🔎 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.

📊 Sample Output

Real rows from run soeOU3ZQQfdU6mkYH on build 0.1.4 (2026-09-17), 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

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.

2. A smaller, narrowed run

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

A bounded run for checking the field shape before scheduling.

3. A full-size run

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

The same input run on a schedule; each run is billed only for what it delivers.

🧾 JSON sample record

One real record from run soeOU3ZQQfdU6mkYH, 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

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 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	$0.04	$0.04	$0.03

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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