Carrier Onboarding Documents Brokers Can Verify Independently

Registration and authority: the public record is the document

A copy of an authority letter or a SAFER screenshot shows what someone captured. The broker’s check is the current Company Snapshot and authority record for the USDOT number, read on the day of review. The questions are which legal entity holds the number and whether the authority supports the operation on this load, as the DOT and MC number guide explains.

For a carrier, the most useful step is keeping that record current. FMCSA requires every entity under its jurisdiction to update its registration every two years even when nothing changed, on a schedule set by the last two digits of the USDOT number, and failure to update results in deactivation of the USDOT number. A name or address change should be filed with FMCSA when it happens, not left for the next packet to explain.

Sources: FMCSA: Company Snapshot; FMCSA registration updates

Contacts: make the SAFER number answer

FMCSA tells brokers to call the SAFER-listed number when a supplied number differs, and to consider not contracting with a company whose SAFER record shows no phone number until the transaction is confirmed. A carrier whose dispatch line differs from SAFER will therefore be called on the SAFER number. The same FMCSA page advises carriers to make sure the phone numbers displayed in SAFER are visible and correct.

Recommended packet content: the SAFER-listed number, the dispatch number, the person authorized to accept loads and the person authorized to change payment details. Brokers should record which of those they confirmed and how; a dispatcher’s confirmation does not establish who controls the bank account.

Sources: FMCSA: Broker and carrier fraud and identity theft

Insurance: a certificate is a claim to confirm

FMCSA’s public insurance record shows required filings, such as liability coverage of at least $750,000 for a for-hire carrier of non-hazardous property operating vehicles of 10,001 pounds or more. FMCSA requires cargo insurance only from household goods carriers and household goods freight forwarders. A broker’s cargo requirement for general freight is therefore a contract term, and the public filing cannot show whether it is met.

That is why the certificate matters and why it is not enough. FMCSA warns that insurance certificates can be fraudulent. Recommended: ask the carrier to have its agent send the certificate directly, and confirm cargo limits, exclusions and dates with the issuer for the commodity and value on the load. The insurance verification guide covers the shipment-specific questions.

Sources: FMCSA: Insurance filing requirements; FMCSA: Who is required to carry cargo insurance?; FMCSA: Broker and carrier fraud and identity theft

The W-9: compare the entity, not just the name

Form W-9 gives a requester the payee’s taxpayer identification number for information returns. Under the IRS requester instructions, a disregarded entity reports its owner’s name on line 1 and the entity’s name on line 2. A single-member LLC carrier can therefore send a correct W-9 whose first line is a person. Brokers should compare line 2 with the FMCSA legal name and DBA rather than rejecting the form on line 1 alone.

A W-9 for a company other than the carrier on the packet is a different matter. It may reflect a factoring arrangement or a payee change, and it belongs in the payment-instruction review, not in a quiet edit to the vendor record. Brokerages that file information returns can use the IRS TIN Matching service, which is limited to payers and authorized agents listed in the IRS Payer Account File.

Sources: IRS: Instructions for the Requester of Form W-9 (Rev. March 2024); IRS: Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) Matching

When a document is missing or does not match

Tell the carrier which fact could not be established and what would establish it. “We could not reach the SAFER-listed number; please confirm a time we can call it” gives a legitimate carrier a way forward. “Packet rejected” does not. The onboarding exceptions guide sets out owners and closing evidence for each kind of gap.