Texas specialty transport insurance, agency by agency

Texas has no single motor carrier regulator for the vehicles that are not freight trucks. Tow trucks answer to TDLR, buses and large passenger vehicles to TxDMV, Medicaid transport providers to HHSC and its contractors, and limousines and nonconsent tows to the city. The federal rules sit above all of them and reach only for-hire interstate work. This page sorts the agencies by vehicle and points you at the Texas page for yours.

Tow truck insurance

Who regulates what in Texas

Start with why the federal layer is narrow. The FMCSA's financial responsibility rules in 49 CFR Part 387 apply to for-hire carriers of property in interstate commerce with vehicles rated at 10,001 pounds or more, and to for-hire carriers of passengers in interstate or foreign commerce. Everything that stays inside Texas falls to one of the four layers below, and an insurance application will ask about each of them.

TDLR: tow trucks and vehicle storage

The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation permits each tow truck under Occupations Code Chapter 2308, with three permit types and, unusually, the liability and cargo amounts written into the statute itself rather than delegated to a rule. Chapter 2308 also lets a city or county require registration of a tow truck that performs a nonconsent tow inside its territory, which is the local layer behind rotation lists. The Texas tow truck insurance page reads the statute, the TDLR rule, and the local hook in order.

TxDMV: buses, large passenger vehicles, and heavy trucks

The Texas Department of Motor Vehicles registers intrastate motor carriers under Transportation Code Chapter 643. For passenger work the trigger is a vehicle designed or used to transport more than 15 passengers including the driver, with a commercial school bus as a trigger of its own; an operator whose primary function is not passenger transport, such as a hotel or nursing home running a shuttle, is exempt. The statute delegates the liability amount to TxDMV, and the agency's rule in 43 TAC 218.16 sets it in a table by seating capacity and adds a workers compensation or accident-benefit condition for carriers working between two or more municipalities. The Texas bus insurance page quotes the statute, the rule, and the amounts as TxDMV prints them.

HHSC: non-emergency medical transportation

Medicaid rides in Texas run through the Health and Human Services Commission's Medical Transportation Program. HHSC contracts with regional managed transportation organizations and full-risk brokers for traditional Medicaid riders, and each Medicaid health plan arranges rides for its own members through a transportation vendor, under Government Code Chapter 540A. Neither the statute nor the HHSC rule names an insurance amount; the organization a provider contracts with does. The Texas NEMT insurance page follows that contract chain from the statute down.

The cities: limousines and nonconsent tows

Two classes are permitted locally. A limousine seating 15 or fewer never reaches Chapter 643, and Local Government Code Section 215.004 lets a municipality of more than 1.9 million license limousine service and set safety and insurance requirements for it. Houston's Chapter 46 is the ordinance worked through below; it requires a chauffeured limousine permit with a stated liability floor, names the city as an additional insured, and requires a permitted charter vehicle to carry auto liability meeting Chapter 643. The national limo insurance page takes that ordinance apart section by section. Nonconsent tow registration is the other local layer, covered on the tow page.

TDI: the regulator behind the policies

The four layers above decide whether you can operate. The Texas Department of Insurance regulates the carriers, agents, and surplus lines eligibility behind the policies you carry to satisfy them (About TDI). Houston's limousine ordinance and TxDMV's rule both point at TDI's lists of authorized and eligible insurers when they say who may write the coverage.

Texas guides on this site

Each page leads with the Texas statute or program that shapes its operation, says which documents it read, and names where the insurance requirement lives. Pick yours.

The coverages themselves do not change at the state line. What on-hook, garagekeepers, hired and non-owned auto, and the federal passenger schedule each do is on the national pages: tow truck insurance, NEMT insurance, bus insurance, limo insurance, and courier insurance. Or start at the overview.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there one Texas agency that licenses specialty transport?
No. Texas splits it by what the vehicle does. Tow trucks are permitted by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation under Occupations Code Chapter 2308. Passenger vehicles designed or used for more than 15 passengers, commercial school buses, and heavy vehicles register with the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles under Transportation Code Chapter 643. Non-emergency medical transportation for Medicaid riders runs through the Health and Human Services Commission and its contractors. Limousines of 15 seats or fewer are left to the largest cities. An operation can answer to more than one of these at once.
Where does the insurance amount actually live for each Texas class?
In three different kinds of document. For towing, the Occupations Code itself names the amounts by permit type. For buses, the statute delegates the amount to TxDMV and the agency prints it in a rule table by seating capacity. For NEMT, neither the statute nor the HHSC rule names an amount; the managed transportation organization, broker, or health-plan vendor contract does. Knowing which kind of document to ask for is most of the work, and each Texas page on this site starts there.
When does the FMCSA apply instead of a Texas agency?
When the work is for hire and interstate. The federal financial responsibility rules in 49 CFR Part 387 reach for-hire property carriers at 10,001 pounds GVWR or more and for-hire passenger carriers, in interstate or foreign commerce. A Texas tow operator, bus company, or NEMT provider whose trips stay inside the state is outside those subparts and inside the Texas permit or contract. Crossing into Louisiana or Oklahoma for hire changes the answer for that operation, and the national pages on this site cover that side.
Do Texas cities add their own insurance conditions?
Some do, in two ways. Occupations Code Chapter 2308 lets a political subdivision require registration of any tow truck that performs a nonconsent tow inside its territory, which is how rotation lists and impound contracts carry conditions of their own. Local Government Code Section 215.004 lets a municipality of more than 1.9 million license limousine service and set safety and insurance requirements for it; Houston’s Chapter 46 is the worked example here, and it also requires a permitted charter vehicle to carry auto liability meeting Chapter 643. Always ask the city as well as the state.
Which Texas agency regulates the insurance policies themselves?
The Texas Department of Insurance, which licenses the carriers and agents behind every policy described on this site and which decides whether a surplus lines insurer is eligible when an admitted carrier will not write the class. TDLR, TxDMV, HHSC, and the cities decide whether you can operate; TDI regulates what you buy in order to. This site does not quote or sell any of it; every policy is placed by an independent licensed professional.