How to vet a freight carrier before you hand over your load
Insurance certificates, CSA scores, and safety ratings — what to check and what the numbers mean.
Your load is only as safe as the carrier hauling it. Before a truck shows up at your dock, someone needs to confirm that the company behind it is legally authorized, properly insured, and not carrying a safety record that should scare you off. Here's exactly what to check — and what the numbers actually mean.
Start with operating authority
Every for-hire motor carrier moving regulated freight in interstate commerce needs active operating authority from the FMCSA. That authority is tied to an MC number (and a USDOT number). Your first move is to verify it.
Pull up the carrier in the FMCSA SAFER system and check the MC number status. You're looking for one word: active. Authority can be pending, inactive, or revoked — and a revoked or inactive authority means the carrier has no legal right to haul your freight. A common trap: a carrier hands you paperwork that looks legitimate, but the authority was revoked weeks ago for failure to maintain insurance. SAFER shows you the current status, not the status on the day they printed their packet.
While you're there, confirm the legal name and address match what the carrier told you. Mismatches are a red flag for identity issues and double-brokering.
Read the insurance certificate carefully
A carrier should produce a certificate of insurance (COI) before they touch your load. Don't just confirm it exists — read it.
Two coverages matter most:
- Auto liability — covers damage and injury the truck causes to others. Look for a limit of at least $1,000,000.
- Cargo coverage — covers your freight if it's damaged, lost, or stolen in transit. A $1,000,000 cargo minimum is standard, but confirm the limit clears the value of what you're shipping. High-value loads need higher limits.
Then check the details that catch problems:
- Effective and expiration dates — the policy must be active on your pickup and delivery dates, not expiring mid-transit.
- Additional insured / certificate holder — confirm the COI is current and issued through the carrier's actual insurer, not a stale copy.
A COI is a snapshot. Coverage can lapse the day after it's issued, which is why insurance status should be verified against current records, not taken on faith from a PDF.
Understand CSA scores and the BASICs
The FMCSA's Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) program scores carriers across categories called BASICs — Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories. Each one measures a different slice of safety performance:
- Unsafe Driving — speeding, reckless driving, improper lane changes, inattention.
- Hours-of-Service (HOS) Compliance — driving beyond legal limits and logbook violations, the data points behind fatigued driving.
- Vehicle Maintenance — brakes, lights, tires, and other defects found at inspection.
- Controlled Substances/Alcohol — drug and alcohol violations.
- Hazardous Materials Compliance — proper handling and placarding of hazmat.
- Driver Fitness — licensing and medical qualification of drivers.
Scores are percentile-based: higher means worse relative to peers, and categories above the FMCSA intervention threshold signal elevated risk. A carrier flagged in Unsafe Driving or Vehicle Maintenance deserves a hard look before you trust them with your freight.
An unsatisfactory safety rating is a hard stop
Separate from CSA scores, the FMCSA assigns carriers a safety rating: satisfactory, conditional, or unsatisfactory. An unsatisfactory rating means the carrier failed a compliance review and is generally prohibited from operating. This isn't a negotiation point or a "we'll watch them closely" situation — it's a hard stop. If the rating is unsatisfactory, the carrier doesn't haul your load. Period.
How Lancashire Freight handles this for you
Vetting every carrier on every load is tedious, and the consequences of skipping a step land on your freight. As a licensed, FMCSA-authorized freight broker, Lancashire Freight runs this checklist on every carrier in our vetted carrier network — before they're ever assigned to a shipment.
We verify active operating authority and MC status through the FMCSA, confirm $1M auto liability and $1M cargo insurance minimums with current certificates, review CSA scores across the BASICs, and screen out any carrier with an unsatisfactory safety rating. Our 24/7 dispatch keeps eyes on the load after pickup, not just before it.
You shouldn't have to become an FMCSA analyst to move a shipment safely. That's our job.
Ready to move a load with carriers who are already vetted? Get a freight quote.