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FMCSA Notice of Claim Response
An FMCSA Notice of Claim gives you 30 days and three choices: pay the proposed penalty, ask for informal settlement, or contest each violation in writing. If you do nothing, the claim becomes a Notice of Default and then a final order. There is no appeal from a default.
Most owner-operators see one of these once in a career. Some violations are genuinely contestable: an ELD that recorded driving time while the truck idled at a dock, a document that existed but was filed in the wrong place, an exemption that applied all along. Others are better handled with a mitigation letter built on your safety history and the corrective action you already took. Telling those apart is the whole game.
An Hours of Service violation carries a statutory maximum of $19,246 per violation under the 2025 penalty schedule. The FMCSA Enforcement Specialist named on your Notice of Claim can discuss settlement, but is not permitted to advise you on grounds to contest.
- Free, no account, no card
- Your deadline and options in minutes
- Answers deleted after 90 days
This tool is software. It reads your answers, no one reviews them, and it generates and emails the document itself the moment payment completes.
Why the agency will not tell you what to do
FMCSA's own Enforcement Program Specialists have confirmed they cannot advise carriers on whether grounds to contest exist. J.J. Keller sells compliance systems, not enforcement responses. OOIDA assists its members only. Transportation attorneys fill the gap at $1,500 to $5,000 per notice. The procedure they follow, 49 CFR Part 386, is public.
What the free summary tells you
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Your deadline, computed
The exact date your response window closes, counted from the date on your notice, and what happens if it has already passed.
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Your options under the published rules
Which paths the regulations actually give you, and which one your answers point to.
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The numbers the agency will use
Computed from the same published standards the agency applies, so you walk in knowing what they know.
Related notices in the library
Sources
This tool provides general information based on published FMCSA rules and enforcement guidance. Its citations and figures were checked against official sources using AI-assisted research, most recently on 2026-09-01; no licensed attorney has reviewed this content. It is not legal advice. The mitigation figure is a planning estimate built from FMCSA's published mitigating-factor categories, not a guaranteed reduction; FMCSA settles case by case. For multiple violations, a penalty over $50,000, or safety-rating downgrade risk, consult a transportation attorney.