Company Validation
Before any load moves, one question decides everything: is the company on the other side actually allowed to do this job? Not "are they pleasant" and not "do they pay fast" - those come later. Valid comes first, and validity is decided by public records, not impressions. These guides explain exactly what the records are for every side of the business: what makes a carrier valid to haul, a broker valid to arrange freight, a shipper a sound counterparty, and the principles that apply to everyone.
General information, not legal advice. These guides explain U.S. freight and trucking rules in plain English — educational only, not a substitute for a qualified attorney. Rules and figures change; confirm current requirements with FMCSA or the official source before acting on your specific situation.
For Carriers
What federal law requires before a trucking company may haul freight - active authority, insurance on file, an acceptable safety record, and an identity whose history holds up. Eight guides, each ending with the regulation behind it.
Open For Carriers →- Active Operating AuthorityThe federal permission to haul freight for hire - what it is, the statuses it can sit in, and why it is the first thing to check on any carrier.
- USDOT & MC Numbers: One IdentityTwo numbers, one company - what each number is for, why they must line up, and the stale filing that quietly tells you something is wrong.
- Liability Insurance on FileThe BMC-91 filing, the federal minimums, and the 30-day countdown that starts the moment an insurer cancels.
- Cargo Insurance: What the Market RequiresThe surprise in this list: for most freight, cargo coverage is a market requirement, not a federal one - which makes verifying it your job.
- The Safety Rating, ExplainedSatisfactory, Conditional, Unsatisfactory - and why "Not Rated", the status most carriers actually have, is not a red flag by itself.
- Inspections & Out-of-Service RatesThe track record written at the roadside - how to read inspection counts, OOS percentages, and the difference between one bad day and a pattern.
- New Authority: The First 18 MonthsEvery honest carrier was new once - what the new-entrant period means, and the extra checks a young authority deserves.
- Authority & Address HistoryThe check that catches what a clean snapshot cannot: revocations, reinstatements, and the address where three carriers lived before this one.
For Brokers
What makes a freight broker valid - the license, the $75,000 financial security that protects carriers and shippers, the filings behind both, and the history checks that tell a real brokerage from a paper one.
Open For Brokers →- Broker Operating AuthorityArranging freight is a licensed activity - what broker authority is, who must hold it, and why an unlicensed middleman is a problem you inherit.
- The $75,000 Surety BondThe financial heart of broker validity - what the BMC-84/BMC-85 security is, who it protects, and how to verify it in one minute.
- BOC-3: Process Agents on FileThe least glamorous filing in the federal file - and why "can this company be served with a lawsuit" belongs in a validity check.
- Why Brokers File No InsuranceBrokers have no federal insurance filing - what stands in its place, what contingent cargo coverage is, and the confusion that costs people money.
- Bond Cancellations & Filing HistoryA broker's filing history is its financial pulse - how to read cancellations, replacements and the 30-day window where bad things happen.
- Dispatcher Is Not a BrokerThe gray zone that isn't - where a dispatch service ends, where unlicensed brokering begins, and why the difference decides who protects you.
- Broker Identity & HistoryPaper brokerages are cheap to create - the identity and history checks that tell a twenty-year operation from a three-week-old shell.
For Shippers
Shippers hold no federal license, which changes the whole question - how to verify a shipper as a business, the private-fleet exception, and what shippers themselves owe the chain they start.
Open For Shippers →- Shippers Hold No Federal AuthorityThe asymmetry at the heart of freight - carriers and brokers are licensed, the party who starts every load is not, and what that means for everyone checking everyone.
- Verifying a Shipper Is a Business CheckNo federal file to pull means you verify a shipper the way a bank would - entity, address, people, and whether the pieces tell one story.
- When a Shipper Does Need a DOT NumberThe private-fleet exception - the moment a shipper puts its own trucks on the road, part of the federal rulebook switches on.
- Shipper Validity Is Credit & PaymentFor the people moving the freight, a shipper's most important credential is the one no government issues: the record of paying its bills.
- The Shipper's Own Duty to VetValidation runs downhill too - why a shipper who never checks its carriers and brokers is gambling with its freight, its customers and its courtroom exposure.
- Fictitious Shippers & Identity GamesThe con that exploits the unlicensed corner of the industry - fake shippers, stolen names, and the verification habits that shut the door.
For Everyone
The principles that hold no matter which side of the load you are on - what valid actually means, why it is not the same as reputation, when to re-check, and the red flags gathered in one place.
Open For Everyone →- Valid or Not: Only Two AnswersValidation is not a feeling, a vibe or a sales pitch - it is a short list of public facts, and a company either passes or it does not.
- Validation Is Not ReputationTwo different questions, two different tools - and the order in which to ask them protects you from the most expensive mistake in freight.
- Validity Expires: When to Re-CheckEvery record in the validation file can change without anyone calling you - the cadence of re-checking, and where the stale-check losses actually happen.
- History & the Chameleon ProblemA clean record three weeks old has nothing in it - how shut-down operations come back under new names, and the factual checks that see through it.
- The Red Flags, All in One PlaceThe condensed checklist - the signals from every guide in this section, gathered into one list you can run through in a minute.
- The Records Are Public: How to CheckEvery fact in these guides comes from records that belong to everyone - where they live, why checking them used to be tedious, and what one search now does.
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