Possible to maintain own authority for most of the year and run under another company's authority occasionally?
We've operated a trucking business for the last decade and have always ran under our own authority. Recently we started dragging milk tankers around occasionally for another trucking company when they need some extra help or we are slow in the hopper bottom business. This trucking company does not have a brokerage license and has recently wanted to have the discussion with me about leasing on with them since "technically" he is double brokering some of these loads by taking a percentage out for my company pulling his trailers We are hauling product that he has found on from a broker. The owner of the milk tanker company is fine with our current arrangement(if it can work), he just wants to make sure that his insurance company is good with what he's doing and we are doing everything legally.
The milk tanker company doesn't have enough work to keep us busy all the time, thus I am wandering if it's possible top keep my own authority to keep hauling my own products when we are busy and throw an operated by "xyz milk hauler" and his associated dot numbers on my truck when I am pulling his tankers.
I spoke with the Iowa DOT and they said we would need to change cab cards every time we would switch from his authority to mine. This wouldn't be overly difficult if it we knew we'd be dedicating a truck to the milk company for a month or two at a time. There are some weeks I've got 3 trucks hauling milk and 4 pulling my own hoppers and then the next week we may have them all pulling my own hoppers again.
I'd take any advice on what needs to be done(if it can even happen) from anyone that's went down this road or has similar situation. Thanks a bunch