(Updated – 01/28/2024) – we are no longer OOIDA or CMCI members and haven’t been in many years. However, this post is still quite popular and seems to be informative for many users.

Many of you may already be members of OOIDA. Some are familiar with the organization. Others may not have heard of OOIDA. For a while I was one of those guys. We’re now members of OOIDA and CMCI and I recommend every independent CDL trucker does the same.

I heard of OOIDA when first starting American Freight Trucking, Inc. and remember tossing it aside as yet another piece of junk mail. I don’t think we received much mail if any after. At one point we needed to become a part of a drug testing consortium and I came across OOIDA again. I was sold.

All the benefits we receive are great. We’re also set-up with CMCI who handle all of our drug consortium drug testing program. OOIDA not only gives the independent trucker the tools they need to do a job better but are also there with answers when you have a questions. When we started I knew nothing about “Trucking”. I had a ton of questions and I’ve literally spent hours on the phone getting the answers.

OOIDA was instrumental in helping me better understand trucking laws and federal regulations. The people at OOIDA helped me get the information I needed to build the AFT Dispatch division. In our conversations they opened my eyes to legislature like the Carmack Amendment and MAP-21 legislation. I’ll write more about them in later posts.

While I don’t use many of the features and services offered by OOIDA, the ones I do use are worth the membership cost. For example, OOIDA offers IFTA calculation but I prefer to do my own IFTA returns. FIY: A very popular and widely used IFTA calculator charges $20/mo for access. OOIDA offers it as part of the membership cost of only $45/year. You do the math.

Another OOIDA member benefit is form 2290 filings. The annual Heavy Highway Vehicle Use Tax Return form 2290 that’s tied with IRP and your local IRS office. They help with those filings but I do my own 2290 and so don’t use that feature. OOIDA also offers a BOC3 filing service, a SCAC code service, Oregon bonds, as well as permits and licensing.

They can also help with authority applications and filings that need to be done for a new MC authority. This would’ve been very helpful to us when we were first starting out. For me the biggest benefit has been their in helping me better understanding laws and regulations. When you sign-up to be a member with OOIDA you’ll also receive a monthly issue of Land Line magazine in the mail and it’s quite good.

Like I’ve said before, I think every owner operator should be a member of OOIDA. If you’re new to trucking like I was, you should definitely sign up. If you’re an old schooler but not a member, there are a lot of old school truckers who keep an active OOIDA membership. Click this link if you want to learn more about some of OOIDA Benefits and Services.Get Started with AFT Dispatch!