A Carrier Vetting Checklist for the Load You’re About to Book

Start with the carrier that will haul the load

Search the USDOT number and compare the legal name with the company named in the packet. Resolve a trade-name difference rather than quietly treating two names as interchangeable. Establish which company is offering the truck and which company is arranging it.

A matching registration record gets you to the next question: does the person speaking for that business have a connection you can confirm? FMCSA recommends calling the SAFER-listed number when the number supplied differs. If that listed number has itself changed, a contact established during an earlier review may help you investigate.

Sources: FMCSA: Broker and carrier fraud and identity theft

Give each check a question to answer

Keep the checks separate. Registration identifies a business. Operating authority concerns the operations it may perform; requirements and exemptions depend on the operation. An insurance filing answers a different question from whether coverage fits this shipment.

Use these prompts against the load you are booking:

• Identity: Which legal entity will haul the load, and how did we confirm the contact?
• Authority: Does the current official record support the proposed operation?
• Insurance: Who confirmed the relevant coverage, dates and any restrictions for this load?
• Safety: What do the available records show, and what remains unknown?
• Changes: What differs from our last review, and has each material difference been explained?

Sources: FMCSA: Operating authority and who needs it; FMCSA: Insurance filing requirements

An exception needs a person, not a tick

A phone discrepancy stays open until someone confirms the change through a separately established contact. A note saying “new dispatch number confirmed by established carrier contact” records progress. “Phone checked” conceals how the conclusion was reached.

If nobody can confirm the change, record the missing evidence and the person responsible for obtaining it. Apply your brokerage’s hold or escalation policy. Pressure to cover the load does not supply the missing answer.

Save an approval you can revisit

Keep the source, when you checked it, the decision and any conditions attached to it. Preserve the values you relied on so a later change has something to be compared with.

Before pickup, the carrier identity still needs to connect to the truck that arrives. FMCSA recommends checking the name and numbers on the truck against the contracted carrier.

Sources: FMCSA: Broker and carrier fraud and identity theft