Carrier vetting FAQ for freight brokers
Plain-English answers to the most common questions about carrier vetting practices, documentation standards, and post-Montgomery requirements.
What is carrier vetting?
Carrier vetting is the workflow a freight broker uses to verify a motor carrier's safety rating, CSA scores, insurance currency, and operating authority before tendering a load. It is both an operational risk-management practice and the broker's primary litigation defense against negligent-hiring claims.
What are the four core checks every broker should run?
FMCSA safety rating, CSA scores across the seven BASIC categories, insurance currency and limits from a current certificate of insurance, and active operating authority status. All four should be captured at the moment of booking with a system-generated timestamp and retained in tamper-proof form.
Where do I check a carrier's FMCSA safety rating?
FMCSA SAFER at safer.fmcsa.dot.gov. Search by DOT number, MC number, or carrier name. The carrier snapshot page displays the safety rating (Satisfactory, Conditional, Unsatisfactory, or Not Rated), operating authority status, and basic registration information.
Where do I check CSA scores?
FMCSA SMS at ai.fmcsa.dot.gov/sms. The carrier snapshot displays percentile scores across publicly displayed BASIC categories, alert-status icons, and inspection history. Data refreshes monthly. The two most litigation-relevant BASICs for broker negligent-hiring exposure are Unsafe Driving and Hours of Service Compliance.
How often should I re-vet active carriers?
Weekly automated checks on FMCSA + insurance + authority for all active carriers, with immediate review on any alert-state change. Quarterly comprehensive review for high-frequency carriers. Annual carrier-packet refresh (W-9, insurance certificate, signed broker-carrier agreement).
What is a defensible carrier vetting record?
A record that is contemporaneous (captured at the moment of booking), tamper-proof (cryptographically timestamped and immutable after capture), comprehensive (covers the four core checks plus load-type-specific addenda), and exportable (PDF + JSON evidence pack defense counsel can use immediately).
Can a spreadsheet be a defensible vetting record?
Generally no. A spreadsheet lacks system-generated timestamps, immutability after capture, and access logging. A row in a spreadsheet can be edited at any time. In a deposition, plaintiff's counsel will ask when the record was created and how the broker knows it has not been modified; a spreadsheet does not support a clean answer.
What if I book a carrier in CSA alert status?
Booking a carrier in alert is not automatically negligent, but it is a documented flag the broker must address. The right response is to either decline the load or capture a written rationale explaining why the broker concluded the carrier was acceptable despite the alert. Silence in the record is the worst outcome.
Do I need to vet owner-operators differently than fleets?
The four core checks apply to both. Owner-operators add identity verification (phone, address, EIN match against FMCSA registration), an operating-history threshold (18 months as a default), leased-on vs own-authority confirmation, and driver-ID verification at pickup. Fleets add safety-program requests and multi-authority confirmation.
What does double-brokering look like and how do I prevent it?
Double-brokering is unauthorized re-brokering of a load by a carrier or intermediary, typically for fraud purposes. Defensive checks: phone the carrier at the FMCSA-registered number (not the rate-confirmation number), verify the operating address, confirm the EIN against FMCSA, and verify the driver at pickup matches the carrier on the rate confirmation.
Do I need to retain insurance certificates after the load ships?
Yes. The certificate of insurance in effect on the load date is part of the per-load vetting record. Retain alongside the FMCSA and CSA snapshots. The certificate is what defense counsel introduces to show coverage existed at the moment of booking.
How do I document my carrier vetting process for my insurance underwriter?
A one-page written document describing the four core checks, the capture method, the retention period, and the re-vetting cadence. Underwriters increasingly treat documented vetting as a yes/no underwriting question; brokers who can produce the document get materially better contingent auto liability rates than brokers who cannot.