Suspended, Revoked or Inactive: Which Carrier Record Changed?

Name the object before the status

FMCSA defines operating authority as the registration required by 49 U.S.C. 13902 and related regulations, and calls it an MC, FF or MX number depending on the authority granted. In general, for-hire interstate carriers, brokers and freight forwarders need operating authority in addition to a USDOT number. Private carriers, for-hire carriers hauling only exempt commodities and carriers operating only within an exempt commercial zone generally do not. A company may hold several authorities.

The Motus AuthHist dataset keeps each authority separately, with types such as Motor Carrier of Property (Except Household Goods), Broker of Property (Except Household Goods) and Freight Forwarder of Property. One USDOT number can therefore show an active carrier authority beside an inactive broker authority. Record the docket and authority type next to every status you rely on, and check the authority that matches the role the company is taking on this load.

Sources: FMCSA: Operating authority and who needs it; FMCSA registration and reinstatement forms; DOT DataHub: Motus AuthHist, all with history (schema and description)

What SAFER’s operating-status values say

SAFER’s field definitions give the operating-status values a broker most often reads on the Company Snapshot. Each value answers a narrower question than “can this company haul for us?”

• ACTIVE: the entity’s USDOT number is active.
• AUTHORIZED FOR property, passenger or household goods: the operating authorities the carrier or broker is allowed to operate under.
• NOT AUTHORIZED: the USDOT number is active, but the entity has no operating authority and is not authorized to operate as an interstate for-hire carrier. SAFER notes that this value does not apply to private or intrastate operations.
• OUT-OF-SERVICE: the carrier is under an out-of-service order of some type and is not authorized to operate.
• Inactive USDOT Number: SAFER attributes this value to a biennial MCS-150 update that was not completed.

Sources: SAFER field definitions

An inactive USDOT number concerns the registration

NOT AUTHORIZED describes authority attached to an active registration. An inactive USDOT number describes the registration itself. Neither label says whether the entity once held authority, why it ended or whether a reinstatement is in progress.

SAFER’s help text cites 49 CFR 390.19(b)(4) for the inactive value. In the current eCFR, section 390.19 is limited to certain Mexico-domiciled carriers, and the general requirement appears in 49 CFR 390.19T: an update every 24 months on a schedule set by the last two digits of the USDOT number, with penalties and deactivation of the USDOT number for a person that misses it. Read the current regulation rather than the citation on the help page; the practical meaning is the same.

FMCSA’s registration forms page lists a biennial update, reinstatement of operating authority and reapplication for a USDOT number after revocation as separate transactions. When a carrier says its status is fixed, ask which transaction it completed and check the record it would change. VerifyCarrier’s DOT lookup shows the USDOT registration as Active or Inactive and lists an inactive registration, an out-of-service order or an FMCSA not-allowed-to-operate value first, ahead of the other rows. It does not infer the reason.

Sources: SAFER field definitions; 49 CFR 390.19T: biennial registration updates; FMCSA registration and reinstatement forms

Suspension and revocation are different actions

The statute separates them. Under 49 U.S.C. 13905(f), FMCSA may suspend the registration of a motor carrier, freight forwarder or broker that fails to comply with specified requirements, including the financial-security requirements of section 13906, and the suspension remains in effect until the registrant complies. The same subsection requires revocation of a motor carrier’s registration after it has been prohibited from operating for failing safety-fitness requirements, or when its operations are found to be an imminent hazard. Outside that expedited path, section 13905(e) allows revocation, other than on the registrant’s own application or for an undisclosed material fact, only after a compliance order and 30 days of willful noncompliance.

Insurance is the common example. Under 49 CFR 387.313, a for-hire property carrier’s insurance filing cannot be cancelled until 30 days after a notice of cancellation, such as Form BMC-35, is filed with FMCSA. Motus AuthHist records suspension reasons that include an insurance cancellation leaving no qualifying insurance on file and a cancelled BOC-3 process-agent filing. Suspended, voluntarily suspended and revoked authorities can all carry the status Inactive in that dataset; the reason field, not the status alone, distinguishes them.

Motus RevokeSuspend records each order’s type, serve date and effective date. Its order types include an Operating Authority Involuntary Suspension Notice and a Notice Of Operating Authority Voluntary Suspension, and the effective date can fall after the date the notice appears. On October 4, 2026, both the daily and full-history RevokeSuspend files contained only those two suspension types, while revocations appeared as reasons in AuthHist. Check both datasets before concluding that no action exists.

Sources: 49 U.S.C. 13905: suspension, amendment and revocation of registration; 49 CFR 387.313: insurance filings and cancellation notice; DOT DataHub: Motus AuthHist, all with history (schema and description); DOT DataHub: Motus RevokeSuspend, all with history (schema and description)

Pending means an application, not a grant

AuthHist records Pending authority with reasons such as an initial status and publication in the FMCSA Register. Under 49 CFR 365.115, interested persons have 10 days from Register publication to file protests, and an unopposed grant becomes effective by issuance of the certificate, permit or license. Under 49 CFR 365.109, an applicant must file its evidence of financial responsibility and a BOC-3 within 90 days of the Register notice.

A pending authority therefore does not establish permission to haul the load today. VerifyCarrier’s lookup shows common, contract and broker authority as Active, Inactive, Pending, None or Not reported, translated from FMCSA’s codes. Its recent-changes block separately flags a carrier whose first operating authority in Motus AuthHist was granted less than 12 months ago. That flag measures the age of the authority record, not the experience of the people running the business.

Sources: DOT DataHub: Motus AuthHist, all with history (schema and description); 49 CFR 365.115: after publication in the FMCSA Register; 49 CFR 365.109: FMCSA review of the authority application

Read the latest dated row and keep the unexplained ones

A status describes a moment. AuthHist keeps the history of each authority with a status-change date, and an authority can move from Active to Inactive and back after a reinstatement or a discontinued revocation. Find the latest row for the specific docket and authority type, then keep the earlier rows: a reinstatement does not erase the suspension that preceded it, and the gap between them can matter for a load that moved in between.

Some rows do not explain themselves. In the October 4, 2026 retrieval, some AuthHist rows paired an Active status with the reason Revoked, and others gave only an administrative status adjustment. The dataset description does not define these combinations. Treat them as unresolved and confirm against the current official record rather than choosing the convenient reading.

Sources: DOT DataHub: Motus AuthHist, all with history (schema and description)

Write the finding so the next person can act

An illustrative review note: “USDOT registration active. Broker authority inactive; latest AuthHist row gives involuntary suspension for insurance cancellation, retrieved 2026-10-04. No carrier authority held. Not approved to haul this load; reinstatement not observed.” It names the object, the source, the date and the reason, and it keeps the record separate from the brokerage’s decision.

Out-of-service orders are a separate track: an order against the carrier, a driver or a vehicle each leads to a different check. When a status changes after approval, route it through alert triage instead of overwriting the earlier approval.