The carrier-vetting glossary
Plain-English definitions of the federal and freight terms behind carrier vetting, and what each one tells you about a carrier.
A
Accessorial charges
Fees on top of the base line-haul rate for services beyond simple pickup and delivery: detention, layover, lumper fees, deadhead, extra stops, and similar. They are set by agreement, not federal rule.
Authority revocation and reinstatement
FMCSA can revoke a carrier's or broker's operating authority, most often for failing to keep insurance on file, and can later reinstate it. The revoke-and-reinstate cycle leaves a trail on the public record.
B
Bill of lading (BOL)
The document issued when freight is picked up that serves as a receipt for the goods, a record of the contract of carriage, and, depending on type, a document of title. It travels with the shipment.
BIPD insurance (public liability)
Bodily injury and property damage liability coverage, the insurance federal law requires for-hire interstate carriers to keep on file with FMCSA. Minimum $750,000 for general freight in vehicles of 10,001 lbs or more ($300,000 for fleets of only lighter vehicles), higher for oil and certain hazmat.
BMC filings (BMC-91, 91X, 34, 83, 84, 85)
The federal insurance and bond forms on file with FMCSA: BMC-91/91X for liability, BMC-34/83 for cargo, and BMC-84/85 for the $75,000 broker bond or trust.
BOC-3 (process agent filing)
The federal filing that designates legal process agents: in each state a carrier is authorized to operate in, and each state where a broker has offices or writes contracts. Required before FMCSA grants operating authority.
Broker-carrier agreement
The master contract between a broker and a carrier that governs their ongoing relationship: payment terms, liability, insurance requirements, and rules against re-brokering. Individual loads run under it.
Broker of record
The broker that holds the contractual relationship for a given shipment or account and is responsible for it. Establishing who the broker of record is matters when a load passes between parties.
C
Cargo insurance
Coverage for damage to the freight itself. Since 2011 FMCSA requires a cargo-insurance filing only of household-goods carriers and household-goods freight forwarders; for general freight it is a contractual matter between broker and carrier, not a federal filing.
Carrier identity theft
Impersonating a legitimate carrier, using its name, MC number, and documents, to book and steal freight or divert its payments. The impersonated carrier's clean record is what makes the fraud work.
Carrier packet
The set of documents a broker collects to onboard a carrier: authority and insurance details, a W-9, contact and payment information, and a signed agreement. It is where carrier vetting is documented.
Certificate of Insurance (COI)
A document an insurer or its agent issues to summarize a carrier's coverage: types, limits, policy dates, and insurer. Brokers and shippers request it as proof of active coverage, but it is a snapshot, not continuous proof.
Co-brokering
An arrangement where one broker passes a load to another broker, with both parties aware and authorized. Distinct from double brokering, which happens without the shipper's or original broker's knowledge, often by a party with no broker authority.
Common vs contract authority
The two kinds of for-hire motor-carrier authority FMCSA grants. For a property carrier, an active status in either one is what lets it haul regulated freight for hire.
Compliance review (safety-rating investigation)
FMCSA's on-site or remote investigation of a carrier's safety management: driver files, hours-of-service records, maintenance, drug-and-alcohol programs. The only path to a safety rating.
Conditional & Unsatisfactory ratings
The two adverse FMCSA safety ratings. Conditional means a compliance review found inadequate safety controls but the carrier may keep operating; Unsatisfactory leads to a federal prohibition on operating.
Crash records & preventability
The federal crash file records qualifying crashes (a fatality, an injury transported for treatment, or a tow-away) regardless of fault. A listed crash is not a fault determination; FMCSA reviews preventability only for certain crash types on request.
CSA & the BASICs
FMCSA's safety scoring system: seven behavior categories. For freight carriers the official percentiles are hidden from the public, but the raw data behind five of the seven is public.
D
DataQs
FMCSA's system for requesting review of federal data: carriers and drivers can challenge inspection violations, crash records, and other entries they believe are wrong. Successful challenges correct the public record retroactively.
DBA (doing business as)
A trade name a company operates under that differs from its registered legal name. On the federal carrier record a legal name and a DBA name can both appear, and a mismatch is worth resolving.
Detention
A charge for the time a truck and driver are held at a facility beyond an agreed free period for loading or unloading. One of the most common accessorial charges in freight.
Double brokering
Re-brokering a load to another carrier without the original broker's or shipper's knowledge. The freight then moves with a carrier the original broker did not vet, and the payment chain can break.
E
Exempt commodities
Certain freight, mainly unprocessed agricultural goods and a defined list of others, that a for-hire carrier can haul interstate without operating authority. Exempt haulers can legitimately lack authority on file.
F
Fictitious pickup
A cargo-theft tactic in which someone poses as a legitimate carrier, collects a load using stolen or borrowed credentials, and disappears with the freight. It relies on impersonating a real carrier's identity.
For-hire vs private carrier
A for-hire carrier hauls freight for others for pay and needs FMCSA operating authority; a private carrier moves its own goods and generally does not. The distinction decides who needs authority.
Freight broker authority
FMCSA licensing that lets a company arrange transportation for compensation without hauling the freight itself. A broker holds broker authority and a surety bond, not motor-carrier authority.
Freight factoring
A financing arrangement in which a carrier sells its unpaid freight invoices to a third party at a discount for immediate cash. It changes who gets paid and where payment is sent.
Freight forwarder
A company that takes responsibility for freight, often consolidating shipments, and holds FMCSA freight-forwarder authority. Distinct from a broker and from a motor carrier.
H
Hazmat authority and registration
The additional federal registration and permitting a carrier needs to haul hazardous materials. It sits on top of operating authority and carries its own insurance minimums and safety requirements.
Hours of service (HOS) & ELDs
The federal limits on commercial driving time: 11 hours of driving inside a 14-hour window, a 30-minute break rule, and 60/70-hour on-duty limits, logged by ELDs.
I
Insurance lapse & cancellation notices
Insurers must notify FMCSA before cancelling a carrier's filed coverage. Since FMCSA moved filings to its new system in May 2026, far fewer of these notices appear in the public record. A record with no cancellation notice does not prove the carrier is still covered.
Interstate vs intrastate operation
Interstate carriers cross state lines (or haul freight that does) and fall under FMCSA authority and filing rules. Intrastate carriers operate within one state and can legitimately lack federal authority and insurance filings.
L
Load board
An online marketplace where brokers and shippers post available freight and carriers find loads to haul. Fast and open by design, which is also why identity verification matters on freight sourced there.
M
MC number
The docket number tied to a carrier's operating authority. Every MC number points to a USDOT number; still the number most load boards display.
MCS-150 (biennial update)
The registration form every carrier must refile at least every two years: fleet size, mileage, contact details. Its filing date tells you how old the carrier's self-reported details are.
MCS-90 endorsement
The federal endorsement attached to a motor carrier's liability policy that guarantees the insurer will pay judgments for public harm up to the federal minimum, even when the policy would not otherwise cover the loss. Public protection, not first-party coverage.
N
Negligent selection
A legal theory holding a broker or shipper responsible for harm caused by a carrier it hired without adequate diligence. Whether a vetting process was documented has been treated by courts as relevant.
New entrant (new authority)
A carrier in its first stretch of federal registration. New interstate carriers enter an 18-month monitoring period with a required safety audit; a young authority is a fact worth knowing, not a conclusion.
Notice of assignment (NOA)
A legal notice, usually from a factoring company, directing a broker or shipper to send payment for a carrier's invoices to the factor instead of the carrier. Paying around a valid NOA can mean paying twice.
O
Operating authority
FMCSA's grant of legal permission to operate for hire: common, contract, or broker. Active, inactive, pending, revoked, and the gaps in between.
Out-of-service (OOS) order
A federal order prohibiting a carrier from operating at all, issued for causes like an imminent-hazard finding or a final Unsatisfactory rating. The carrier may not operate while it is in effect.
Out-of-service (OOS) rate
The percentage of a carrier's roadside inspections that ended with the vehicle or driver ordered off the road. Compared against published national averages, it's a core inspection-failure metric.
P
Power units
The self-propelled vehicles a carrier reports operating: trucks and truck tractors, not trailers. The fleet-size figure on the federal record, self-reported on the MCS-150.
Pre-Employment Screening Program (PSP)
An FMCSA program that lets motor carriers, with a driver's consent, pull that driver's five-year crash and three-year roadside-inspection history for hiring. Driver-level data, distinct from a carrier's record.
Proof of delivery (POD)
The signed document confirming a shipment reached its consignee and in what condition. It closes out the carrier's custody of the load and typically triggers the right to be paid.
R
Rate confirmation
The document a broker sends a carrier that sets out the agreed rate and terms for a specific load. It records what was agreed for that shipment and names the parties to it.
Reincarnated (chameleon) carrier
A carrier that re-registers as a "new" company to shed its safety record, unpaid fines, or a revocation, continuing the same operation under a fresh USDOT number. The pattern shows up in shared addresses, officers, phones, and equipment.
Roadside inspection
An enforcement officer's examination of a truck, its driver, or both, at weigh stations and roadside stops. The most abundant safety evidence in the public record; results feed OOS rates and CSA scoring.
S
SAFER Company SnapshotFree tool
FMCSA's free public lookup for one carrier's registration, operating status, and summary safety figures. It does not show authority or insurance history, per-inspection detail, or where a carrier runs.
Safety rating
FMCSA's official Satisfactory / Conditional / Unsatisfactory grade from a compliance review. In FMCSA's 2021 data, about 94% of interstate freight carriers had no rating.
Standard Carrier Alpha Code (SCAC)
A 2 to 4 letter unique code assigned by the NMFTA to identify a transportation company, used in EDI, bills of lading, and routing. A private-sector identifier, separate from a carrier's federal USDOT and MC numbers.
U
Unified Carrier Registration (UCR)
An annual federal registration and fee for interstate carriers, brokers, freight forwarders, and leasing companies, run by a board of state, industry and FMCSA members. The fee is set in brackets by fleet size (power units).
Unified Registration System (URS)
FMCSA's earlier registration system, built to consolidate registration around the USDOT number. In May 2026 FMCSA retired URS for new applications and named Motus as its replacement.
USDOT number
The federal registration number every interstate carrier must hold. Every other federal record on the carrier is filed under it.
See the record on any carrier
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fleetfax reads public FMCSA data and is not affiliated with FMCSA or the U.S. Department of Transportation. These pages explain terminology; they are not legal advice.
