Carrier Onboarding Checklist

Onboarding a carrier is two jobs: verifying the company against the federal record, and collecting the paperwork that makes it your carrier. This checklist covers both — and automates the first half.

Free FMCSA carrier lookup — no account or signup required.

The Federal-Record Half (Automated)

Active operating authority, ideally 6+ months old — with full authority history reviewed
Insurance on file at required limits; no cancellation filings pending
No BASIC score over the FMCSA intervention threshold
Inspection footprint consistent with fleet size; OOS rates near national averages
No identity overlap with revoked, inactive, or chameleon carriers

The Paperwork Half

Signed broker-carrier agreement
W-9 and payment details — verified against the carrier's registered identity, not just the email that answered
Certificate of insurance naming you as certificate holder
Contact verification: call the FMCSA-listed phone, not only the number that emailed you

After Onboarding

Add the carrier to a watchlist the day you onboard it. Authority revocations and insurance cancellations cluster in the months AFTER a carrier starts winning freight — monitoring is the cheapest insurance in this list.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why call the FMCSA-listed phone number?

Identity-theft fraud answers from lookalike emails and spoofed numbers. The registered census phone reaches the real company — a 60-second call defeats most double-brokering setups.

How old should a carrier's authority be?

Many brokers require 6–12 months. New authority isn't disqualifying, but it warrants the full identity-overlap check before the first load.

Can Searchmule host my onboarding packets?

No — Searchmule automates the verification half (the federal record and monitoring). Packet workflow tools like MyCarrierPortal handle document collection.