The Carrier Vetting Checklist Brokers Run Before Every Load

Carrier fraud is not random. It targets brokers who skip steps under time pressure. A double-broker or a chameleon carrier looks fine in a five-second glance at a packet, and the packet itself can be faked. The point of a carrier vetting checklist is that you check the same federal sources in the same order every time, so a bad actor has to beat all seven steps instead of just the one you happened to look at.

Every step below is built on public FMCSA records (SAFER and SMS). They are free to read, they update on a known schedule, and they are the same records a claims adjuster or a plaintiff's attorney will pull after something goes wrong. Vetting against them, and keeping proof you did, is the difference between a defensible decision and a he-said-she-said.

• 1. Confirm operating authority is active. Look up the carrier by MC or DOT number and confirm the authority is ACTIVE, not pending, revoked, or out of service. Check that the authority type (common, contract) matches the freight, and that the entity name and address on file match the carrier you are actually talking to. See our guide on how to check carrier authority.
• 2. Confirm insurance on file meets the required amount. Verify there is active insurance on file with FMCSA and that the BIPD (liability) coverage meets the federal minimum for the commodity, plus cargo coverage that fits the load value. On-file is not the same as a current certificate, so confirm both. Our guide on how to verify carrier insurance breaks down on-file vs. required.
• 3. Check the safety rating and out-of-service status. Read the safety rating (Satisfactory, Conditional, Unsatisfactory, or none) and the out-of-service status. Then look at the carrier's out-of-service rates against the national average, plus crash and inspection history. A blank rating is common and is not automatically good. See our carrier safety rating guide.
• 4. Screen for fraud and identity reuse. Check for signs of double-brokering, a chameleon carrier reusing an EIN or address, and OFAC sanctions exposure. A carrier that shares an identity with a previously shut-down operation is a red flag the basic packet will not show — and a documented one: the U.S. Government Accountability Office found new applicants with chameleon attributes were involved in severe crashes at 18%, versus 6% for those without them (GAO-12-364). Our freight fraud prevention guide covers the patterns.
• 5. Verify contact details against the federal record. Match the phone number, email, and address the carrier gives you against what FMCSA has on file and against independent phone and address screening. Fraudsters route you to a number that is not the real carrier's. A mismatch is one of the most reliable early warnings.
• 6. Keep a dated vetting record. Save a dated record of what you found at the moment you tendered the load: authority, insurance, safety, and the screens you ran. If a claim or a chargeback comes later, that dated PDF is your proof you vetted in good faith.
• 7. Re-vet and monitor after onboarding. Authority gets revoked, insurance lapses, and safety records change after onboarding. Set up monitoring with email alerts so you find out when a carrier you already use goes out of service, instead of finding out from a claim. See our carrier monitoring guide.

Steps 1 through 3 take seconds. Enter the MC or DOT number and you get authority status, insurance on file, safety rating, and out-of-service status in one lookup, with a dated PDF you can drop into the load file. That covers the free checks and Step 6 in a single pass.

Steps 4 and 5, the fraud, identity-reuse, OFAC, and phone-and-address screens, plus the out-of-service rates against the national average and the crash and inspection history, come together in the full carrier dossier on a paid plan. Step 7, ongoing monitoring with alerts and a change-history log, is also paid. The point is to run the deep screens without copying numbers between five government websites by hand.

• Identity match. The legal name, MC/DOT, and address on file all match the carrier you contracted with.
• Authority proof. A dated record showing active authority and the correct authority type for the freight.
• Insurance proof. Active coverage on file at or above the required limits, plus the certificate the carrier sent you.
• Safety snapshot. The safety rating and out-of-service status as of the onboarding date.
• Screening results. Fraud, identity-reuse, OFAC, and contact-verification results from the day you onboarded.
• Signed agreement. Your carrier packet and broker-carrier agreement, tied to the same MC/DOT you vetted.

Running every step gives you a defensible, dated vetting record and catches the large majority of obvious fraud and clearly unfit carriers before you tender. It does not certify that a carrier is legitimate, properly insured, or safe. FMCSA records can be out of date, and a determined fraudster can pass a snapshot. Treat the checklist as informed risk management, not a guarantee, and pair it with monitoring so a clean carrier today does not become a stale assumption next month.