FMCSA DOT Crawler

Overview

The FMCSA DOT Crawler collects structured information about U.S. motor carriers directly from the FMCSA SAFER "Company Snapshot" pages. It supports keyword‑style filtering (DOT range, state, fleet size, etc.) and an optional Premium mode that adds crash statistics, safety ratings and public email addresses.

Typical use–cases include:

• Lead generation for logistics or insurance companies
• Competitor or market‑size analysis
• Compliance monitoring and risk assessment
• Building datasets of motor carriers for analysis
• Monitoring FMCSA updates for compliance or reporting
• Integrating carrier data with logistics systems

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Key Features

• Comprehensive Data Extraction: Scrapes legal names, DBA names, phone numbers, addresses, operational stats, and cargo types.
• Flexible filters – pull only the carriers you need by DOT number window or add‑date.
• Straight‑forward output – each company snapshot is returned as a single JSON object that is easy to ingest downstream.
• Resilient crawling – automatic retries, exponential back‑off and proxy rotation keep the run moving even when SAFER throttles.
• Efficient Processing – optimized for crawling millions of records with fast and memory-efficient streaming

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Input Schema

The scraper reads the parameters below at run‑time. Required fields are marked bold.

Field	Type	Description
dot_start	integer	First DOT number to process (inclusive)
max_results	integer	Maximum number of records to process (0 → no limit)
dot_end	integer	Last DOT number to process (inclusive). Defaults to 10,000,000
add_after_date	string (YYYY‑MM‑DD)	Include only carriers registered on or after this date
sp_intended_usage	string	Short sentence describing how you plan to use the data.
sp_improvement_suggestions	string	Your feedback for future upgrades.
sp_contact	string	Contact email where we can reach you for feedback/collaboration

Example Input

{
  "dot_start": 2000000,
  "max_results": 10000,
  "dot_end": 2100000,
  "add_after_date": "2020-01-01",
  "sp_intended_usage": "Outbound prospecting list for carriers",
  "sp_improvement_suggestions": "Option to filter by cargo type"
  "sp_contact": "john@example.com"
}

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Output Fields

Each successful company snapshot is returned as a flat JSON object:

Field	Standard	Premium
DOT_num	✓	✓
entity_type, legal_name, dba_name	✓	✓
mc_mx_ff_numbers	✓	✓
phone, physical_address, mailing_address	✓	✓
power_units, drivers	✓	✓
cargo_carried, carrier_operation, operation_classification	✓	✓
DUNS_num	✓	✓
inspections_us (vehicle / driver / hazmat / iep)	✓	✓
inspections_ca (vehicle / driver)	✓	✓
email		✓
crashes_us (fatal / injury / tow / total)		✓
crashes_ca (fatal / injury / tow / total)		✓
safety_rating (rating_date / review_date / rating / type)		✓

Sample (Standard)

{
  "DOT_num": "2802023",  
  "entity_type": "Carrier",
  "legal_name": "Example Logistics LLC",
  "dba_name": "Example Trucks",
  "mc_mx_ff_numbers": "MC‑123456",
  "phone": "555‑123‑4567",
  "physical_address": "123 Main St, Springfield, IL",
  "mailing_address": "PO Box 456, Springfield, IL",
  "power_units": "50",
  "drivers": "75",
  "cargo_carried": ["General Freight", "Household Goods"],
  "carrier_operation": ["Interstate"],
  "operation_classification": ["For Hire"],
  "DUNS_num": "012345678",
  "inspections_us": { "vehicle": "10", "driver": "2", "hazmat": "0", "iep": "0" },
  "inspections_ca": { "vehicle": "–", "driver": "–" }
}

Field	Type	Description
DOT_num	string	DOT registration number
entity_type	string	Business type (CARRIER, BROKER, FREIGHT FORWARDER, etc.)
legal_name	string	Legal business name
dba_name	string	"Doing Business As" name
mcs150_date	string	MCS-150 form update date (MM-DD-YY format)
mcs150_mileage	string	Annual mileage reported on MCS-150
mcs150_mileage_year	string	Year for reported mileage
mc_mx_ff_numbers	string	MC/MX/FF docket numbers
phone	string	Primary phone number (digits only)
cell_phone	string	Cell phone number
physical_address	string	Physical business address
mailing_address	string	Mailing address
power_units	integer	Number of power units (trucks, tractors)
drivers	integer	Total number of drivers
truck_units	integer	Number of truck units
bus_units	integer	Number of bus units
fleet_size	string	Fleet size category (e.g., "1", "2-3", "4-6", "76-100", etc.)
cargo_carried	array	Types of cargo transported
carrier_operation	array	Operation type (Interstate, Intrastate Only, etc.)
operation_classification	array	Operational classifications
company_officer_1	string	Primary company officer
company_officer_2	string	Secondary company officer
DUNS_num	string	Dun & Bradstreet number
email	string	Email address (when available in source data)
inspections_us	object	US inspection counts (driver, vehicle, hazmat, iep)
inspections_ca	object	Canadian inspection counts (currently null)

Sample Output

{
  "DOT_num": "2802023",  
  "entity_type": "CARRIER",
  "legal_name": "Example Logistics LLC",
  "dba_name": "Example Trucks",
  "mcs150_date": "09-06-24",
  "mcs150_mileage": "120000",
  "mcs150_mileage_year": "2024",
  "mc_mx_ff_numbers": "MC123456",
  "phone": "5551234567",
  "cell_phone": "5559876543",
  "physical_address": "123 Main St, Springfield, IL, 62701, US",
  "mailing_address": "PO Box 456, Springfield, IL, 62701, US",
  "power_units": 50,
  "drivers": 75,
  "truck_units": 45,
  "bus_units": 0,
  "fleet_size": "45-55",
  "cargo_carried": ["General Freight", "Building Materials"],
  "carrier_operation": ["Interstate"],
  "operation_classification": ["For Hire"],
  "company_officer_1": "John Smith",
  "company_officer_2": "Jane Doe",
  "DUNS_num": "012345678",
  "email": "contact@examplelogistics.com",
  "inspections_us": {
    "driver": "12",
    "vehicle": "8", 
    "hazmat": "2",
    "iep": "0"
  },
}

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Notes & Best Practices

• Stick to a single primary filter per run – combining filters is currently not supported.
• Records are filtered to include only active carriers (STATUS_CODE = 'A')
• Phone numbers are cleaned to contain only digits
• MCS-150 dates are formatted from YYYYMMDD to MM-DD-YY for consistency

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Need More Features?

If you'd like to add new data fields to this scraper or need a custom scraper for another purpose, feel free to file an issue or get in touch! We are open to customizing the scraper to suit your needs.

Why Choose This Scraper?

• Efficient: Processes a high volume of requests with intelligent retries and session management.
• Customizable: Tailor input options to suit your scraping needs.
• Reliable: Leverages robust error-handling and proxy configurations for uninterrupted scraping.
• Flexible: Process only the records you need

Proxies and Anti-blocking

This scraper uses the Apify Proxy or your custom proxy settings to reduce the risk of being blocked. It supports automatic session management for smooth operation.

Resources

• Apify SDK Documentation
• CheerioCrawler Documentation

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Enhance your transportation data collection capabilities with the FMCSA DOT Crawler. Get started today!