Frequently asked questions

From the FMCSA’s public carrier census — the federal registration records every interstate motor carrier files. We refresh weekly. CarrierWatch is independent and not affiliated with FMCSA or the U.S. DOT; for official verification use safer.fmcsa.dot.gov.

A USDOT number identifies any company operating commercial vehicles in interstate commerce. An MC (operating authority) number is the additional license needed to haul regulated freight for hire across state lines. A carrier can have a DOT number without MC authority — for example private fleets hauling their own goods.

Fleet and driver figures come from the carrier’s own MCS-150 filing and are self-reported — typos and stale numbers are common. We show the federal record as filed; our state leaderboards filter out implausible entries, but individual profiles do not.

Update your MCS-150 filing with FMCSA (required at least every two years) — our weekly refresh will pick up the change from the federal record. We cannot edit records directly, which keeps the directory trustworthy for everyone.

A carrier whose registration is less than 120 days old. New entrants face an FMCSA safety audit in their first months and typically still need to line up insurance, a BOC-3 process agent, and compliance basics — that is why we flag them.

No — it only means the registration is active in the census. Safety ratings appear on the profile when FMCSA has issued one (most carriers are unrated), and insurance status is not in this dataset. Always verify current authority and insurance at safer.fmcsa.dot.gov before tendering freight.

We index active carriers plus anything registered in the last three years. Search works on the USDOT number, MC number, or the first words of the legal name as registered — a company’s everyday brand name may differ from its legal name, so try the DOT number from the truck’s door.