How We Vet Brokers Before We Book Your Truck

How we vet brokers before every booking

A great rate from a broker who never pays is worth nothing. Neither is a load from someone pretending to be a real broker. So before we book your truck, your dispatcher runs these checks, every time, even on brokers we've worked with before.

• Authority is active. We confirm the broker's authority on FMCSA's records and that the company name and MC number match who we're talking to.
• Bond or trust is in place. We confirm the broker's $75,000 bond or trust is active, with no cancellation pending.
• Broker credit check and days to pay. We check the broker's credit score and how long it takes to pay carriers. Slow or risky payers don't get your truck.
• Fraud alerts. We look for reports of double brokering, identity theft and non-payment tied to the broker.
• Identity match. The phone number and email domain have to match the company on record. A real broker's rep emailing from a free webmail account is a stop sign.

Loads we refuse, and what we do instead

• The email or phone doesn't match the broker on record. We call the company on the number in FMCSA's records, not the one in the email, and only book once the real company confirms the load.
• A rate far above the lane, with pressure to accept now. We slow it down and verify. Real brokers can wait ten minutes.
• "We'll send the rate confirmation later." No rate confirmation, no truck. Everything you agreed to goes on it before pickup.
• New delivery instructions after booking. A changed address or a "temporary" drop gets confirmed with the broker's public number before you move.
• Requests for your logins or new payment details. We refuse, and we tell you right away so you can check your accounts.

Why it matters more now

Freight fraud keeps growing: fake pickups, hijacked email accounts, cloned carriers and double brokering, where a load gets re-brokered without the shipper's knowledge and the real carrier doesn't get paid. New authorities are frequent targets, which is why we check every booking.

When a broker fails a check

We don't book the load, and we tell you why. If it's a broker you already haul for, we'll let you know what changed, whether that's a lapsed bond, slower payments or a mismatch in contact details. You can still decide what to do with your own truck, but you'll decide with the facts.

What vetting can and can't do

Checking every broker cuts your risk a lot, but no check is perfect. A broker with good credit today can run into trouble next month, and fraudsters keep finding new tricks.

That's why we keep watching for warning signs after the load is booked, too: paperwork that doesn't match at pickup, a sudden change in delivery instructions, or new payment details. If something changes, we stop and verify before the load moves.

Questions to ask any dispatcher about broker checks

Whoever books your truck, you should know how they check brokers. Ask these, and see our full list of 12 questions to ask a dispatcher:

• Which checks do you run before every booking, not just the first one?
• How do you confirm the person on the phone really works for that broker?
• What credit or days-to-pay cutoff makes you pass on a load?
• What do you do if the paperwork at pickup doesn't match the rate confirmation?

A dispatcher who can't answer these clearly isn't checking. Fraud runs the other way too: here's how to tell if your own MC has been cloned, and your right to see a broker's records.

Want to run these checks yourself? Our step-by-step guide shows how to check a broker before you haul.

Just starting out? Broker checks matter most in your first months. See how our new authority dispatch works, or learn who we are.