Look up a USDOT or MC number

FMCSA's SAFER system publishes a free snapshot of every registered carrier: whether it is authorised to operate, what authority it holds, whether insurance is on file, and its inspection and crash counts. Type a number below and this page builds the exact SAFER query; the guide underneath explains what each line of the result means.

1Identifier USDOT / MC
2Watch first Operating status
3Then Insurance on file

Carrier lookup

Opens FMCSA's SAFER company snapshot in a new tab. SAFER is the official record; this site stores nothing you type.

Reading the SAFER company snapshot

The snapshot is one dense page. These are the fields that decide whether to do business with a carrier, in the order to read them.

USDOT status — "ACTIVE" means the registration is current. "INACTIVE" or a revocation note means the company may not operate in interstate commerce; stop there.
Operating authority status — for for-hire carriers this must read "AUTHORIZED FOR" with the type (Property, Passenger, HHG). "NOT AUTHORIZED" means no MC authority is active, whatever the USDOT status says. Private carriers hauling their own goods will show none, which is correct for them.
Entity type and operation classification — carrier, broker, or both; interstate or intrastate; for-hire or private. A broker that presents itself as a carrier is a red flag you can see here.
Out-of-service date — any date here means FMCSA ordered the company to stop. Blank is what you want.
Power units and drivers — the fleet size the carrier reported on its last MCS-150. Compare it with what they told you; it is also the number that sets their UCR bracket.
Inspections, out-of-service rates and crashes — 24 months of roadside history by vehicle, driver and hazmat, each with the carrier's out-of-service percentage next to the national average. A driver OOS rate well above the average is a safety and reliability signal.
Insurance (Licensing & Insurance link) — SAFER links to the L&I system, which shows the BMC-91/91X liability filing, its carrier and limits, and any cargo (BMC-34) or bond (BMC-84/85) filings. No active liability filing means authority will be revoked.
MCS-150 date — the biennial update is required; a stale date suggests a company not keeping up with its filings.

What the numbers mean

USDOT number

Issued free to every carrier that must register with FMCSA, including private and intrastate carriers in many states. It identifies the company; it does not by itself authorise for-hire interstate work.

MC (docket) number

Issued with operating authority, which costs $300 per type. For-hire interstate carriers of regulated freight, brokers and forwarders need one. FMCSA has been moving toward using the USDOT number alone as the identifier; both still appear in SAFER.

Where this is used

Brokers vet carriers before tendering a load; owner-operators check a carrier before leasing on; shippers check both. Insurers and factoring companies run the same lookup. For a private carrier deciding whether a local hauler is legal to use, the two lines that matter are the USDOT status and the authority status.

A carrier page on this site for each USDOT number — with history, UCR bracket and the state rules that apply — is planned; the SAFER snapshot is the authoritative source in the meantime.

Source: FMCSA SAFER (safer.fmcsa.dot.gov) and the Licensing & Insurance system it links to. The query format above is FMCSA's own. This page reproduces no SAFER data; it builds the query and explains the fields.