Iowa Trip Permit

When Do You Need an Iowa Trip Permit?

A temporary permit may not be necessary for every commercial vehicle, but if you do not have an IRP registration that covers your business operations, then you must get a temporary permit to use your vehicle in the state. The following conditions call for getting an Iowa trip permit:

• Weight Requirements: The vehicle you operate or a power unit/trailer combination has a GVW or registered weight of over 26,000 lbs.
• Number of Axles: Your vehicle has three or more axles irrespective of the overall weight of the vehicle.
• IRP Qualification Criteria Not Met: Your vehicle does not have current registration under the IRP program.

Important Compliance Note: The registration trip permit is not enough to cover your fuel tax compliance. It will be important for you to make sure that you get a Temporary Fuel Permit since you don’t have an IFTA license in effect.

Permit Validity and Requirements

It is critical that you always have your paperwork readily available when you are temporarily authorized to operate in the state of Iowa.

• Registration Trip Permit: Generally valid for 72 hours.
• Temporary Fuel Permit: Generally valid for 96 hours.
• Documents: It is necessary to have a hard or soft copy of your permits within the cab at all times. You will need to be able to provide them on any roadside inspection in Iowa.

How to Secure Your Iowa Permits

For the best possible way of handling your commercial compliance, you should consider authorized permitting services, where you are able to bundle your registrations and fuel permits for efficiency.

• Authorized Permitting Service: Most carriers use third party services when applying because it ensures accuracy of important information like Vehicle Identification Number (VIN), registered weight and axles count.
• Required Information: At the time of application, please be prepared to supply the complete VIN number of your vehicle, current license plate information, gross weight, and intended dates of travel through the state of Iowa.
• Oversized/Overage Loads (OS/OW): It is important to be aware that the regular registration trip permit will not cover an oversize or overage load.

If you are transporting a vehicle that is larger than a legal-sized load, an OS/OW permit must be obtained.

Proactive Fleet Management

If your fleet is often making trips in the Midwest, you should consider switching to an IRP and IFTA authorization, since this will make things much easier.