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Pilot Car & Escort Operator Directory

Filter escort operators by the things that decide whether they can legally take your load: the states they run, the certificate they hold in each one and when it expires, the equipment on the truck, the escort vehicle's own weight rating, and their insurance.

Every record here is self-reported unless it says otherwise, and it says otherwise on the card.

Operators list themselves; we do not import anyone. A record marked Self-reported is the operator's own statement and nobody here has checked it — ask for the certificate and the insurance certificate before you dispatch. Where we have checked something, the card says what we checked, when, and links the register we checked it against.

Whether a state requires certification is genuinely disputed, and we publish the disagreement.

Two pages of the same Virginia DMV give different reciprocity answers and neither carries a date. Colorado, Oklahoma and Washington publish who they ACCEPT and no list of who accepts them. New York accepts nobody. The table below records each state's published position and links the document — it does not average them into a single confident answer.

Filter by what the job needs

An operator must cover EVERY state you pick — a lane is an AND, not a shortlist. Hold Ctrl (or Cmd) to pick more than one.

Only a current, unexpired certificate in that state counts. A card from a state that reciprocates is shown on the profile but never satisfies this filter — whether it is accepted is the working state's call, not the operator's.

Equipment carried

Self-reported by the operator unless the profile says otherwise.

Escort vehicle

An operator can be certified and still illegal: several jurisdictions cap the escort vehicle itself. Operators who have not stated a GVWR are excluded from this filter rather than assumed to fit.

Cover and capability

Insurance limits are as the operator states them. Ask for the certificate before you dispatch.

How much we checked

Most records are self-reported, and that is the honest default. Raise this to see only the records where somebody here looked at a document or at the issuing state's own register.

Clear all

No listed operator matches all of that

Nothing in the directory matches those filters yet. This directory is opt-in and new — every record is here because that operator submitted it.

Run pilot cars? List your service — free, and you keep the record.

Which states certify pilot-car operators

Compiled from the same cited state sources the permit calculator reads, and shown here because it is the fact that decides whether the operator you are about to call can legally take the job. Where a state's own pages contradict each other, this says so rather than picking one.

StateCertificationAccepts cards fromTermSource
Alabama Sources disagree Not published Not published Ala. Admin. Code ch. 450-3-1 — Escort vehicle operator requirements (undated)
California No state certification Not published Not published Caltrans — Transportation Permits FAQ (undated)
Colorado Certification required CO, AZ, FL, MN, OK, UT, WA 4 years 2 CCR 601-4 Chapter 5 — Pilot escort vehicle and operator requirements (revised 2018-04-16)
Georgia Certification required AZ, CO, UT, VA, WA 4 years Georgia DPS/MCCD — Certified Escort Vehicle programme (undated) (undated)
Illinois No state certification Not published Not published 92 Ill. Adm. Code Part 554 — Permits for excess size and weight (2012 amendments) (revised 2012-08-01)
Indiana State is silent Not published Not published Indiana DOR Form M-204 — Oversize/Overweight permit provisions (PDF) (undated)
Kentucky No state certification Not published Not published KYTC drive.ky.gov — OWOD Escort Requirements (undated) (undated)
Michigan No state certification Not published Not published FHWA — Pilot/Escort Vehicle Operator (P/EVO) Best Practices Guide (undated)
Mississippi No state certification Not published Not published FHWA — Pilot/Escort Vehicle Operator (P/EVO) Best Practices Guide (undated)
Missouri No state certification Not published Not published 7 CSR 10-25 — MoDOT oversize/overweight permit rule (revised 2025-03-30)
New Jersey No state certification Not published Not published NJDOT — Commercial Vehicle Size and Weight Guidebook, January 2024 (PDF) (revised 2024-01-05)
New York Certification required Published, and the list is empty — no other state's card is accepted Not published NY DMV — Escort Driver Endorsement (undated)
North Carolina Certification required AZ, CO, FL, GA, MN, OK, PA, UT, VA, WA 4 years NCDOT — 2024 EVO Handbook (PDF) (revised 2024-01-01)
Oklahoma Certification required Not published 5 years OAC 730:50-5 — ODOT size and weight permit rules (Size and Weight Permit Load, PDF) (revised 2023-09-11)
Pennsylvania Certification required Not published Not published PennDOT — Certified Escort Program Information (PDF) (undated)
South Carolina No state certification Not published Not published FHWA — Pilot/Escort Vehicle Operator (P/EVO) Best Practices Guide (undated)
Tennessee No state certification Not published Not published Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 1680-07-01-.21 — Escort vehicle requirements (via Cornell LII) (undated)
Virginia Sources disagree FL, GA, MN, NC, OK, UT, WA 5 years Virginia DMV — Escort Vehicle Driver Certification (undated) (undated)
Washington Certification required AZ, CO, GA, MN, NC, OK, UT, VA 3 years WAC 468-38-100 — Pilot/escort vehicle requirements (revised 2023-03-25)

We hold no certification source for 32 states — AK, AZ, AR, CT, DE, DC, FL, HI, ID, IA, KS, LA, ME, MD, MA, MN, MT, NE, NV, NH, NM, ND, OH, OR, RI, SD, TX, UT, VT, WV, WI, WY. That is not "no certification required." Several of them are named by other states as issuers whose cards they accept, which strongly implies a programme we simply have not sourced. Check with the state before you dispatch.

How many escorts does the load actually need?

The oversize & overweight permit calculator answers that per state from each state's own escort rules, with the statute behind every line, and links straight back here pre-filtered to the states and certificates that lane needs. The heavy-haul quote tool does the same inside a delivered-cost estimate.

Run pilot cars?

Listing is free and takes a few minutes. You get a private link that edits or deletes your record — including deleting it outright, which removes the row rather than hiding it. You choose per field whether your phone number and email are public.

List your escort service