FMCSA Carrier Lookup: USDOT, MC, Insurance & New Authority

FMCSA Carrier Lookup checks US trucking companies and freight brokers against public FMCSA data on data.transportation.gov, with no API key needed. Four ways to use it:

• Look up carriers: give it USDOT or MC numbers and get one row per company.
• Search by name: companies whose legal or DBA name contains your words.
• New authorities: companies FMCSA granted operating authority to in a date window, filtered by state and authority type.
• New USDOT registrations: companies whose USDOT number FMCSA added in a date window, filtered by state, cargo and fleet size.

Each row has:

• the legal and DBA name as FMCSA publishes them, USDOT status, city and state;
• fleet size (power units and drivers);
• the FMCSA safety rating;
• every operating authority (carrier, broker, household goods, freight forwarder) with its status;
• the insurance and broker bond filings on record with FMCSA, including required versus filed BIPD coverage and pending cancellations.

Use it for carrier vetting before you tender a load, to check a broker's authority and bond, or to confirm carrier insurance on file. Export rows as CSV, JSON or Excel.

Not affiliated with FMCSA or the U.S. Department of Transportation. This Actor is independent and isn't endorsed or sponsored by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) or the U.S. Department of Transportation. Data comes from public FMCSA files published on data.transportation.gov.

Why use this FMCSA carrier lookup?

• One row per company. The census record, authority and insurance filings are joined on USDOT and docket number for you.
• Authority and insurance side by side. For each authority you see the BIPD coverage FMCSA requires and the amount on file, and whether cargo insurance or a broker bond is required and filed.
• Fresh authority data. Authority and insurance come from FMCSA's daily-updated files. Each row says which file it came from and how current it is.
• Pay per carrier row. Invalid numbers, numbers not found and notes are free status rows. The only other charges are the small Actor start fee and, in monitor mode, one fee per run that returns results.
• Monitor mode. Schedule a carrier list or a saved search and get only what changed or is new.
• Polite to the source. Requests are batched, paced and retried after server errors.

How do I look up a carrier? Quick start

Paste this into the JSON view of the Input tab. It looks up three carriers by USDOT number.

{
  "usdotNumbers": ["80806", "264184", "90849"]
}

By MC number:

{
  "mcNumbers": ["MC133655", "107478"]
}

Property carriers in Texas and Oklahoma granted authority in the last 7 days:

{
  "newAuthorityDays": 7,
  "states": ["TX", "OK"],
  "authorityTypes": ["carrier_property"]
}

New brokers granted authority in October 2026:

{
  "newAuthoritySince": "2026-10-01",
  "newAuthorityUntil": "2026-10-31",
  "authorityTypes": ["broker_property"]
}

Only new Texas authorities with liability insurance in effect:

{
  "newAuthorityDays": 7,
  "states": ["TX"],
  "insuranceStatus": "active"
}

Who it's for

• Freight brokers and 3PLs vetting carriers before they tender a load.
• Shippers checking a broker's authority and bond before they book.
• Factoring, insurance and compliance teams checking authority status and filed coverage across a carrier list.
• Developers who need FMCSA carrier data as JSON in their own tools.

What can I do with FMCSA carrier data?

1. Carrier vetting. Check a list of USDOT or MC numbers for active authority, safety rating and insurance on file in one table.
2. Broker authority check. Confirm a broker's authority is active and a BMC-84 bond or BMC-85 trust fund is on file.
3. Carrier insurance check. Compare the BIPD coverage FMCSA requires with what's filed, and spot filings with a cancellation date ahead.
4. New authority list. Companies granted new carrier or broker authority in the last N days, by state.
5. Change alerts. Run a carrier list in monitor mode on a schedule to see authority, insurance, rating or suspension changes.

New trucking companies and new MC numbers

Two date-based lists, read from FMCSA's public files on data.transportation.gov each time you run it:

Mode	What you get	Date used
newAuthority (New operating authorities)	Carriers, brokers and freight forwarders FMCSA granted operating authority to in your window	Grant date
newUsdotRegistrations (New USDOT registrations)	Companies whose USDOT number was added to the FMCSA census in your window. Most have no operating authority granted yet, and some, such as intrastate or private carriers, may never need it	USDOT added date

Use them to build new carrier lead lists (company and authority data, no personal contact details). There are no phone numbers, emails, officer names, street addresses or ZIP codes in the output, and no option to add them. Some legal or DBA names are a person's own name, because some owners trade under their own name. Each row has the company's legal and DBA name, city, state, USDOT and MC numbers, fleet size, cargo types, authority and insurance on file, and a SAFER link.

Quick start: new reefer carriers in Texas, last 14 days

{
  "mode": "newUsdotRegistrations",
  "newAuthorityDays": 14,
  "states": ["TX"],
  "cargoTypes": ["refrigerated_food"],
  "maxResults": 100
}

For a spreadsheet, open the New carriers view in the Output tab and export CSV. It is one flat row per company: USDOT number, MC number, legal and DBA name, city, state, USDOT added date, authority types granted, authority granted date, power units, drivers, cargo, BIPD in effect, insurance status and SAFER link. Free status rows (notes, "no changes" and other status messages) show as blank lines in this view; the Status rows view lists them. To leave them out of an export through the API, add skipEmpty=true to the items URL, for example .../items?view=newCarriers&format=csv&skipEmpty=true. In new USDOT registrations, the authority types granted and authority granted date columns are blank, because those come from the new operating authorities list.

What does a carrier record look like?

Three rows from the Quick start input, from our test run on 1 November 2026 (FMCSA files updated 31 October 2026), shortened:

USDOT	MC	Legal name	City, state	Power units	Safety rating	Authorities (status)	BIPD on file
80806	MC-135797	J B HUNT TRANSPORT INC	Lowell, AR	25,280	Satisfactory	Property carrier, HHG carrier, property broker, HHG broker (all active)	$3,500,000
264184	MC-133655	SCHNEIDER NATIONAL CARRIERS INC	Green Bay, WI	9,866	Satisfactory	Property carrier, HHG carrier, property broker, HHG broker (all active)	$1,000,000 (property), $5,000,000 (HHG)
90849	MC-107478	OLD DOMINION FREIGHT LINE INC	Thomasville, NC	10,313	Satisfactory	Property carrier, property broker (both active)	$1,000,000

Each row also has the DBA name, USDOT status, driver count, hazmat flag, MCS-150 date, safety rating date, required coverage per authority, cargo and bond required/filed, each insurance or bond filing (form, type, amount, insurer, effective date, any cancellation date, filingStatus and inEffect), suspension notices, and the source update dates.

In the same test, the 7-day new-authority window (26 October to 1 November 2026) held 1,245 authority grants across the US. FMCSA's newest grant date in its files was 31 October.

Input

The mode is chosen for you: numbers → lookup, a name → search, otherwise new authorities. You can also set mode to lookup, search, newAuthority or newUsdotRegistrations.

USDOT numbers (usdotNumbers)

Up to 1,000 USDOT and MC numbers in total. 80806, USDOT 80806 and DOT#80806 all work. Entries that aren't numbers get a free status row.

MC numbers (mcNumbers)

MC, MX or FF docket numbers. MC-135797, MC135797 and 135797 all work (plain numbers are read as MC).

Company name (name)

At least 3 letters or digits. Matches the legal or DBA name anywhere, not case-sensitive.

New lists: last N days, from, to (newAuthorityDays, newAuthoritySince, newAuthorityUntil)

The same three settings drive both new lists. New operating authorities use the grant date. New USDOT registrations use the date the USDOT number was added to the census. The last day or two of census additions can be incomplete.

Authority types (authorityTypes)

Any of carrier_property, carrier_hhg, carrier_passenger, broker_property, broker_hhg, freight_forwarder. Leave empty for all. New operating authorities only; not used for new USDOT registrations.

Cargo carried (cargoTypes)

Keep companies that reported at least one of these cargo types on their MCS-150, for example general_freight, refrigerated_food, dry_bulk, household_goods, intermodal_containers. 30 types in all. Works in search and both new lists, not in lookup. Cargo types are self-reported by the company on its MCS-150.

States (states)

Two-letter codes of the physical location, e.g. TX, CA, ON.

Insurance status (insuranceStatus)

Works in every mode. Insurance is always as filed with FMCSA.

• any (default);
• active: at least one BIPD (liability) filing, insurance (BMC-91 or BMC-91X) or a BMC-82 liability surety bond, that is not cancelled and whose effective date is on or before today. Each row's bipdInEffect field shows the same check. Carriers FMCSA has approved to self-insure are listed with a BMC-91X filing and the insurer Self-Insured, and they match;
• on_file: every requirement of every active authority shows as on file;
• missing_required: an active authority needs BIPD, cargo insurance or a bond that isn't on file;
• cancellation_pending: a filing has a cancellation date ahead;
• no_active_authority: the company has no active operating authority.

Other filters

includeInactive (search and the new lists return active USDOT numbers only unless this is on), operation (interstate or intrastate), forHireOnly, withMcNumberOnly, hazmatOnly, minPowerUnits and maxPowerUnits.

With an MC number only (withMcNumberOnly)

In the new lists this includes MC numbers that are still pending (applied for, not yet granted) in FMCSA's authority files, when authority and insurance are included (the default).

Maximum results (maxResults)

Stops after this many company rows. Default 1,000; 0 means the 10,000 cap. Status rows are free.

Authority and insurance (includeAuthorityAndInsurance)

On by default. Turn off for census fields only (faster). Always on when an insurance status filter is set.

Monitor mode (monitorMode, emitBaselineOnFirstRun, stateStoreName)

Lookup: returns only companies whose status, authority, insurance, rating or suspensions changed since the last run, with changeType and changes. Search and the new lists: returns only companies not seen before. Use a different stateStoreName for each saved list or search. With emitBaselineOnFirstRun off, the first run only saves a baseline, returns nothing and charges only the Actor start fee.

Output fields

Field	What it is
rowType	carrier, or status for free status rows
usdotNumber, mcNumbers, docketNumbers	USDOT number and MC, MX and FF dockets
legalName, dbaName	Names exactly as FMCSA publishes them
usdotStatus, carrierOperation, operationClassifications, businessType	Registration details
city, state, country	Physical location (city and state only)
powerUnits, trucks, buses, drivers, cdlDrivers, interstateDrivers	Fleet size from the MCS-150
hazmat, cargoCarried, cargoOther	Cargo
safetyRating, safetyRatingDate, lastReviewDate	FMCSA safety rating (most carriers are not_rated)
mcs150Date, mcs150Mileage, mcs150MileageYear, usdotRegisteredDate, priorRevokedUsdot	Census dates and history
authorities	One entry per docket and authority type: status, grant date, last action and its category, required and filed coverage, cargo and bond flags, source
insurance	Each filing: type, form, layer, coverage, insurer, effective date, cancellation date, filingStatus (on_file, cancellation_pending, cancelled, replaced, name_changed, ended) and inEffect
bipdInEffect	true when at least one BIPD filing is in effect today (the active rule above)
insuranceStatus	on_file, missing_required, cancellation_pending or no_active_authority
suspensionsAndRevocations	Suspension notices with served and effective dates (rows from the 14 May 2026 snapshot can also list older revocation actions)
newAuthority	New authority mode: the grants in your window
mcNumber	The first MC number, as one value for spreadsheets (all of them are in mcNumbers)
cargoSummary	Cargo types joined with "; "
newAuthorityTypes, newAuthorityGrantedDate	New operating authorities mode only: the authority categories granted in your window, and the newest grant date
authoritySource, authorityAsOf	Which FMCSA file the authority and insurance came from, and its date
matchedIdentifier	Lookup: the number you gave
changeType, changes	Monitor mode
sourceUpdatedAt, sourceUrl, checkedAt	Source file dates, the FMCSA SAFER snapshot link, and when the run read the data

Status rows (status, message, retrievedAt) are free. The dataset has views for Overview, Authority & insurance, New authority, New carriers and Status rows.

What does it cost?

This Actor uses pay-per-event pricing:

Event	Price
Actor start	$0.00005 per run per GB of memory
Carrier record	$0.002
Monitor run with results (monitor mode only, once per run that returns at least one new or changed company)	$0.01

Status rows are free. A monitor run with nothing new costs only the Actor start fee.

Example: vetting 1,000 carriers costs 1,000 × $0.002 = $2.00, plus the start fee. The 1,245 grants in the 7-day window above would cost at most about $2.49 if every company were returned.

Set Maximum cost per run in the run options (or maxTotalChargeUsd through the API), and the Actor stops when it reaches it, with a free budget_reached row.

Use it from code

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';
const client = new ApifyClient({ token: process.env.APIFY_TOKEN });
const run = await client.actor('yourevenings/fmcsa-carrier-lookup').call(
  { usdotNumbers: ['80806', '264184'] },
  { maxTotalChargeUsd: 1 },
);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items);

# pip install "apify-client>=3"
import os
from decimal import Decimal
from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient(os.environ["APIFY_TOKEN"])
run = client.actor("yourevenings/fmcsa-carrier-lookup").call(
    run_input={"usdotNumbers": ["80806", "264184"]},
    max_total_charge_usd=Decimal("1"),
)
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

Data scope: how current is it?

• Census: FMCSA's company census file on data.transportation.gov. The copy read on 1 November 2026 was updated on 31 October 2026.
• Authority and insurance: FMCSA's daily-updated authority and insurance files.
• Older records: where those files have no record for a docket yet, the Actor uses FMCSA's earlier files, a snapshot as of 14 May 2026. Each row has authoritySource and authorityAsOf so you can tell which you got, and a free note row says how many rows used it.
• Insurance is shown as filed with FMCSA. A filing on record isn't proof of active cover. Confirm cover with the insurer or the certificate of insurance before you rely on it.
• Safety rating: most carriers have never been given a safety rating, so they show not_rated.
• Company-level fields only. The Actor returns the company record FMCSA publishes.

FAQ

Do I need an FMCSA or Socrata API key?

No. The Actor reads public files on data.transportation.gov.

Can I look up a carrier by MC number?

Yes. Use mcNumbers. The Actor resolves each docket to its USDOT number and returns the same row as a USDOT lookup.

How do I check a broker's authority?

Look up the broker's MC or USDOT number. The authorities list shows each authority type with its status, and the insurance list shows the BMC-84 bond or BMC-85 trust fund on file.

Does "insurance on file" mean the carrier is insured?

It means a filing is on record with FMCSA. Check the insurer or certificate of insurance for current cover.

How do I get new trucking authorities every week?

Schedule the Actor with newAuthorityDays: 7 and the states you want. Turn on monitorMode to get only companies you haven't seen before.

How do I get a list of new trucking companies?

Run newUsdotRegistrations with newAuthorityDays (for example 7) and, if you like, states and cargoTypes. You get companies whose USDOT number FMCSA added in that window. To get only companies granted operating authority in that window, use newAuthority instead.

How do I find new MC numbers?

newAuthority lists the MC numbers (and MX and FF dockets) FMCSA granted operating authority to in your window (see newAuthorityGrantedDate). Almost all are newly issued; a few are older dockets granted another authority type. In newUsdotRegistrations, withMcNumberOnly keeps companies that have an MC number, including ones still pending, when authority and insurance are included (the default).

Are these trucking leads with phone numbers or emails?

No. The output is company and authority data only. There are no phone numbers, emails, officer names, street addresses or ZIP codes, and no option to add them. Some legal or DBA names are a person's own name, because some owners trade under their own name.

Can I get new carriers by cargo type, such as reefer or dry bulk?

Yes. Set cargoTypes. Cargo types are self-reported by the company on its MCS-150.

Can I get only the companies I haven't seen before?

Yes. Turn on monitorMode with either new list. Later runs return only companies this monitor hasn't seen before, and a run with nothing new returns a free "no changes" row. Use a different stateStoreName for each list.

Why is a carrier's authority dated 14 May 2026?

That carrier has no record in FMCSA's current files yet, so the row comes from the earlier snapshot (authoritySource: legacy_snapshot_2026-05-14).

What does "not found" mean?

The number isn't in the FMCSA files. You get a free status row, and that number adds nothing to the cost.

Where do I report a problem or ask for a field?

Open an issue on the Actor's Issues tab.

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