Carrier vetting
What brokers check when they pull your MC number
Before a broker rep calls you back, a vetting platform has already read your FMCSA record and applied the broker's rules to it. Everything it reads is public. Here is each item, where it lives, what a broker makes of it, and the fix.
By Evan Reid, Founder of Haul Handbook · Updated Sep 10, 2026
The record, item by item
The Company Census carries the legal and DBA names, physical and mailing addresses, phone, email, MCS-150 date, power units, drivers, safety rating, the cargo classification checkboxes and the prior-revocation flag. Authority, insurance, process-agent and revocation history sit in separate FMCSA tables keyed to the same docket. A vetting platform joins them and reads the result in seconds; the items below are that result in the order most platforms weigh them.
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1. Authority status
FMCSA grants authority by issuing a certificate, permit, or license. An assigned docket number alone does not establish an effective grant. Confirm the authority has been issued and remains active before hauling under it. Review registration actions and current filings in Motus. FMCSA also publishes authority records and daily decisions through its registration pages. If the agency’s records disagree, contact FMCSA before relying on the status. Anything other than active stops the setup before a person looks at it. The authority status guide covers pending, active and inactive.
2. Authority age
Authority age is the number of days since FMCSA granted the operating authority, recorded per docket in the Motus authority history. This is the item that fails most new carriers, and the only fix is days. Which brokers publish a minimum, and what it is, lives on brokers that work with new authority.
3. The liability filing
The liability filing on record (BMC-91 or BMC-91X), its amount, insurer and effective date, recorded per docket. The federal filing floor for general freight is $750,000. C.H. Robinson publishes a $1,000,000 auto-liability minimum, and the platform applies the broker figure, not the federal one. A filing that has not posted yet reads as no filing. The BMC-91 and BMC-34 guide explains what each form on the record means.
4. Cargo coverage (usually not on the record, and that is normal)
FMCSA requires a cargo filing (BMC-34 or BMC-83) only from household goods motor carriers and freight forwarders. Most property carriers have no cargo coverage on file with FMCSA at all, so brokers verify it from a certificate of insurance instead. A blank cargo line on the FMCSA record is not a flag; the certificate your agent sends at setup is what the broker reads.
5. The BOC-3 process agent
Form BOC-3 (Designation of Agents for Service of Process) designates a process agent in each state in or through which the carrier, broker, or freight forwarder operates, per 49 CFR 366. Only one completed form may be on file and it must include all states for which agency designations are required. A post office box is not acceptable as an agent address. Once authority is granted, entities must keep the process agent designation (and proof of insurance) on file with FMCSA to avoid revocation proceedings. One copy of the BOC-3 must be retained by the carrier or broker at its principal place of business. The BOC-3 filing guide covers who can file it and what it costs.
6. The MCS-150 date
All entities under FMCSA jurisdiction must update their information (MCS-150 series) every 24 months, even if nothing changed, the company ceased interstate operations, or the business closed without notifying FMCSA. Failure to complete the biennial update results in deactivation of the USDOT number and may bring civil penalties of up to $1,000 per day, not to exceed $10,000. The census record carries the date the carrier last filed its MCS-150, so a vetting platform reads the filing date straight off the public record. A blank or stale date reads as an unverified registration. The MCS-150 biennial update guide covers the schedule; the update itself is free.
7. Cargo classifications and fleet size
The cargo boxes ticked on the MCS-150, the power-unit count and the driver count all sit on the census record. Boards and brokers filter on them. Nothing ticked means you appear for nothing; the wrong box ticked is where the wrong load offers come from. Fix both on the MCS-150.
8. Phone, email and address, compared across records
Carrier411 lists identity theft and compromised FMCSA data as reportable items. It notes that the fraud may involve an unauthorized change of a carrier's FMCSA contact information, particularly phone numbers. That is why vetting platforms compare the phone, email and address on a record against other records. A phone number or street address that appears on several active USDOT records draws a question. An address belonging to a registration or process-agent service is recognizable as one, and platforms treat it differently from a shared office. The email on the record also matters for a second reason: it is where a FreightGuard notice would be sent.
9. Inspections and out-of-service orders
FMCSA publishes roadside inspections and out-of-service totals monthly by DOT number. A record with no inspections gives a broker no safety history to read. Many treat that as unproven rather than clean. One clean roadside inspection changes how a new carrier looks. The commercial vehicle inspections guide covers the levels and what an out-of-service order does to the record. Every violation written at one also feeds a category percentile, which CSA scores explains, and CSA points by violation lists what each one weighs.
10. Crashes and the safety rating
FMCSA publishes reportable crashes monthly by DOT number, with the report date and whether the vehicle was towed. The safety rating, when one exists, sits on the census record. Most carriers are never rated, because a rating comes from a compliance review and a new entrant safety audit does not produce one. A conditional or unsatisfactory rating is the flag, and DOT safety ratings covers what each one means and how an upgrade request works. The new entrant audit guide covers the examination a new carrier does face.
11. Revocation and suspension history
FMCSA publishes authority suspensions and revocations per docket in the Motus revocation history, with the type of authority and the reason. The census also carries a prior-revocation flag linking a record to an earlier revoked registration. Either one is a hard stop at most brokers until explained.
12. The ELD connection
Highway warned carriers in July 2026 that broker connections will fail for carriers who do not link their ELD in its Connect platform. For a broker that runs setup through Highway, an unconnected ELD stops it before any of the items above are weighed. The ELD mandate guide covers who must run one and the exemptions that Highway's check does not read.
The one item you cannot see
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. What that means for you, and the one warning you do get, is on the FreightGuard reports page.