FMCSA Carrier Vetting & Watchlist: Authority, Insurance, Flags

Vet trucking carriers in bulk by USDOT number. For each carrier you get one row with operating authority status and age, revocation and reinstatement history, insurance required vs. on file, current insurer and cancellations, out-of-service orders, safety rating and a 24-month crash count, plus factual flags that each name the FMCSA dataset and field they come from. Watch mode re-checks your carrier list on a schedule and returns only the carriers that changed.

• 🚚 Bulk carrier checks: paste hundreds or thousands of USDOT numbers and get one clean row per carrier.
• 🧾 Source-named flags, not verdicts: e.g. bipd_on_file_usd 0 < bipd_required_usd 750000 (source: inys-ebih.bipd_file vs inys-ebih.min_cov_amount). You decide what matters.
• 🔔 Carrier monitoring: watch mode returns only changes (insurance, authority, OOS, rating, crashes, flags) with before/after values. Unchanged carriers are free.
• 💲 $3.00 per 1,000 carrier rows ($0.003 per row). No start fee, no run fee. Not-found and invalid USDOT numbers are free.

Data source: U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) / Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) public data, which FMCSA publishes as open data on DOT's open data portal. Every row includes a source field crediting DOT/FMCSA.

Disclaimer: Not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by FMCSA, USDOT or the US government. Results are not an official FMCSA determination. Always confirm a carrier's status on FMCSA's own site (safer.fmcsa.dot.gov) before booking a load or making a decision.

What does it do?

You give it a list of USDOT numbers. It fetches FMCSA's public records for all of them in batches (150 USDOT numbers per query, a few large requests per batch, never one request per carrier), combines 11 FMCSA datasets into one row per carrier, and adds factual flags.

In local tests on 2026-10-27, the default input (5 USDOT numbers) finished in about 1 second of Actor time (3.5 s including CLI start-up), and 1,000 USDOT numbers took 5.6 seconds with 77 HTTP requests and about 75 MB of memory.

Who is it for?

• Freight brokers and 3PLs: check new carriers at onboarding and re-check your active carrier list weekly.
• Shippers and procurement teams: vet the carriers your brokers use.
• Insurance, factoring and fintech teams: screen carrier portfolios and get alerted on authority or insurance changes.
• Compliance and data teams: feed a clean, structured carrier table into your TMS, CRM, spreadsheet or pipeline via the Apify API, webhooks, Zapier, Make or n8n.

What's in each row?

Area	Fields
Identity	usdot_number, legal_name, dba_name, city/state/country, usdot_status, carrier_operation, entity_class, power_units, drivers, hazmat, mcs150_date, usdot_added_date
Authority	authority_status (ACTIVE / PENDING / INACTIVE / NONE_ON_FILE), authorities (docket, type, status, active_since), authority_current_since_date, authority_age_days, authority_first_granted_date, authority_latest_granted_date
History	authority_events (up to 25 dated revocations, suspensions and reinstatements), revocations_suspensions_24m, reinstatements_total, pending_suspension_effective_date
Insurance	bipd_required_usd vs bipd_on_file_usd, cargo and bond required vs on file, current_insurer, insurance_policies, latest_insurance_cancellation
Safety	safety_rating and date, oos_order_active, oos_orders, crash_records_24m (+ fatal / injury / tow-away counts, fatalities_24m, injuries_24m)
Flags	flags (each names its source dataset-id.field), flag_count
Credit	source, disclaimer, retrieved_at; in watch mode also watch_status (NEW / CHANGED) and changes

How authority age is calculated

authority_age_days is the age of the carrier's current active authority, not its first-ever grant. For each currently Active authority (docket + authority type), the start date is the latest FMCSA authority-history record that made it Active (Granted or Reinstated). The age uses the longest-held of those active authorities (authority_current_since_date). So a carrier that was revoked and recently reinstated shows a young authority age. The first grant ever is kept separately in authority_first_granted_date. Carriers with no FMCSA operating-authority record show authority_status: NONE_ON_FILE and an empty age. This is normal for private and intrastate carriers that don't need for-hire authority.

Flags (data points, not verdicts)

A flag is added only when a data point matches one of these factual conditions. Each one states the value and names the source field:

• USDOT status is not ACTIVE; no operating authority with status Active;
• current authority active for fewer than 180 days;
• BIPD insurance on file below the required amount; cargo or bond required but not on file;
• an insurance cancellation, or a suspension/revocation notice, effective today or later;
• revocation/suspension events in the last 24 months;
• an out-of-service order with status ACTIVE and no rescind date;
• safety rating Conditional or Unsatisfactory; prior revoke flag = Y;
• MCS-150 update more than 24 months old;
• crash records with fatalities in the last 24 months.

Crash records are reported crashes, not findings of fault. A crash count is not a safety rating.

How to use it

1. Click Try for free.
2. Paste USDOT numbers, one per line or comma-separated. 125550, USDOT 125550, DOT#125550 and leading zeros all work.
3. Click Start, then download JSON, CSV or Excel, or use the API.
4. For monitoring: turn on Watch mode, give your list a watchlist name, and add a daily or weekly Schedule. The first run returns every carrier as NEW (baseline). Later runs return only carriers that changed, with before/after values. Unchanged carriers are skipped and not charged.

Input example

{
  "dotNumbers": ["125550", "2245406", "80321", "2216464", "3519860"],
  "watchMode": false,
  "watchlistName": "default",
  "includeHistory": true
}

Output example

A real row from a local test run on 2026-10-27 for USDOT 125550 (Atlas Van Lines). For length, the authorities list is trimmed to the 2 motor-carrier authorities (3 broker authorities omitted), insurance_policies to 2 of 6, authority_events to 2 of 3, and census_dockets is omitted.

{
  "usdot_number": "125550",
  "legal_name": "ATLAS VAN LINES INC",
  "dba_name": null,
  "city": "EVANSVILLE",
  "state": "IN",
  "country": "US",
  "usdot_status": "ACTIVE",
  "carrier_operation": "Interstate",
  "entity_class": "AUTHORIZED FOR HIRE",
  "business_type": "CORPORATION",
  "power_units": 2731,
  "drivers": 2351,
  "hazmat": true,
  "mcs150_date": "2026-05-04",
  "usdot_added_date": "1974-06-01",
  "authority_status": "ACTIVE",
  "authorities": [
    {
      "docket": "MC79658",
      "type": "Motor Carrier of Property (Except Household Goods)",
      "status": "Active",
      "bipd_required_usd": 1000000,
      "bipd_on_file_usd": 1000000,
      "cargo_required": false,
      "cargo_on_file": false,
      "bond_required": false,
      "bond_on_file": false,
      "active_since": "1984-11-14"
    },
    {
      "docket": "MC79658",
      "type": "Motor Carrier of Household Goods",
      "status": "Active",
      "bipd_required_usd": 750000,
      "bipd_on_file_usd": 1000000,
      "cargo_required": true,
      "cargo_on_file": true,
      "bond_required": false,
      "bond_on_file": false,
      "active_since": "1987-04-13"
    }
  ],
  "authority_current_since_date": "1984-11-14",
  "authority_age_days": 15322,
  "authority_first_granted_date": "1967-11-03",
  "authority_latest_granted_date": "2014-05-23",
  "revocations_suspensions_24m": 0,
  "reinstatements_total": 1,
  "pending_suspension_effective_date": null,
  "authority_events": [
    {
      "date": "2014-05-23",
      "event": "REINSTATED",
      "docket": "MC130921",
      "authority_type": "Broker of Property (Except Household Goods)",
      "source": "yu5v-wbh6.reason"
    },
    {
      "date": "2013-12-04",
      "event": "REVOKED",
      "docket": "MC130921",
      "authority_type": "PROPERTY BROKER",
      "source": "9mw4-x3tu.disp_action_desc"
    }
  ],
  "bipd_required_usd": 1000000,
  "bipd_on_file_usd": 1000000,
  "cargo_required": true,
  "cargo_on_file": true,
  "bond_required": true,
  "bond_on_file": true,
  "current_insurer": "Arch Insurance Company",
  "insurance_policies": [
    {
      "docket": "MC79658",
      "type": "BIPD",
      "form": "BMC-91X",
      "insurer": "Arch Insurance Company",
      "max_coverage_usd": 1000000,
      "effective_date": "2025-04-26"
    },
    {
      "docket": "MC130921",
      "type": "BIPD",
      "form": "BMC-91X",
      "insurer": "Arch Insurance Company",
      "max_coverage_usd": 1000000,
      "effective_date": "2016-04-26"
    }
  ],
  "latest_insurance_cancellation": {
    "date": "2025-04-26",
    "insurer": "ARCH INSURANCE COMPANY",
    "type": "BIPD/Primary",
    "method": "TERM/REPL",
    "docket": "MC079658",
    "source": "6sqe-dvqs.cancl_effective_date"
  },
  "safety_rating": "Satisfactory",
  "safety_rating_date": "2024-11-13",
  "oos_order_active": false,
  "oos_orders": [],
  "crash_records_24m": 55,
  "crash_records_24m_fatal": 0,
  "crash_records_24m_injury": 10,
  "crash_records_24m_towaway": 52,
  "fatalities_24m": 0,
  "injuries_24m": 16,
  "flags": [],
  "flag_count": 0,
  "source": "U.S. DOT / FMCSA public data (Company Census, Motus licensing & insurance, revocation, out-of-service and crash files), published by FMCSA on DOT's open data portal.",
  "disclaimer": "Not an official FMCSA determination. Confirm carrier status on FMCSA's own site (safer.fmcsa.dot.gov) before booking a load. Not affiliated with or endorsed by FMCSA, USDOT or the US government. Source: FMCSA's public open-data API.",
  "retrieved_at": "2026-10-27T15:34:59Z"
}

A watch-mode CHANGED row adds two fields. This example is from a local test in which the stored snapshot was edited by hand to simulate an older insurer:

"watch_status": "CHANGED",
"changes": [{"field": "current_insurer", "before": "Previous Insurer Co (simulated)", "after": "Arch Insurance Company"}]

A run summary (RUN_SUMMARY in the key-value store) lists rows saved, unchanged carriers skipped, not-found and invalid USDOT numbers, and the request count.

Pricing

$3.00 per 1,000 carrier rows ($0.003 per row, pay per event carrier-row). No start fee, no run fee, no monthly rental. Apify platform usage is included.

• Free: USDOT numbers not found in FMCSA's Company Census File, invalid entries, and (in watch mode) unchanged carriers.
• Max cost respected: if you set a maximum cost per run, the Actor stops cleanly when it is reached (tested: a $0.015 cap saved exactly 5 rows).

Data sources

All data comes from public datasets published by FMCSA (USDOT) and marked "Rights: public":

Dataset	ID	Used for
Company Census File	az4n-8mr2	identity, USDOT status, MCS-150, safety rating
Motus Carrier (current authority & insurance requirements)	inys-ebih	authorities, BIPD/cargo/bond required vs on file
Motus AuthHist	yu5v-wbh6	grants, reinstatements, revocations, authority age
Motus RevokeSuspend	wb4f-neki	suspension/revocation notices
Motus Insur	c5y8-a4uz	current insurance filings
Motus InsHist	3uet-3z4i	insurance cancellations
AuthHist, Revocation, InsHist (legacy archives)	9mw4-x3tu, sa6p-acbp, 6sqe-dvqs	history before May 2026
Out of Service Orders	p2mt-9ige	OOS orders
Crash File	aayw-vxb3	24-month crash counts (counts only)

Legacy archive note: FMCSA says its older Licensing & Insurance files were last refreshed on 05/14/2026 and are no longer updated. Current authority and insurance data come from the newer Motus datasets; the legacy archives are used only for history before May 2026.

This tool is an independent product that reads FMCSA's open data. It is not a mirror of, a replacement for, or an interface to any government website. No agency logos are used.

Limits and notes

• MC/MX/FF docket lookup isn't supported in v1: input is USDOT numbers only. (Docket numbers appear in the output.)
• Up to 10,000 USDOT numbers per run.
• Data is only as current as FMCSA's published datasets. Confirm on FMCSA's own site before acting.
• Crash data is returned as counts only: no report numbers, VINs, plates or locations. Email addresses that appear in FMCSA free-text fields are redacted.
• API change risk: the Actor uses FMCSA's open data through the public keyless API. If the platform ever requires an app token for this API, runs will stop with a clear message instead of returning partial or wrong data, and the Actor will be updated.

More Business Leads tools from InfoComp

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• SAM.gov Contract Opportunities: US federal tenders and contract notices from the official SAM.gov API.
• Form D Funding Leads: companies that just raised private funding, from SEC EDGAR Form D filings.
• EU/UK Tenders: public procurement notices from official EU and UK sources.
• ATS Jobs Feed: open job postings straight from company applicant tracking systems (hiring signals).

FAQ

Is this an official FMCSA check? No. It's an independent tool built on FMCSA's public data. It is not affiliated with FMCSA or USDOT, and its output is not an official FMCSA determination.

Does it tell me whether to use a carrier? No. It reports data points and flags with their sources. The decision is yours.

Is it legal to use this data? The datasets are published by FMCSA as public open data. Use the results in line with your own legal and compliance obligations.