I got one in my name a year and a half ago. That said the requirements have changed alot over the years and are now a bit more involved than just asking for one. Now the first thing you have to do is have a Tax ID number, the days of using your SSN are over. Next, based on the info you give, they will issue a probationary DOT number. The probationary period will be 18 months.
Sometime within that time period, usually within the first 12 months, you'll get a letter and/or a call telling you to bring your paperwork to a "Safety Audit". Personally I had to make about a 120 mile round trip drive to Greensboro for mine. With the info on the audit, you'll get a list of items to bring.
Once at the audit an examiner will look at your documents and decide wether the records your keeping are OK, or wether what you have needs work. I'm sure there are examiners that can be a$$holes, but the one I had was actually a nice guy. He went through my stuff and where I was OK, but maybe not exactly what they liked to see, he told me what I needed to improve on to insure no future problems should I ever get imspected again. The only thing I didn't 'pass' was on was that I forgot to bring my fuel reciepts that were 'supporting documents' for some of the other paperwork. If I had taken them I would have passed with a perfect score.
In my case I am an individual, with only one vehicle, and I am the only driver, so the paperwork I need to keep isn't that big of a deal. Even then you'll need things like a driver file (ie-background check for yourself, copy of your medical card, etc), truck service and maintenance info, etc, etc. Basically, other than the background check, things you'd normally keep anyway in a commercial operation, if for no other reason than the tax write offs. I see someone had posted about the safety inspections, and in some cases they are required. However for a single vehicle, and a single driver, daily inspections aren't required. If you have more than one truck, more than one driver, etc then things are a bit more complicated as far as the safety inspections go.
That said, after I applied for my number, I was contacted by Foley Carrier Services. Their main business is helping "Motor Carriers" remain DOT compliant. I think the initial cost was like $150 but they send you a packet telling you all the stuff needed to make the DOT examiner happy, along with the forms, etc required to make it happen. As part of that they do your background check, and provide you with a driver file pretty much ready for the audit. From that point on it's like $70 per year for them to keep up with your info, contact you with any changes or additional paperwork requirements (and send you copies of said paperwork to fill out), etc, etc. In other words you still have to keep up with your end but they keep up with the DOT side of things as far as changes, etc, and provide the assistance needed to make it easy to do without spending hours online trying to keep up with regulaion changes on your own.
Beyond that, once you get the number, and pass the safety audit, and the 18 months pass, you'll get a nice letter from DOT telling you that your probationary period is passed and the number is now permenant. I just got mine in the mail last week. Ultimately it sounds like alot, and in some ways it is if you try to do it all by yourself, but it's really not as bad as it sounds, especially if you don't mind spending a little money to get someone like Foley to assist. Good luck.
Foley Carrier Services
