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 those records are, for every side of the business.
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.
Run the check these guides describe
One search checks any carrier, broker or shipper - authority, insurance, safety and history, in plain language.
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