Before booking
A Carrier Vetting Checklist for the Load You’re About to Book
By VerifyCarrier · · 3 min read
Picture the booking decision: the rate works, the equipment fits and the carrier packet has arrived. One phone number differs from the one in your records. Dispatch says it is a new line.
The checklist can be completed in two ways. You can mark that a phone number was supplied, or establish who is answering it. Only one resolves the question in front of you.
A carrier vetting checklist earns its place by exposing what still needs an answer before you 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.
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
In the opening example, the phone discrepancy stays open while someone calls 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.
The useful result of a checklist is a decision another broker can understand. When dispatch changes the number again, that broker should be able to see what the previous approval actually covered.
Sources checked September 12, 2026. Procedures are VerifyCarrier’s recommendations; examples are illustrative. How we prepare and correct these guides.