fleetfax RESEARCH

What the raw record hides.

Original analysis of the federal carrier record and the industry's published data.

7 REPORTS UPDATED JULY 14, 2026 SOURCE · FMCSA REGISTRATION, SAFETY, AND INSURANCE RECORDS

USING THIS RESEARCHFree to quote and republish figures with credit to fleetfax research and a link to the report. For methodology, underlying data, or questions: [email protected].

FEATURED · FRAUD · JUN 23, 2026

Cargo theft has gone white-collar: the load is stolen on paper, with a borrowed identity, a purchased MC number, or a hijacked FMCSA registration account. Strategic, identity-based theft grew from 8% of cargo crime in 2020 to about a third by 2024, and reported losses reached $725 million in 2025. The playbook, the numbers, and fourteen years of federal warnings.

READ THE FINDING → 8 min read
$725M
in cargo-theft losses reported to CargoNet in 2025, up from $223 million in 2022
$0 $223M $725M 2022 2023 2024 2025
cargo-theft losses reported to CargoNet, US and Canada · Verisk CargoNet annual analyses
The theft that grew is the paper kind.

MORE FINDINGS

INSURANCE · JUL 14, 2026

When the record goes quiet

FMCSA moved carrier registration to a new system in May 2026, and the public feeds can now drop insured carriers with no marker. fleetfax re-checked 9,849 lapsed-looking carriers against the live federal record: 541, about 1 in 18, were insured all along.

carriers marked “insurance lapsed” in the public files, re-checked against the live federal record
6 min read Read →

CARRIER VETTING · JUL 7, 2026

The new-authority washout

New carriers crash less per truck than seasoned ones, not more. The real early-life risk is the washout: about one in seven new authorities is revoked within 18 months, mostly (88%) for refusing the mandatory federal safety audit or not responding to it; 12% were for failing it.

1 of every 7 new authorities is revoked within 18 months
5 min read Read →

INSURANCE · JUN 30, 2026

Active, authorized, uninsured

When a carrier's insurance is cancelled, the federal record keeps showing it as active for roughly eight weeks before FMCSA acts. fleetfax measured that window, and counted the carriers inside it on June 30, 2026.

insurance is cancelledauthority revoked
≈8 weeks in between, still showing active authority
4 min read Read →

FRAUD · JUN 16, 2026

Reopened, not reformed

New carriers (registered since January 2024) that share a phone plus an officer or address with a carrier FMCSA shut down for cause are 3.6 times as likely to already have a crash on record: 9.1% vs 2.55% of all new carriers (June 2026). Of the 175 matched, 1 listed a prior carrier in FMCSA's self-reported prior-USDOT field.

9.1% matched 2.55% all new
share already carrying a crash record: matched new carriers versus all new carriers · 3.6 times as likely
4 min read Read →

CARRIER VETTING · JUN 9, 2026

The carrier-vetting blind spot

Some carriers declare one or two trucks while hundreds operate under their authority, and the inspection history brokers trust as proof of a real fleet cannot tell the difference. The most extreme cases cluster overwhelmingly in one state.

7 min read Read →

SAFETY RATINGS · JUN 2, 2026

Most carriers have no safety rating

Roughly 94% of interstate freight carriers have never received a federal safety rating, so an empty rating field proves nothing in either direction. What the number actually means, and how to vet the unrated majority.

93.7% never ratedrated
3 min read Read →

LIVE DATA

DAILY DIGEST · UPDATED NIGHTLY

What changed in the federal record

New carriers registered, operating authorities granted and revoked, and out-of-service orders, counted by the day each record entered the federal file. A 90-day trend for each.

Live tracker View →

OUT OF SERVICE · UPDATED NIGHTLY

Truck out-of-service rates

The share of recorded roadside inspections that placed a vehicle or driver out of service, national and by state, with a 24-month trend.

Live tracker View →

FLEET AGE · UPDATED MONTHLY

How old is the US truck fleet?

How old the typical carrier's trucks are, based on the trucks that show up in recorded roadside inspections.

Live tracker View →

METHODOLOGY

These reports draw on the same federal data that powers fleetfax: FMCSA registration, SAFER, and Licensing & Insurance filings. The cargo-theft report draws instead on published government and industry sources, each cited. Patterns, not names. No individual carrier is identified, and every report shows its method.

Press & data requests · [email protected]