Incident response
How to Report a Trucking Company or Broker to FMCSA
By VerifyCarrier · · 4 min read
FMCSA takes complaints about interstate truck, bus and moving companies, brokers and other regulated entities through its National Consumer Complaint Database, online at nccdb.fmcsa.dot.gov or by phone at 1-888-DOT-SAFT (1-888-368-7238), 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern, Monday to Friday. A complaint goes into the company’s file and helps FMCSA decide whom to investigate; it is for past events, and an emergency is a call to 911. It does not resolve a payment dispute or correct a carrier’s record, which have their own routes.
Sources: FMCSA: National Consumer Complaint Database FAQs; FMCSA: Eligible complaints for the National Consumer Complaint Database
What FMCSA accepts
FMCSA’s list of eligible complaints includes safety violations by truck companies, a company coercing drivers to disregard safety rules, and a company operating without required authority or insurance on file. For property brokers, it lists a broker misrepresenting itself as a carrier, improper rebating or compensation, brokering in a name other than its registered name, operating without required authority, insurance or registration, and failing to keep the required transaction records.
Anyone may file a motorist safety complaint about reckless driving, unsecured cargo, a leaking tank or a suspected lack of authority or insurance. FMCSA’s FAQ describes the database as intended for past events involving a violation of a law or regulation within FMCSA’s jurisdiction, so a problem governed only by state law belongs with the state agency.
Sources: FMCSA: Eligible complaints for the National Consumer Complaint Database; FMCSA: National Consumer Complaint Database FAQs
Choose the channel by the problem
Each problem a broker meets has a different owner. Identity theft has its own set of channels, covered in the response plan for when someone uses a carrier’s identity. A wrong inspection or crash record is corrected through DataQs, explained in the guide to disputing a carrier safety record.
A claim against a broker’s bond or trust goes to the surety or trustee; FMCSA’s June 2026 FAQ says it does not act as an intermediary or resolve the merits of a claim. The guide to carrier payment terms and disputes covers the records that settle those.
By problem:
- Unsafe operation you observed, or a carrier running without authority or insurance: a database complaint against the truck company or a motorist safety complaint.
- A broker misrepresenting itself or brokering without authority: a property broker complaint.
- Someone using a carrier’s name or numbers: the fraud channels FMCSA lists.
- An error in a carrier’s inspection or crash data: DataQs.
- An unpaid freight bill or bond claim: the contract, the surety and the courts.
Sources: FMCSA: Eligible complaints for the National Consumer Complaint Database; FMCSA: Broker and carrier fraud and identity theft; FMCSA June 2026 FAQ
What to include
FMCSA’s FAQ says the date and time, location, vehicle or carrier identifiers, USDOT number and any photos or video make a complaint more likely to be verified and acted on. A vague complaint may be followed up, and one whose filer cannot be reached may be found non-actionable. If you are unsure of the date, give your best estimate and say so.
Contact details let FMCSA follow up. Under 49 U.S.C. 31143(b), as the FAQ quotes it, the Secretary may disclose a complainant’s identity only if necessary to prosecute a violation. For a brokered load, the USDOT number and docket number of each company involved, and your transaction record under 49 CFR 371.3, are the identifiers that matter; the guide to DOT and MC numbers explains which number names what.
Sources: FMCSA: National Consumer Complaint Database FAQs; 49 CFR 371.3: records kept by brokers
What happens next
The FAQ says a complaint is entered into the database for analytical and statistical use, kept in the company’s file as part of its permanent record, and that FMCSA may contact the filer if it takes enforcement action. A motorist safety complaint is placed in the carrier’s file, may prompt an investigation during its next review, and may be expedited in urgent cases.
FMCSA does not promise a response or an outcome. Do not wait on a complaint to decide whether to use a carrier: that decision rests on your own review.
Keep the complaint factual
Describe what happened, when and to which load, and separate what you observed from what you suspect. An illustrative description: “Load 4471 tendered to Carrier A, USDOT and MC recorded. Truck arriving at pickup marked Carrier C, USDOT recorded, no lease or rental document produced. Carrier A, called at its FMCSA-listed number, said it had not dispatched the load.”
Keep a copy of what you submitted, and any reference FMCSA gives you, with the load file and your notes, as the guide to keeping a carrier review log recommends for any decision a colleague may need to reconstruct.
Sources checked . Procedures are VerifyCarrier’s recommendations; examples are illustrative. How we prepare and correct these guides.