Tennessee Freight Broker Bond$75,000 BMC-84 — No Separate State Bond
Every Tennessee freight broker needs a $75,000 surety bond filed on FMCSA Form BMC-84, as required by 49 U.S.C. § 13906 and 49 CFR § 387.307. Tennessee Code Title 65, Chapter 15 doesn't add a second bond on top — the Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity that the state issues through its Motor Carrier Division applies to carriers who physically move freight, not to property brokers. What makes Tennessee worth a dedicated page is the freight underneath it: Memphis, home to FedEx's World Hub and a multimodal complex where five Class I railroads and Mississippi River barge traffic converge, and Nashville, one of only six U.S. cities where three interstates — I-24, I-40, and I-65 — meet. See our broker authority guide for the full FMCSA process.
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Official Federal (FMCSA) Requirements
"A broker shall provide a surety bond, trust fund agreement, or other financial security in the amount of $75,000 in a form, manner, and amount as the Secretary may prescribe."Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration — 49 CFR § 387.307, implementing 49 U.S.C. § 13906 • 49 CFR § 387.307
Tennessee Bonds Carriers, Not Brokers — Here's the Statutory Line
Tennessee Code Annotated Title 65, Chapter 15 gives the Tennessee Department of Revenue's Motor Carrier Division authority to issue a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity to for-hire motor carriers and private towing or wrecker services — businesses that physically transport persons or property on Tennessee roads. That certificate process requires an application, a designated agent for service of process, and proof of insurance on uniform motor carrier forms. Nothing in that chapter creates a license or bond specifically for property brokers, because a broker arranges transportation without ever operating a truck or taking possession of freight. The distinction matters for underwriting: a carrier's bond-equivalent obligation is built around vehicle operation and cargo liability, while a broker's $75,000 BMC-84 exists purely to cover shippers and carriers if the broker fails to pay for arranged transportation — a financial responsibility bond, not an operating bond.
Tennessee Carrier vs. Broker Requirements
What Title 65, Chapter 15 requires of each — and why only one of them touches a surety bond
| Requirement | For-Hire Carriers | Property Brokers |
|---|---|---|
| State Authority | Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN) | None — Tennessee has no broker license or CPCN equivalent |
| Administering Agency | TN Dept. of Revenue, Motor Carrier Division | N/A at the state level; FMCSA at the federal level |
| Surety Requirement | Insurance filings on uniform motor carrier forms | $75,000 BMC-84 bond (federal, 49 CFR § 387.307) |
| Federal Filing | USDOT number, IFTA/IRP as applicable | MC number (OP-1), BOC-3 process agents, UCR |
Sources: TCA Title 65, Chapter 15; Tennessee Department of Revenue Motor Carrier Division intrastate-authority guidance; 49 CFR § 387.307.
Memphis Runs on Multimodal Cutoffs. Nashville Runs on Interstate Volume.
Every state requires the same $75,000 BMC-84. What varies is the freight a broker's book of business actually looks like — and Tennessee splits cleanly into two markets that reward different broker skill sets, 200 miles apart on I-40.
Memphis: Air, Rail & River
Memphis International Airport hosts the FedEx World Hub, a sort complex spanning roughly 940 acres that runs hundreds of nightly and daytime flights. FAA landed-weight data ranked Memphis the No. 1 or No. 2 all-cargo airport in the country in most years between 2014 and 2022. Layer on five Class I railroads converging on the city and the Port of Memphis — a barge port stretching the Tennessee and Arkansas banks of the Mississippi — and Memphis brokers coordinate across three transport modes with three different cutoff cultures: flight-departure windows, rail interchange appointments, and barge-to-truck transload schedules.
Nashville: The Three-Interstate Junction
Nashville is one of just six U.S. cities where three major interstates converge inside city limits: I-65 running north to Chicago and Indianapolis and south to Birmingham, I-40 running coast-to-coast and connecting straight through to Memphis and beyond to the West Coast, and I-24 running southeast toward Chattanooga and Atlanta. There's no air hub or river port driving Nashville's freight economy — it's pure interstate volume, and it rewards brokers who maintain carrier relationships across all three directions instead of specializing in a single corridor.
Producer Insight: Two Markets Mean Two Different Carrier Vetting Standards
A broker sourcing capacity to hit a FedEx World Hub feeder window or a Port of Memphis barge appointment is qualifying carriers on precision — missing a departure cutoff at an air-cargo hub doesn't just run a shipment late, it can miss the flight it was scheduled to feed. A Nashville broker moving standard truckload freight through the three-interstate junction is qualifying carriers on volume and lane coverage instead. Sureties underwriting a Tennessee broker will ask different questions depending on which market the book of business leans toward: dispatch and cutoff-compliance documentation for Memphis-heavy brokers, carrier-network breadth for Nashville-heavy ones.
Ready to get bonded and start booking Memphis multimodal or Nashville interstate freight? We file your BMC-84 directly with the FMCSA.
Tennessee Freight Broker Bond Cost
The $75,000 BMC-84 is priced as a percentage of face value — you never pay $75,000, only the annual premium. Pricing is driven by credit, not geography; see our freight broker bond cost by state guide and surety bond cost overview for broader context.
No Tennessee Add-On Cost
Because Tennessee doesn't require a state-level broker bond, there's no second premium to budget for. The only additional line item is the $46/year UCR fee — a flat federal filing cost administered through the Tennessee Department of Revenue, unaffected by credit score.
The Filing Step That Isn't a Bond: Unified Carrier Registration Through TN Revenue
Tennessee doesn't add a second surety bond, but it does have one filing step that's easy to miss: the Unified Carrier Registration (UCR), required for brokers under 49 U.S.C. § 14504a and administered in Tennessee by the Tennessee Department of Revenue.
What UCR Requires of Brokers
- Annual registration, separate from the BMC-84 bond and FMCSA authority
- Brokers pay the smallest fee bracket: $46 for the 2026 registration year
- Filed through the Tennessee Department of Revenue as your base-state UCR contact
- Registration window runs October 1 through December 31 each year
Why It Trips Up New Brokers
A new broker can have a perfectly filed BMC-84 and still get flagged if UCR lapses, because the two filings run on independent renewal clocks and neither system automatically reminds you about the other. UCR is federally mandated but state-administered, so Tennessee brokers file through the Department of Revenue specifically as their base-state UCR contact — even though the bond itself goes straight to the FMCSA, and the CPCN process (which doesn't apply to brokers at all) runs through the same Motor Carrier Division. Track all renewal dates separately.
Getting Broker Authority as a Tennessee-Based Broker
Because Tennessee has no separate state track for brokers, the entire process runs through the FMCSA. See our full guide to getting freight broker authority for more detail on each step.
Tennessee-Specific Steps
- 1
Register for UCR Through Tennessee Department of Revenue
$46/year for brokers; separate from your BMC-84 renewal date
Tennessee Freight Broker Bond — Frequently Asked Questions
Questions specific to Tennessee-based brokers, the Memphis-Nashville freight split, and UCR filing
Does Tennessee require its own broker bond on top of the federal BMC-84?
FedEx runs its own fleet through the World Hub — so why does Memphis still generate broker demand?
How does Nashville's three-interstate junction change what a Tennessee broker needs to know, versus a single-corridor state?
Do Tennessee freight brokers need the same Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity that Tennessee carriers need?
Where does a Tennessee broker file the authority application and UCR?
FMCSA Broker Registration
Official FMCSA portal for broker authority applications, BMC-84 filing status, and SAFER system lookups.
Tennessee Dept. of Revenue — Motor Carrier
Official Motor Carrier Division portal for intrastate authority, IFTA/IRP, and UCR filing in Tennessee.
Freight Broker Bond Resources
Freight Broker Bond Hub
Complete BMC-84 guide — requirements, costs, claims, 2026 changes
BMC-84 Deep Dive
FMCSA filing mechanics, bond vs trust fund, personal guarantees
Cost by State Guide
How pricing varies by credit tier, not by state
BMC-84 vs BMC-85
When the trust fund makes sense — and when it never does
Kentucky Freight Broker Bond
UPS Worldport & CVG air-cargo brokering, one state over on I-40/I-65
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All content is researched from official state and federal sources (.gov) and verified before publication. BuySuretyBonds.com works with Treasury-certified, A-minimum rated surety carriers serving all 50 states.
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Freight Broker Bonds by State
State-specific guidance for filing your $75,000 BMC-84 and securing FMCSA property broker authority.
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Washington Freight Broker Surety Bond
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Pennsylvania Broker Bond
Northeast freight broker BMC-84 filing
Arizona Freight Broker Bond
Southwest property broker bonding
Georgia Freight Broker Bond
Atlanta & Savannah-corridor BMC-84 filing
Montana Freight Broker Bond
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Wyoming Freight Broker Bond
Fast BMC-84 filing for Wyoming-registered brokers