction, with your USDOT number and business proof in the first message.
Attach first
USDOT number, legal business name, articles of organization or EIN letter, and a screenshot of the account type shown in your Motus profile.
Realistic wait
Carrier-reported at several weeks in fall 2026 — this is a manual records correction in the same queue as claim disputes.
Escalation ladder
AskFMCSA ticket (account correction) → Contact Center 1-800-832-5660 with the ticket number → supervisor review if the ticket passes 30 days.

Sound familiar?

What's actually happening

Motus opened in December 2025 to supporting companies first — insurers, BOC-3 blanket companies, and TSPs. When general access opened in mid-May 2026, carriers landed on registration screens written for that first audience, and the account-type choice was easy to get wrong. Service-company guides flagged TSP misclassification as one of the most common Motus signup errors of 2026.

The fix, in order

  1. Confirm the account typeOpen your Motus profile and note exactly what account type it shows. Screenshot it — the ticket reviewer works faster with the screenshot attached.
  2. Do not abandon the account and start over blindlyA second account under a different email creates a duplicate-identity problem on top of the account-type problem. Get the correction ticket opened first; if FMCSA tells you to re-register, that instruction is now on your record.
  3. Open the correction ticketAt ask.fmcsa.dot.gov, state plainly: account created as TSP in error, you are a motor carrier, USDOT number, and the correction you need. Attach the business proof and the screenshot in the first message.
  4. Work by phone once you have a ticket numberCall 1-800-832-5660 with the ticket number ready. Phone agents cannot always make the correction live, but they can confirm the ticket is in the right queue — that confirmation is worth having in writing.

Read the label

Carrier-reported, not in FMCSA's guides: some carriers fixed faster by having their insurance agent or BOC-3 blanket company confirm on the ticket thread that the company is an operating carrier, not a service provider. Third-party confirmation is not an FMCSA requirement — it just removes the reviewer's doubt.

Questions carriers ask about this one

Can I just delete the TSP account and register again as a carrier?

Not safely on your own. Duplicate identities are a separate Motus failure mode. FMCSA's correction ticket is the documented path; if the agency instructs a fresh registration, doing it on their instruction keeps your record clean.

I'm a dispatcher — should I be a TSP?

If you file or manage records on behalf of carriers as a business, TSP may actually be the right type. If you haul freight under your own authority, it is not. The test is whose USDOT record the account must touch: yours (carrier) or your clients' (TSP).

How long does the TSP correction take?

There is no published FMCSA timeline. Carrier reports in fall 2026 put manual record corrections at several weeks, in the same queue as claim disputes — another reason the first ticket must be complete.

This problem, fully worked

The free readout above tells you where you stand. The Playbook works this case end-to-end: the expanded walkthrough, the copy-paste ticket template with the exact fields FMCSA requests, and the escalation scripts for when the queue stalls. The account-correction ticket template with the exact wording and fields, plus the follow-up phone script for corrections that pass 30 days.

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