Carrier vetting guide
Free carrier vetting: how to check a carrier’s MC or DOT number
Before you hand a load to a carrier, you can check their federal record in seconds — authority, insurance, and safety — for free. Here’s what each piece means and how to read it.
Check a carrier now
MC or DOT number — free, no account, straight from FMCSA.
The four things to read
- Operating authority. Active means the carrier is authorized to operate for hire. Inactive, revoked, or none is a stop sign — don't book until it's resolved.
- Insurance on file. Liability coverage filed with FMCSA. Watch for a pending cancellation — it means coverage is about to end.
- Safety rating. Satisfactory, conditional, unsatisfactory, or unrated. Unrated is common for newer carriers; check the inspection and crash history before deciding.
- Out-of-service. A federal order to stop operating. If it's set, do not use the carrier.
No dead ends
Sometimes FMCSA can’t auto-confirm a detail — coverage that hasn’t posted yet, a missing rating, a stale field. CarrierClear never just shows an error. It tells you the next step: for insurance, it names the insurer on file so you can call to confirm active coverage or ask the carrier for a current COI. You decide; the tool helps you document it.
Keep proof — and watch for changes
Every free lookup includes a dated vetting record (PDF) you can keep on file. And because authority and insurance can lapse after you book, paid monitoring re-checks your saved carriers daily and emails you the moment something changes — with a clean audit trail you can hand to a shipper or insurer.
See monitoring plans → or why this matters after Montgomery v. Caribe →
Common questions
- How do I check a carrier's MC or DOT number for free?
- Enter the carrier's MC or DOT number above. CarrierClear queries FMCSA's public records and shows operating authority, insurance on file, safety rating, and out-of-service status — free, with no account.
- What does 'insurance on file' actually mean?
- Insurers are required to file proof of coverage (and cancellation notices) with FMCSA. We show what's filed. That filing can lag real life by a few days, which is exactly why ongoing monitoring — catching a lapse as soon as it's knowable — is the valuable part.
- What if the data can't confirm something?
- You never hit a dead end. When a check can't be auto-confirmed, the tool tells you exactly how to verify it by hand — for insurance, it names the insurer on file so you can call to confirm coverage or request a current certificate of insurance (COI).
- Where does the data come from?
- FMCSA — the federal regulator's official record, via its public API. It's the same authoritative source the expensive enterprise tools use. We're a clean window onto it, not a scraper or a rating service.
CarrierClear displays public FMCSA records and records your own verification. It is not legal advice and not a certification of any carrier’s fitness or insurance. Verify independently before relying on any record.