Florida Temporary Trip and Fuel Permits: The 10-Day Rules for Non-IRP, Non-IFTA Trucks

Florida’s temporary credentials are set in statute, which makes them easier to pin down than most states’. The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles issues a trip permit — $30, expires 10 days after issuance — for an apportionable truck operating on non-IRP registration from another jurisdiction, and a temporary fuel-use permit — $45, expires within 10 days — for a truck without IFTA credentials. Both are sold online through FLHSMV’s Commercial Vehicle Permit Portal and through authorized wire services, both are per vehicle, and both have to be in the truck before it crosses into Florida. Neither one covers weight or dimensions, which is where most Florida citations actually come from.

Who Needs Florida’s Temporary Permits

Two separate tests. Registration: if the truck is apportionable — over 26,000 lbs, or three or more axles, or part of a combination over 26,000 lbs — and it is running on plain state registration rather than IRP apportioned plates, it needs the Florida trip permit for the trip. Fuel: if the truck is an IFTA-qualified vehicle and the carrier has no IFTA license and decals, it needs the temporary fuel-use permit — and that includes IRP registrants who apportioned but never opened an IFTA account. A truck with neither credential needs both permits; a truck with both credentials needs neither.

The $30 Trip Permit: 10 Days from Issuance

Florida Statutes 320.0715 sets the number: the cost of a trip permit is $30, and it expires 10 days after issuance. Motor carriers get it from the department or its authorized agents, and it allows the vehicle to operate in interstate or intrastate commerce in Florida for the period allowed. The same section requires every apportionable vehicle domiciled in Florida to register under IRP, so the trip permit is an out-of-state carrier’s tool; a Florida-based fleet cannot run on serial trip permits instead of apportioning.

The $45 Temporary Fuel-Use Permit

Florida Statutes 207.004 covers fuel. The cost of a temporary fuel-use permit is $45, and it expires within 10 days after the date of issuance. Each permit identifies the specific vehicle and must be carried on that vehicle. A registered motor carrier holding a valid certificate of registration can secure one from the department or any wire service authorized by the department; an unregistered carrier can buy one electronically from an authorized wire service on payment of the $45 fee. There is no stated cap on how many a vehicle can buy, but a truck buying one every trip is a truck that should be on IFTA.

How to Buy Them: Portal, Wire Services, Phone

FDOT’s trucking information page points carriers to FLHSMV’s Commercial Vehicle Permit Portal at vendorservices.flhsmv.gov/IcfsPermits for temporary registration and fuel permits, and gives the Bureau of Commercial Vehicle and Driver Services at (850) 617-3711, weekdays 8:00 to 4:30, for questions about Florida trip and fuel permits. Wire services and permit filers that the department has approved issue the same permits with a service fee on top. Whichever channel you use, print or save the permit to the cab before the truck moves; both statutes require the document on the vehicle.

Buy Before You Cross the Line

Florida’s port-of-entry corridors run from the state line to the first weigh station on I-10, I-75, and I-95, and that is where an out-of-state truck is asked for registration and fuel credentials. There is no retroactive permit: the trip permit clock starts at issuance and the fuel permit expires within 10 days of issuance, so buying it three days before a trip costs you three days of the window, and buying it after the scale costs you the citation. Set the start date to the entry date and keep the delivery appointment inside the 10 days.

Where Trip and Fuel Permits Fail: Weight and Dimensions

The trip permit is registration and the fuel-use permit is fuel tax; neither says anything about how heavy or how wide the load is. Any load over Florida legal weight or dimensions needs an overdimensional or overweight permit, and under Florida Statutes 316.550 that permit must be obtained before entering the state. Weight violations are fined under 316.545. Our OS/OW permits by state guide has the Florida row and the oversize permit cost by state page prices it. Florida has no weight-distance tax, so unlike New York or Kentucky there is no third temporary credential to stack — the three documents a heavy or wide load needs are the OS/OW permit, the trip permit, and the fuel permit.

Two Florida Permits That Are Not for Out-of-State Carriers

The same statute creates two permits that show up in searches and confuse the picture. A $5 special temporary permit, valid 10 days, is available only to owner-operators not operating as a lessor, and only for a vehicle with a registered gross weight not exceeding its empty or unladen weight — a deadhead move, not a loaded run. And a $3 temporary operational permit, valid 60 days, is for applicants already registered under IRP or with Florida-titled vehicles when apportioned plates cannot be issued on the spot; permanent registration has to be applied for within 10 days of its issuance, and sales-tax and insurance proof come first. Neither one is the answer for an out-of-state loaded truck.

The Five Florida Mistakes We See Most

First, buying the trip permit and forgetting the fuel permit — the common case is an apportioned fleet that never opened IFTA and assumes the cab card covers fuel; it does not, and the $45 fuel-use permit is owed on every Florida entry until it does. Second, buying early: both clocks start at issuance, so a permit bought Friday for a Monday crossing has spent three of its ten days in the truck stop. Third, treating the $5 owner-operator permit as a loaded-truck permit; it is limited to a registered gross weight at or below the vehicle’s unladen weight. Fourth, assuming a trip permit legalizes an overweight or overwidth load — the OS/OW permit is separate and has to be issued before entry. Fifth, a Florida-domiciled fleet trying to run on serial trip permits instead of apportioning; the statute requires apportionable vehicles domiciled in Florida to register under IRP.

When IRP and IFTA Make Them Unnecessary

An apportioned cab card is valid in Florida under the Full Reciprocity Plan, and IFTA decals cover the fuel tax; a truck carrying both buys nothing at the Florida line except an OS/OW permit if the load requires it. For a once-a-year Florida run the two temporary permits are the cheaper path; for a lane, the trip permit vs annual permit break-even points to apportioning and enrolling in IFTA.

Cost and Filing

One 10-day entry for one non-apportioned, non-IFTA truck is $75 in state fees — $30 trip plus $45 fuel-use — per vehicle. Each is filed for you directly with FLHSMV for $75 flat per permit; start from the Florida state page. The trip and fuel permits by state table lists Georgia ($30 trip, $16 fuel) and the other states on the way in, and the Texas guide covers the Gulf Coast lane’s other end.