How to Check a Car Shipper on FMCSA SAFER
How to check any car shipper on FMCSA's SAFER system
Before you hand your vehicle and your money to any auto transport company, you can look up its federal registration for free. This is a walkthrough of that lookup, using FMCSA's own SAFER Company Snapshot tool, read 2026-09-21.
What SAFER is
SAFER (Safety and Fitness Electronic Records) is FMCSA's public system for motor carrier and broker records. Its Company Snapshot tool gives "a concise electronic record of a company's identification, size, commodity information, and safety record," including safety rating, inspection summary, and crash information, at no cost. Safer.fmcsa.dot.gov, read 2026-09-21.
How to look a company up
- Go to the Company Snapshot search at safer.fmcsa.dot.gov.
- Search by USDOT number, MC/MX number, or company name: any one of the three works.
- Review the result: legal and DBA name, physical address, USDOT and MC numbers, and operating status.
Ask any company you're considering for its USDOT number and MC number directly. A legitimate carrier or broker will give you both without hesitation.
Carrier vs. broker: why the distinction matters
These are two different legal roles under federal regulation, and a company you're evaluating may be one, the other, or both:
- Broker: under 49 CFR 371.2, a broker is "a person who, for compensation, arranges, or offers to arrange, the transportation of property by an authorized motor carrier." A broker does not own the truck; it arranges for a carrier to move your vehicle. Law.cornell.edu, read 2026-09-21.
- Motor carrier: under 49 CFR 390.5, a motor carrier is the entity actually operating the truck. Law.cornell.edu, read 2026-09-21.
Property brokers are required to hold a surety bond or trust fund of at least $75,000 under 49 CFR 387.307: a financial-responsibility requirement, not proof of quality or of cargo insurance on your specific vehicle. See broker vs. carrier vs. arranged service for how that distinction affects who you're actually contracting with.
What to do with what you find
- No USDOT or MC number, or the company won't provide one: treat that as a hard stop.
- Confirm the operating status is active, not revoked or out of service.
- If the company presents itself as a carrier, confirm it isn't only registered as a broker (or the reverse): that mismatch is worth asking about directly before you book.
SAFER's Company Snapshot does not replace your own judgment about a specific quote, deposit terms, or communication quality; it verifies that the entity is who it says it is under federal registration, and gives you a documented starting point if something goes wrong later.
How we handle this
We arrange your shipment through a vetted carrier and remain your single point of contact from pickup to delivery. That does not exempt any carrier we work with from the same registration facts above; you're welcome to ask for the carrier's USDOT number for your shipment.
Sources and review date
- safer.fmcsa.dot.gov: Company Snapshot, accessed September 21, 2026.
- safer.fmcsa.dot.gov: About SAFER, accessed September 21, 2026.
- www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/49/371.2, accessed September 21, 2026.
- www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/49/390.5, accessed September 21, 2026.