How to vet a trucking carrier with FMCSA data (before you tender a load)
Double brokering, identity theft and "chameleon" carriers all look the same from a load board: a USDOT number, an MC number and a friendly dispatcher. The public FMCSA data is enough to catch most of them, if you check the right fields every time. Here are the seven checks, with real numbers from FMCSA's open data.
Why it matters: 43,085 new carriers in 90 days
Between 27 June and 23 September 2026, FMCSA registered 43,085 new motor carriers: about 480 a day. 25,343 registered for interstate operation, 3,219 for hazmat, and 13,454 already have an MC docket. Most are real new businesses; a few are the fresh identities that fraud depends on. Age alone never condemns a carrier, but it tells you when to look harder.
FMCSA Company Census File (data.transportation.gov az4n-8mr2), 43,085 new carriers in 90 days.
The seven checks
- USDOT status is Active. An inactive or missing USDOT number ends the conversation. (A typo is the common innocent cause, so re-read the number first.)
- Operating authority is active for what they do. Interstate for-hire carriers need common or contract authority; check it is not pending and no revocation is pending.
- Liability insurance on file meets the requirement. FMCSA shows both the required amount ($750,000 for general freight in vehicles over 10,001 lb, $1,000,000 for oil and some hazmat, up to $5,000,000 for other hazmat) and what is on file, with the insurer and effective date.
- No active out-of-service order. An OOS order means the carrier may not operate at all.
- Inspection results against the national rate. Over the last 24 months the national out-of-service rate was 6.3% for drivers and 22.8% for vehicles across 5,716,888 inspections. A carrier well above those with five or more inspections deserves a question.
- Crashes in the last 24 months, especially fatal crashes for a small fleet.
- Carrier age and paperwork. Under 90 days old is a new entrant; an MCS-150 update older than 24 months is overdue under FMCSA rules.
A real example
Here is what the public record says for two large carriers, pulled on 27 September 2026:
| USDOT 264184 | USDOT 53467 | |
|---|---|---|
| Legal name | Schneider National Carriers Inc | Werner Enterprises Inc |
| Registered | 1985 | 1974 |
| Power units | 9,866 | 9,863 |
| Inspections (24 months) | 14,963 | 11,611 |
| Driver OOS rate | 0.6% (national 6.3%) | 1.0% (national 6.3%) |
| Vehicle OOS rate | 17.9% (national 22.8%) | 19.9% (national 22.8%) |
| Authority / insurance | active; liability meets the requirement | active; $5,000,000 liability on file vs $1,000,000 required |
| Flags | none | MCS-150 last updated 23 Jul 2024 |
Both carriers beat the national out-of-service rates. The second one's only flag is paperwork: its MCS-150 biennial update is past the 24-month mark, which is worth a reminder, not a rejection. That is the point of a rule-based check: it separates "stop" from "ask".
Try it: vet USDOT 264184 and 53467 (free, no key)
Do all seven checks in one call
Checking SAFER, L&I and the inspection file by hand takes several minutes per carrier. Haulroll takes up to 25 USDOT or MC numbers per call and returns, riskiest first, a verdict for each:
do_not_use: USDOT not active, an active out-of-service order, interstate for-hire without active authority, or liability on file below the requirement;review: new entrant (under 90 days) or under a year old, authority pending or revocation pending, cargo insurance or broker bond missing, a suspension notice in the last 12 months, driver or vehicle OOS rate over 1.5 times the national rate (5+ inspections), a fatal crash for a small fleet, or an MCS-150 older than 24 months;clear: none of these.
Every verdict comes with the evidence (insurers on file, inspection counts, crash counts) and links to the carrier's SAFER and SMS pages. The /api/alerts endpoint watches your carrier list for new OOS orders, insurance cancellations and authority changes, and /api/new-carriers lists new registrations by state.
curl "https://haulroll-api.cybermax-tools.workers.dev/api/carrier?dot=264184,53467"Published prices on 27 September 2026: VerifyCarrier's API is free for 100 lookups a month, then $19/month for 500 and $49/month for 2,500. Haulroll is free for 50 calls a day (up to 25 carriers each), then $19/month for 750 calls (50% more than VerifyCarrier at the same price), or $5 pay-as-you-go. FMCSA's own QCMobile API is free but needs a Login.gov account and returns one carrier per request, raw. More: VerifyCarrier alternative.
Sources: FMCSA open data on data.transportation.gov: Company Census File, Licensing & Insurance, Out-of-Service Orders, Vehicle Inspection File and Crash File (US Government works).