Carrier vetting
FreightGuard reports: what they are and how to respond
A FreightGuard report is a broker's complaint about a carrier, filed on Carrier411 and shown to other brokers who subscribe. Carriers cannot log in to see them. This page sets out what Carrier411 itself publishes about how reports work, the one warning a carrier gets, and what to do with it.
By Evan Reid, Founder of Haul Handbook · Updated Sep 10, 2026
What a FreightGuard report is
FreightGuard Reports are exclusive to Carrier411 and are submitted by Carrier411 customers about their experiences with carriers. Carrier411 states it is not a service for trucking companies and does not allow accounts for trucking companies, dispatch services, attorneys, consultants, authority services, compliance services, staffing agencies or outsourcing services.
That asymmetry is the whole problem for a carrier: the brokers you want to work with can read the report, and you cannot. The only signal you receive is the email described below.
How you find out, and how long you have
When a customer submits a new FreightGuard Report, the reported company is notified by email and has 72 hours to respond. The address Carrier411 uses is the one on your FMCSA registration. If that mailbox is one nobody reads, the window closes without you.
What to do when the email arrives
- Watch the email on your FMCSA record. When a customer submits a new FreightGuard Report, the reported company is notified by email and has 72 hours to respond. The notice goes to the address on your MCS-150, so a stale address means no warning at all.
- Respond inside the window, in writing, with documents. You have 72 hours from submission. Answer the specific items reported, attach the rate confirmation, tracking, delivery receipt or claim correspondence, and keep the tone factual; brokers reading the report see your response next to the allegation.
- Ask the broker directly, and keep the record. Reports can be updated or deleted by the customer who filed them within the window. A call that resolves the underlying dispute is the only route that removes a report cleanly.
- If the report is false and it is costing you freight, talk to a lawyer. A report is the broker’s statement, not Carrier411’s. Whether a false statement is actionable is a legal question about the broker, and one to put to counsel with the report and your evidence in hand.
Where the industry stands
OOIDA came out in favor of giving carriers a voice on the Carrier411 platform after the FreightGuard changes. Nothing in the mechanics above has changed since. The practical position for a carrier is the one in the steps: keep the FMCSA email current, answer inside the window with documents, and resolve disputes with the broker directly.
What you can see, and what you cannot
Everything else a broker's vetting system reads about you is public: authority status and age, the insurance filing, the BOC-3, the MCS-150 date, inspections, crashes and revocation history. What brokers check when they pull your MC walks each one. The FreightGuard report is the exception, and any service that claims to check it for free is guessing.