Help Center
Everything you need to search, vet, and verify carriers with confidence. Written for brokers, dispatchers, and shippers who need answers fast.
Searching for carriers
Three ways to find a carrier in our system. Pick whichever number you have.
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1
Search by DOT number
The fastest way. Every motor carrier has a unique DOT number issued by the FMCSA. Enter digits only — example:
1234567. No prefix, no hyphens. -
2
Search by MC number
MC (Motor Carrier) numbers are used for interstate operating authority. Enter digits only — example:
987654. We’ll automatically find the matching DOT. -
3
Search by legal name
Don’t have a number? Type the carrier’s full legal name (not DBA) — example:
Swift Transportation LLC. We match against FMCSA’s registration database.
Pro tip: Press / anywhere on the dashboard to instantly focus the search box. If you type an MC number but select DOT by mistake (or vice versa), we’ll automatically retry with the other field.
Understanding the trust score
Every carrier gets a single 0–100 score and one of three verdicts. Here’s what each means and what goes into it.
Clear to work with. Low risk across safety, insurance, and authority signals. Standard due diligence still recommended for high-value loads.
Mixed signals. Could be fine, could be risky — a human should look at the details before booking. Check the red flags section below.
High risk. Significant issues in safety, insurance, authority status, or a chameleon pattern. We recommend declining the load.
What goes into the score
Our five-layer scoring engine weighs evidence from seven federal data sources. Each penalty is confidence-weighted — low-inspection carriers get less aggressive scoring than high-volume fleets.
Authority, fleet size, operating status
Safety measurement percentiles
Out-of-service rate, violation history
Fatalities, injuries, time-decayed
Coverage, policy gaps, rejections
Revocations, reinstatements, gaps
Phone, address, officer cross-match
Licensing & insurance public filings
Scores update daily. Cached results refresh every 360 hours or immediately if you re-search.
Verifying a carrier before you book
The score is a starting point, not the final answer. Walk through this checklist on any carrier before you hand them a load.
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Confirm operating authority is Active. Look at the authority badge at the top of the results page. Revoked, inactive, or out-of-service carriers should never haul your freight, no matter what the score says.
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Check insurance is in effect and adequate. The Insurance tab shows active policies, limits, and effective dates. For high-value loads, verify coverage exceeds the cargo value. Watch for policies expiring in the next 30 days.
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Review recent inspections. Out-of-service rate should stay below 20% for vehicles and 5% for drivers. Anything higher indicates systemic maintenance or compliance issues.
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Look at crash patterns, not just counts. A carrier with 100 trucks and 3 crashes is very different from one with 5 trucks and 3 crashes. We normalize by fleet size — check the Safety tab for per-power-unit rates and fatality/injury breakdown.
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Watch for chameleon flags. A “new” carrier with old violations at the same address, phone number, or officers is a reincarnated bad actor. The Network tab surfaces these cross-matches automatically.
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Verify the driver-to-truck ratio makes sense. A carrier claiming 50 power units with 2 drivers is misrepresenting something. Realistic ratios are roughly 1.1–1.5 drivers per tractor for over-the-road fleets.
Red flags that should stop a deal
- Authority status is Revoked, Inactive, or Out-of-Service
- Insurance shows as not in effect or expired within the last 30 days
- Vehicle out-of-service rate exceeds 35%
- DOT number issued within the last 6 months but matching phone/address to a previously revoked carrier
- Unsatisfactory safety rating on the FMCSA record
- History of rejected insurance filings (not just cancelled, but rejected)
Frequently asked questions
Quick answers to the questions we hear most often.
How fresh is the data?
We pull directly from FMCSA and partner datasets on every search, then cache results for 360 hours (15 days) to reduce load. Hitting search again on the same carrier will always return fresh data if you’ve waited longer than the cache window, or you can force a refresh by searching again after clearing the cache. The underlying FMCSA data itself updates daily.
What’s the difference between DOT# and MC#?
A DOT number is a unique identifier the US Department of Transportation assigns to every commercial motor carrier operating interstate. An MC number (Motor Carrier number) is a separate authority identifier for carriers that transport regulated goods across state lines for hire. Most carriers have both. You can search Carrier90 by either — we’ll resolve them to the same underlying record.
What does “chameleon carrier” mean?
A chameleon carrier is a company that was shut down, revoked, or sanctioned by FMCSA and then re-registered under a new name — often with the same officers, phone number, trucks, or physical address — to escape its safety history. Our system cross-references 4.4 million carrier records to detect these reincarnations. If we find a match, you’ll see it on the Network tab of the results page.
Why did my search return no results?
A few common reasons: the DOT/MC number doesn’t exist in FMCSA records, the carrier is registered but never reported operating status, the legal name you typed doesn’t exactly match the FMCSA registration, or there’s a typo. Try searching by DOT number (most reliable) or simplify the name — drop “Inc”, “LLC”, periods, and commas.
How do I save a carrier to my watchlist?
On any carrier results page, click the Watch button in the top-right of the carrier header. It’ll change to “Watching” and the carrier will appear in your Watchlist from the sidebar. Watchlisted carriers are monitored automatically — if their score changes, you’ll see the delta on the Watchlist page.
What’s the daily search limit on each plan?
Free: 15 searches/day, 200/month, 25 watchlist slots. Pro ($19/mo): 300/day, 3,000/month, 50 watchlist slots, plus PDF report exports. Team ($79/mo): unlimited searches, 250 watchlist, 3 user seats. See the pricing page for the full feature comparison.
Can I export or bulk-vet carriers?
Bulk vetting via CSV upload is available through the Admin panel for power users, and we offer an API for partners. Contact [email protected] for API access and pricing.
Is Carrier90 affiliated with FMCSA?
No. Carrier90 is an independent tool that aggregates and analyzes public data from FMCSA, Socrata, QCMobile, and other federal sources. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or operated by the FMCSA or the US Department of Transportation. All data is sourced from official government records.
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