California requires that all commercial motor vehicles with a GVW of over 10,000 pounds obtain a California Motor Vehicle Permit and display the number (known as a CA number) in permanent lettering on the vehicle. The official company name (the one on your vehicle registration) must also be permanently shown on the door or on the box of the truck.

A motor carrier permit is a document issued by the DMV's Motor Carrier Services Branch. The permit is issued as evidence of the registration with the DMV of their Carrier Identification number (CA#), as required by CVC Section 34620. Additionally, the permit verifies the motor carrier has met all of the statutory requirements to commercially operate motor vehicles on California's highways. The permit contains information specific to the motor carrier (e.g., name, mailing address, CA#, and effective/expiration dates of the permit).

Each company will be given one CA number which can be used on all of their vehicles.

In order to obtain the number, you will have to go thru the California Highway Patrol and complete a Motor Carrier Profile.

Your CA number truck decals should appear on the lower area of your cab doors, with high contrast lettering easily read from 50 ft away. Normally, we recommend using 2 inch bold lettering in easy to read fonts such as ARIAL, CENTURY GOTHIC, COOPER and TIMES NEW ROMAN. The name should be mid or upper door area, also in a clearly legible font and large enough to read easily from 50 ft away. You may also include your logo on the door.

We recommend using black or dark colored truck number decals on white or light colored vehicles, and white or light colored number lettering on darker colored vehicles. Our custom truck lettering page will allow you to easily see the numbers in the font of your choice, and the color of your choice, on a background of whatever color is closest to the color of your truck.

If you also need USDOT number decals, we can make them all on one sheet, prespaced to be aligned at the center, left, or right sides, for easier application.