How to check whether a carrier is legitimate before you tender

A checklist that survives contact with the actual FMCSA records, including the three places the public data will mislead you.

Checking a carrier is not one lookup. The public record is three separate files that are not updated together, and each answers a different question. Working through them in order catches most of what goes wrong.

1. Is the authority active — and what kind?

Look up the USDOT number and read the operating authority section, not just the presence of a number.

Active — authorised
Pending — the application has not cleared. Typically several weeks. Not authorised yet
Inactive / Withdrawn / Revoked — not authorised
No authority record at all — common for private fleets and intrastate operators, and

it means they cannot legally haul interstate for hire

Also check the authority type. "Motor Carrier of Property (Except Household Goods)" is general freight. Household goods, passengers, and freight forwarding are separate grants.

2. Is there primary liability insurance on file today?

This is the check most often done wrong, because authority status and insurance status live in different FMCSA files that are not updated together.

What to confirm:

A primary BIPD filing exists. BMC-91X, BMC-91, BMC-82 and BMC-35 all satisfy

the requirement. BMC-34 is cargo and does not

The class is primary, not excess. An excess layer with no primary underneath is a gap,

however large the dollar figure

The amount meets your requirement, not just the $750,000 federal floor for general

freight. Most shipper contracts require $1,000,000

The policy has not been cancelled. The active/pending table can still list a policy

that has been cancelled — the cancellation is recorded separately and keyed by policy number

That last point is the one that catches automated checks. A carrier can appear insured in one table and cancelled in another.

3. Is the entity actually a carrier?

Brokers hold MC numbers too. The distinguishing filing is the $75,000 broker financial responsibility — a BMC-84 surety bond or BMC-85 trust fund.

If the entity you are about to tender to carries one of those, you are dealing with a broker, not a carrier. That ambiguity is what double-brokering depends on: an entity presenting as the carrier while re-brokering your load to someone you never vetted and whose insurance you never saw.

See MC number vs USDOT number for the full distinction.

4. Does the identity match?

The record tells you about an entity. It does not tell you that the person emailing you *is* that entity.

Does the contact domain match the company, or is it a free mailbox?
Does the phone number on the record match the one you were given?
Has the address or legal name changed recently? Sudden changes on a dormant record are

worth a second look

Does the equipment count fit the load? A one-truck carrier accepting twelve loads a week

is brokering them

This is the layer public data cannot settle for you, and the reason identity-verification products exist as a separate category.

5. Re-check before you tender, not just at onboarding

Everything above is a snapshot. Authority gets suspended, insurance gets cancelled, and both happen between the day you onboard a carrier and the day you hand them freight.

Across carriers holding a current insurance filing, about 5% have no primary coverage on file while FMCSA still shows their authority as Active. When a cancellation does land, the suspension order follows a median of 17 days later — so for that whole window the public record looks fine. Details in Active authority does not mean insured.

The three places the public record will mislead you

Authority status is not an insurance check. Different file, different update cadence.

"Insurance on file" can mean a cancelled policy. Match policy numbers against cancellations before trusting the active/pending table.

A large coverage figure can be excess. Check the class, not just the number.

What this checklist cannot do

It confirms paperwork, not trucks. FMCSA filings can be delayed, duplicated, or wrong — we measure roughly 7% duplicate rows in the raw feeds. A clean record is evidence, not a guarantee, and nothing here is a substitute for your own diligence, your insurer's requirements, or a certificate of insurance obtained directly from the carrier's agent.