How to Fill Out and Submit the CHP 362 Motor Carrier Profile

The CHP 362 Motor Carrier Profile is the form California uses to issue your Carrier Identification (CA) number and keep your motor carrier record current with the California Highway Patrol. You can file it online at canumber.chp.ca.gov or mail a signed paper copy to your nearest CHP Motor Carrier Safety Unit. There is no fee, and the same form is used both to apply for a new CA number and to update an existing one.¹

When You Have to File It

California Vehicle Code Section 34507.5 requires every motor carrier to hold a CA number from the CHP, and CHP 362 is the application for that number. If you are starting a trucking company, a bus service, or any other commercial vehicle operation in California, this filing comes before your vehicles go on the road.²

You also file an updated CHP 362 whenever your profile changes. That includes a new business address, a change in legal structure (such as moving from a sole proprietorship to a corporation), adding or dropping terminal locations, or starting to haul hazardous materials.¹

What to Gather Before You Start

Pulling these together first keeps the form from stalling. A missing driver license number on a sole proprietor application, for example, will stop processing.

Legal business name exactly as registered with the California Secretary of State, plus any fictitious business name (DBA) on file with your county or the state.
Federal Employer Identification Number. Sole proprietors without an EIN may use their Social Security number instead.
Driver license or California ID number for individual (sole proprietor) applicants. The CHP will not process the form without it.
Corporation or LLC number. California corporations use the number stamped on their Articles of Incorporation; foreign corporations use the Certificate of Qualifications number from the Secretary of State; LLCs use the number the Secretary of State assigned them.
Principal place of business address — the single headquarters where you keep federally required safety records and drug-and-alcohol testing records.
Every California terminal address where vehicles are housed or maintained, or where inspection and driver records are kept.
Total California fleet mileage for the most recent full calendar year, covering intrastate and interstate trips.
Names and phone numbers of company officials who can be reached outside normal business hours.

The form itself runs three pages, and most of the fields are identification and address data.³

Filling Out the Form Part by Part

Part 1: Legal Name and Entity Type

Pick one entity type (Individual, Partnership, Corporation, or Limited Liability Company) and complete the matching fields. This is where most mistakes happen.

Sole proprietors check “Individual” and enter the legal name (not a nickname), EIN or SSN, and a valid driver license or California ID. Married couples running a trucking business together as community property are not a partnership unless they are legally organized as one with their own EIN; if they are not, file as an individual under one spouse’s name.³

Corporations enter their California corporation number, or the Certificate of Qualifications number for foreign corporations. The form also asks whether you are a government agency or nonprofit, because those designations affect which safety regulations and fee programs apply. LLCs enter their Secretary of State LLC number and EIN.

Part 2: Principal Place of Business

Give the single headquarters address where you maintain federally required safety records and where drug-and-alcohol testing records are available for inspection. Include a daytime business phone number. If your mailing address differs from the physical address, list both.

Parts 3 and 5: Emergency Contacts and DBA

Part 3 asks for the names and phone numbers of company officials reachable in an emergency. Part 5 is the “Doing Business As” name, if you operate under a fictitious business name on file with the county or Secretary of State. The DBA you list here must match the terminal names you enter in Part 7.

Part 4: Type of Operation

Part 4 describes what your fleet actually does. Check every lettered category that applies, not just the main one. A company running standard freight trucks and a flammable liquid cargo tank, for instance, checks both A and E. The categories:

Truck (A): any truck with three or more axles and a gross vehicle weight rating over 10,000 pounds, any truck tractor regardless of axles or weight, or any truck towing a trailer where the combined length exceeds 40 feet.
Hazardous Materials Carrier (B): any truck, including pickups, transporting any amount of hazardous materials.
Hazardous Materials Shipper (C): a company that offers hazardous materials for transportation but never hauls them on its own vehicles.
Hazardous Waste Transporter (D): anyone transporting hazardous wastes as defined under California or federal rules.
Flammable Liquid Cargo Tank (E): a tank over 120 gallons used to transport liquids with a flash point below 100°F.
Bus Without Operating Authority (F): buses seating more than ten passengers (including the driver) that do not need a PUC or FMCSA certificate, such as church buses and municipal transit buses.
Tour Bus (G): buses regulated by the PUC or FMCSA.
School Bus (H), School Pupil Activity Bus (I), Youth Bus (J): vehicles specifically certified by the CHP for transporting students under different conditions.
General Public Paratransit Vehicle (K): dial-a-ride or route-deviated service vehicles operating under a transit agency contract.
Farm Labor Vehicle (L): vehicles certified by the CHP for transporting farm workers.

This part also asks for your vehicle count and California fleet mileage for the most recent calendar year.³

Part 7: California Terminals

List every terminal in California where your vehicles can be inspected and where you keep vehicle inspection, maintenance, and driver records. For each terminal, give the DBA name (matching Part 5), street address, city, zip code, phone number, and indicate whether driver records and vehicle records are stored there. If you have more terminals than the form allows, attach additional pages with the same information for each one.

California Vehicle Code Section 34501.12 makes it unlawful for a motor carrier to operate without identifying all of its terminals to the CHP, so this part is not optional.⁴

How to Submit the Form

Two options. The fastest is the CHP’s online portal at canumber.chp.ca.gov, which handles both new CA number applications and updates to an existing one.¹

On paper, download the PDF from the CHP website, complete and sign it, and mail it to your nearest CHP Motor Carrier Safety Unit. The third page of the form lists MCSU addresses by region. Do not send it to CHP headquarters in Sacramento; the form directs you to the nearest division office.³

There is no fee to obtain a CA number through CHP 362.⁵

What Happens After You File

Once your form is processed and a CA number is assigned, you must display that number on both sides of each vehicle, or on both sides of at least one motor vehicle in each combination of vehicles, in accordance with CHP regulations. That display requirement comes from Vehicle Code Section 34507.5.²

Property-carrying carriers with California terminals are automatically enrolled in the Basic Inspection of Terminals (BIT) program at this point. Under BIT, the CHP conducts periodic inspections of your terminals to verify that your vehicles meet safety standards and that your maintenance and driver records are in order. No separate filing is needed; BIT enrollment flows from your CHP 362 submission.⁵

Keep a dated copy of your completed form. During future inspections or audits, proof of your most recent filing and submission date resolves any question about whether your profile is current.

What CHP 362 Does Not Cover

The CA number is a state identifier for CHP’s safety program. It is separate from a DMV Motor Carrier Permit, which carries fees based on your operation type and fleet size and is handled through the DMV rather than the CHP.⁶

If you operate in interstate commerce, you also need a USDOT number from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, and for-hire carriers hauling regulated commodities across state lines generally need a separate MC number. Those federal registrations go through the FMCSA’s Unified Registration System, not the CHP.⁷

1
California Highway Patrol. Commercial Vehicle Section
2
Caltrans. CA Number
3
California Highway Patrol. CHP 362 California Motor Carrier Profile Form
4
California Legislative Information. California Code VEH 34501.12 – Safety Regulations
5
Department of California Highway Patrol. Welcome to BIT, the Basic Inspection of Terminals (BIT) Program
6
California Department of Motor Vehicles. Motor Carrier Permits
7
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Online Safety Data Resources