🔎 FMCSA Motor Carrier Authority Check

A per-identity check: submit identifiers, get one official answer each. Billed per completed official answer — an unresolved, ambiguous, or unavailable outcome is returned but never charged.

Output is one carrier_answer row per result; billing is pay-per-event, the value event being one carrier authority check (a $0.02 start fee per run, then $0.05 per carrier authority check). Source: safer.fmcsa.dot.gov.

No login, no API key and no CAPTCHA solving are involved: the source is read logged-out with an identified contact User-Agent.

Who buys this

Buyers usually search for FMCSA or motor carrier lookup.

• Sales and lead-generation teams building lists from FMCSA.
• KYB, onboarding and compliance teams checking motor carrier lookup.
• Market researchers and data teams that need the official record as rows.

📊 Sample Output

Real rows from run LaOmmddzz3Kfvl00K on build 0.1.10 (2026-09-28), the same input as the Quick start below — every value is as the source published it (emails masked, long text shortened):

usdot_number	legal_name	mc_mx_ff_numbers	physical_address	input	outcome
125550	ATLAS VAN LINES INC	MC-79658 , MC-130921	1212 ST GEORGE ROAD, EVANSVILLE, IN 47711	125550	answer
76830				76830	not_found

The run finished with the status message: NORMAL: 1 billable answer(s), 1 definitive non-billable (not-found/ambiguous), 0 unavailable, 0 unparseable of 2 | carrier-authority-check billable=1 | carrier-authority-check charged=1

✅ What you get

Each row is flat JSON with these fields (from the dataset schema and the sample run; a field the source does not publish for a given row is null):

• usdot_number (string/null) — e.g. 125550
• legal_name (string/null) — e.g. ATLAS VAN LINES INC
• dba_name (string/null) — null in every sample row
• entity_type (string/null) — e.g. CARRIER/BROKER
• usdot_status (string/null) — e.g. ACTIVE
• operating_status (string/null) — null in every sample row
• out_of_service_date (string/null) — e.g. None
• mc_mx_ff_numbers (string/null) — e.g. MC-79658 , MC-130921
• physical_address (string/null) — e.g. 1212 ST GEORGE ROAD, EVANSVILLE, IN 47711
• mailing_address (string/null) — e.g. PO BOX 509, EVANSVILLE, IN 47703-0509
• phone (string/null) — e.g. (800) 638-9797
• power_units (string/null) — e.g. 2,731
• drivers (string/null) — e.g. 2,351
• mcs150_form_date (string/null) — e.g. 05/04/2026
• record_type (string/null) — e.g. carrier_answer
• input (string/null) — e.g. 125550
• source (string/null) — e.g. https://safer.fmcsa.dot.gov/query.asp
• outcome (string/null) — e.g. answer
• outcome_reason (string/null) — e.g. no SAFER record for USDOT 76830

✅ What you get

✅ What you get

What you get

One record per submitted identity. A resolved identity carries the official status fields verbatim; fields the source withholds are honest null with a reason. Not-found, ambiguous, and service-unavailable outcomes are distinguished in the outcome field and are not billed. A run that gets no definitive result at all fails loud and charges nothing.

⚙️ Sample inputs

1. Quick start — the Store example (this is what the sample above came from)

{
  "usdotNumbers": [
    "125550",
    "76830"
  ]
}

The sample run charged exactly: 1 × $0.02 apify-actor-start + 1 × $0.05 carrier-authority-check = $0.07 on the Free tier — every delivered row was billed.

This actor takes no size cap or filter beyond the input above, so the Store example is the one input to run; put it on a schedule to keep the data current.

🧾 JSON sample record

One real record from run LaOmmddzz3Kfvl00K, exactly as it lands in the dataset (emails masked, long text shortened):

{
  "usdot_number": "125550",
  "legal_name": "ATLAS VAN LINES INC",
  "dba_name": null,
  "entity_type": "CARRIER/BROKER",
  "usdot_status": "ACTIVE",
  "operating_status": null,
  "out_of_service_date": "None",
  "mc_mx_ff_numbers": "MC-79658 , MC-130921",
  "physical_address": "1212 ST GEORGE ROAD, EVANSVILLE, IN 47711",
  "mailing_address": "PO BOX 509, EVANSVILLE, IN 47703-0509",
  "phone": "(800) 638-9797",
  "power_units": "2,731",
  "drivers": "2,351",
  "mcs150_form_date": "05/04/2026",
  "record_type": "carrier_answer",
  "input": "125550",
  "source": "https://safer.fmcsa.dot.gov/query.asp",
  "outcome": "answer",
  "outcome_reason": null
}

🔧 How it works

Source. The actor reads safer.fmcsa.dot.gov — endpoints: https://safer.fmcsa.dot.gov/query.asp. Public pages and feeds only; nothing behind a login.

Transport. Plain HTTPS from the Apify platform, no proxy. Every request carries an identified contact User-Agent.

Charging. Each carrier authority check is charged at the moment it is pushed (carrier-authority-check); a row that fails to charge is not delivered, so the dataset count always equals the charged count.

🔧 How it works

🔧 How it works

How it behaves

Each USDOT number is resolved against the official FMCSA SAFER company snapshot — a one-carrier onboarding receipt for a submitted identity, not a lead list. Legal/DBA name, entity type, USDOT and operating status, out-of-service date, MC/MX/FF numbers, addresses, phone, and fleet size are carried verbatim (legacy labels normalised, never reinterpreted). A USDOT with no SAFER record is returned as not-found and is not billed; a SAFER outage is unavailable and is not billed.

Billing

Event	FREE	BRONZE	SILVER	GOLD+
apify-actor-start (one-time actor start)	$0.02	$0.02	$0.02	$0.02
carrier-authority-check (per completed official answer)	$0.05	$0.045	$0.04	$0.0335

Charged once per completed official answer. Invalid / not-found, ambiguous, and service-fault outcomes are emitted but never charged. Start fee $0.02.

Source

https://safer.fmcsa.dot.gov/query.asp

What is not done. No login, no cookie or CAPTCHA bypass, no private or personal-account data, no browser automation.

💰 Pricing example

Event	Free	Bronze	Silver	Gold
Actor Start (apify-actor-start)	$0.02	$0.02	$0.02	$0.02
Carrier Authority Check (carrier-authority-check)	$0.05	$0.045	$0.04	$0.0335

Worked at the live Free-tier price:

• 2 carrier authority checks: $0.02 start + 2 × $0.05 = $0.12
• 25 carrier authority checks: $0.02 start + 25 × $0.05 = $1.27
• 100 carrier authority checks: $0.02 start + 100 × $0.05 = $5.02

A run that delivers zero rows charges the $0.02 start fee only. A BLOCKED run (source refused) fails loud and charges no value event. The start fee is charged once per GB of run memory; the default run memory is 1024 MB.

Yield on the sample run: NORMAL: 1 billable answer(s), 1 definitive non-billable (not-found/ambiguous), 0 unavailable, 0 unparseable of 2 | carrier-authority-check billable=1 | carrier-authority-check charged=1.

⚖️ Legal & ToS

This actor reads public, logged-out pages and feeds published by safer.fmcsa.dot.gov. It collects only what the source publishes to any visitor, identifies itself with a contact User-Agent, and does not access accounts, private data or anything behind authentication. Use the output in line with the source's terms and your local law; the intended use is B2B research and monitoring.

❓ FAQ

Q: Do I need an API key or a login?
A: No. The source (safer.fmcsa.dot.gov) is read logged-out; the input schema has no key field and the actor carries no secrets.

Q: Why did my run return 0 rows?
A: Read the run's status message. GENUINE_EMPTY means the source was read and had nothing in scope for your input; BLOCKED means the source refused and the run failed without billing a value event — retry later or narrow the input. A zero-row run bills the start fee only.

Q: How fresh is the data?
A: Every run reads the source live at run time; nothing is cached between runs. Put it on a schedule for a continuous feed.

Q: What formats can I export?
A: The dataset downloads as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML or RSS from the run's Dataset tab or the Apify API, and any run can push to a webhook or integration.

Q: How is this different from the other company registry checks actors?
A: Same output shape and billing model; this one covers safer.fmcsa.dot.gov. The siblings under Related Actors cover the other sources or slices — run several on one schedule for a combined feed.

Q: Are there rate limits?
A: The actor paces itself against the source; there is no per-buyer limit beyond your Apify plan's concurrency.

🆘 Troubleshooting

• Run FAILED with BLOCKED → the source refused the request or changed its page shape → nothing was billed beyond the start fee; retry after a while, and if it persists open an Issue with the run id.
• Fewer rows than expected → the source had fewer items in scope → widen the input.
• Input validation error on start → a field is outside the schema's allowed values → start from the Quick start block and change one field at a time.
• Run TIMED-OUT → a very wide request on a slow day → raise the run timeout in Run options or narrow the input; what was delivered before the timeout is still in the dataset.

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• 🏢 About NexGen Watch — NexGen Watch is a catalog of more than 300 public data actors built on official sources, pay-per-result. Browse the catalog at apify.com/nexgenwatch.

⭐ Found this useful?

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