VERIFIED
Every carrier starts at 100. We subtract points for each missing requirement or risk factor below. Verified means all four core requirements pass.
Score breakdown
Clean record — the bar stays full at 100.
Verification — 4 core requirements
Active operating authority
FMCSA shows the USDOT registration and authority are active.
Active freight forwarder authority N/A
Operates as a freight forwarder (FF operating authority on file) — a pure freight forwarder runs no commercial motor vehicles, so for-hire motor-carrier authority does not apply.
Freight forwarder bond (BMC-84/85) on file N/A
Active freight forwarder authority on file — FMCSA requires a $75,000 surety bond / trust fund (BMC-84 or BMC-85) to keep it active. Carrier BI&PD insurance does not apply to a forwarder with no commercial motor vehicles.
Safety rating not Unsatisfactory
No Unsatisfactory rating on file.
What's lowering this score
Clean record — no deductions. This carrier starts and stays at 100.
How we calculate the Trust Score
Every company starts at 100
We subtract points for each missing requirement or risk factor. Verified means all the core requirements for that company's type pass. Nothing is added back — the score is a deduction model built only on public FMCSA data. No pay-to-play, no opinions.
Requirements differ by company type
Each company is judged fairly on its own FMCSA obligations. Anything that doesn't apply shows as a grey N/A — not required — never a penalty.
Carrier (for-hire)
Operating authority, authorized-for-hire, insurance on file, safety rating.
Broker
Broker authority + $75k surety bond (BMC-84/85). MCS-150 not required (no fleet).
Freight forwarder
FF authority + $75k bond + BOC-3. MCS-150 not required (no trucks).
Private carrier
Active USDOT + MCS-150 + safety. No operating authority / for-hire / insurance filing required (hauls its own goods).
Crashes are scaled, not flat
Crash history is proportional. We don't apply a flat penalty — we scale it to (a) crashes per vehicle in the fleet and (b) the share of those crashes that were fatal. So a big, safe fleet barely moves; a small fleet with many (and fatal) crashes takes a large hit.
0 pts deductedscaled by rate & severityup to −28 pts
Low end
50,000 vehicles + 1 crash → ~0 pts. A huge fleet with very few crashes per vehicle is almost untouched.
High end
5 vehicles + 3 crashes incl. fatal → large deduction (near the −28 cap). Many crashes per truck, fatal-heavy.
Mechanics: deduction is capped at 28 points, weighted roughly 60% on crashes-per-vehicle and 40% on the fatal ratio. Zero crashes = zero deduction. If fleet size is unknown, only crash severity can move the score (conservative).
Out-of-service rate vs. the national average
Driver and vehicle out-of-service rates are measured against the FMCSA national average, not a flat number. A company only takes the deduction when it sits above the national benchmark — for example “Vehicle OOS 37% vs national avg 20.7%”.
Point reference — the full menu
Every factor and exactly how many points it can remove. Knockout factors (they also fail Verification) are marked.
| Factor |
Points |
| USDOT / authority not active with FMCSA knockout | −25 |
| Missing operating authority (when required) knockout | −15 |
| No insurance or surety bond on file (when required) knockout | −25 |
| Unsatisfactory safety rating knockout | −30 |
| Conditional safety rating | −12 |
| MCS-150 biennial update overdue (carriers) knockout | −10 |
| Crashes — rate-adjusted (per-vehicle & fatal share) | 0 to −28 |
| Driver OOS rate above national average | −5 |
| Vehicle OOS rate above national average | −5 |
| Very new carrier (under 1 year) | −10 |
| Limited operating history (1-3 years) | −6 |
| Moderate operating history (3-5 years) | −3 |
| Operating history unknown | −3 |
| No public phone number | −3 |
| No public email address | −2 |
All inputs come from public FMCSA records (operating authority, insurance/bond filings, the SAFER/SMS safety profile, crash & inspection reports). If FMCSA updates a record, the score updates with it. For the full deduction table, see the
methodology page.
