Reference
The carrier-vetting glossary
The federal carrier record speaks its own language: USDOT and MC numbers, operating authority, BIPD filings, BASICs, out-of-service rates and orders, MCS-150 filings, chameleon carriers, double brokering. These pages define each term in plain English and explain what it does and does not tell you about a carrier.
USDOT number
The federal registration number every interstate carrier must hold. The primary key of the federal carrier record.
MC number
The legacy docket number tied to a carrier's operating authority. Resolves to a USDOT number; still the number most load boards display.
Operating authority
FMCSA's grant of legal permission to operate for hire: common, contract, or broker. Active, inactive, pending, revoked, and the gaps in between.
BOC-3 (process agent filing)
The federal filing that designates a legal process agent in every state where a carrier, broker, or freight forwarder operates. Required before FMCSA grants operating authority.
Interstate vs intrastate operation
Interstate carriers cross state lines (or haul freight that does) and fall under FMCSA authority and filing rules. Intrastate carriers operate within one state and can legitimately lack federal authority and insurance filings.
Power units
The self-propelled vehicles a carrier reports operating: trucks and truck tractors, not trailers. The fleet-size figure on the federal record, self-reported on the MCS-150.
MCS-150 (biennial update)
The registration form every carrier must refile at least every two years: fleet size, mileage, contact details. The freshness stamp on the federal record.
New entrant (new authority)
A carrier in its first stretch of federal registration. New interstate carriers enter an 18-month monitoring period with a required safety audit; a young authority is a fact worth knowing, not a verdict.
BIPD insurance (public liability)
Bodily injury and property damage liability coverage, the insurance federal law requires for-hire interstate carriers to keep on file with FMCSA. Minimum $750,000 for general freight, higher for oil and certain hazmat.
Cargo insurance
Coverage for damage to the freight itself. Since 2011 FMCSA requires a cargo-insurance filing only of household-goods carriers; for general freight it is a contractual matter between broker and carrier, not a federal filing.
BMC filings (BMC-91, 91X, 34, 84, 85)
The federal insurance and bond forms insurers file with FMCSA: BMC-91/91X for liability, BMC-34/83 for cargo, BMC-84/85 for the $75,000 broker bond or trust.
Insurance lapse & cancellation notices
Insurers must notify FMCSA before terminating a carrier's filed coverage, so cancellations appear on the public record in advance. A lapse in required coverage triggers revocation of operating authority.
Safety rating
FMCSA's official Satisfactory / Conditional / Unsatisfactory grade from a compliance review. Roughly 94% of carriers have never received one.
Conditional & Unsatisfactory ratings
The two adverse FMCSA safety ratings. Conditional means a compliance review found inadequate safety controls but the carrier may keep operating; Unsatisfactory leads to a federal prohibition on operating.
Compliance review (safety audit)
FMCSA's on-site or remote investigation of a carrier's safety management: driver files, hours-of-service records, maintenance, drug-and-alcohol programs. The only path to a safety rating.
CSA & the BASICs
FMCSA's safety scoring system: seven behavior categories. Official percentiles are hidden from the public for all seven; the raw data behind five of them is public.
Roadside inspection (levels 1 to 6)
An enforcement officer's examination of a truck, its driver, or both, at weigh stations and roadside stops. The most abundant safety evidence in the public record; results feed OOS rates and CSA scoring.
Out-of-service (OOS) rate
The percentage of a carrier's roadside inspections that ended with the vehicle or driver ordered off the road. Compared against published national averages, it's a core inspection-failure metric.
Out-of-service (OOS) order
A federal order prohibiting a carrier from operating at all, issued for causes like an imminent-hazard finding, a final Unsatisfactory rating, or failure to maintain insurance. An absolute disqualifier while active.
Hours of service (HOS) & ELDs
The federal limits on commercial driving time: 11 hours of driving inside a 14-hour window, a 30-minute break rule, and 60/70-hour weekly caps, recorded since 2017 by electronic logging devices.
Crash records & preventability
The federal crash file records qualifying crashes (a fatality, an injury transported for treatment, or a tow-away) regardless of fault. A listed crash is not a fault determination; FMCSA reviews preventability only for certain crash types on request.
DataQs
FMCSA's system for requesting review of federal data: carriers and drivers can challenge inspection violations, crash records, and other entries they believe are wrong. Successful challenges correct the public record retroactively.
SAFER (Company Snapshot)
FMCSA's free public website for basic carrier records. The Company Snapshot shows one carrier's registration, authority, and summary safety figures; it's authoritative but shallow, and most vetting signals live in datasets it doesn't display.
Reincarnated (chameleon) carrier
A carrier that re-registers as a "new" company to shed a bad safety record, unpaid fines, or a revocation, continuing the same operation under a fresh USDOT number. The pattern shows up in shared addresses, officers, phones, and equipment.
Double brokering
Re-brokering a load to another carrier without the original broker's or shipper's knowledge. The freight moves under a carrier nobody vetted and payment chains break; it's the load-board era's defining fraud pattern.
Want to see these fields on a live record? Every fleetfax carrier report shows them in context, free: run a search.