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Q: What is BMC-91?

BMC-91 is the standard FMCSA form on which a motor carrier's liability insurance is filed. It covers bodily injury and property damage caused by the carrier's operations. Almost every interstate motor carrier is required to have a current BMC-91 on file to maintain operating authority.

Q: Is cargo insurance required by FMCSA?

Cargo insurance (BMC-34) is federally required for household-goods movers and a handful of specialty operations. For general freight, FMCSA does not require a cargo filing — but most broker SOPs do. KnowHaul surfaces the BMC-34 filing whether federally required or not so you can apply your own minimum.

Q: How often does the insurance data refresh?

We pull the L&I register daily. Insurance filings post to L&I within 24 hours of the underwriter submitting, so the data you see is at most a calendar day behind the regulator's record. The same-day check matters most for cancellation dates that fall inside the next 30 days.

Q: Does an 'active' authority mean the insurance is current?

Not always. Authority can be 'active' for a window after an insurance filing lapses — FMCSA gives carriers a grace period before formally revoking. The cancellation date on the BMC-91 itself is the field to watch; authority status is a lagging indicator of an insurance problem.

Q: What if the carrier has no BMC-34 on file?

It means the carrier hasn't filed cargo coverage with FMCSA — common for general-freight carriers, since the filing isn't federally required outside of household-goods. Ask for a certificate of insurance directly to confirm cargo coverage exists at your required limit.

Carrier insurance is the field most broker tools get wrong. A carrier whose authority is 'active' can still have a BMC-91 filing scheduled to cancel next week, or a BMC-34 cargo policy that was never on file in the first place. KnowHaul reads the L&I register the way a broker actually needs to — effective date, cancellation date, real limits — and surfaces lapses before they become a claim.

Quick Answer

Paste a DOT or MC into KnowHaul. We pull the latest BMC-91 (liability) and BMC-34 (cargo) filings from L&I, surface the effective and cancellation dates, and flag any policy lapsing inside the next 30 days.

BMC-91

Liability filing tracked

30-day

Lapse warning window

Daily

L&I refresh cadence

What insurance fields we surface

Every insurance check pulls the same four fields. Each one maps to a specific L&I form. We don't aggregate from a third-party 'carrier database' — every number on the page traces back to a primary FMCSA filing.

Field	What it tells you	Source filing
Liability coverage	Bodily injury + property damage limit on file	BMC-91 (or BMC-91X for fleets)
Cargo coverage	Per-load cargo limit on file (when required)	BMC-34
Effective date	When the policy first became valid	Form 'effective' field
Cancellation date	When the policy is set to lapse (if any)	Form 'cancellation' field

Why the cancellation date matters more than the status flag

L&I marks a policy 'active' until the cancellation date passes. A policy with cancellation set for 2026-06-30 is technically active today but won't be when your load picks up next week. KnowHaul surfaces this date prominently rather than relying on the 'active' flag alone.

BMC-91 vs BMC-91X vs BMC-34 — what each one is

FMCSA's filing names are confusing on purpose; once you know which letter goes with which coverage, the L&I register stops looking like a wall of acronyms.

Filing	What it covers	Who needs it
BMC-91	Liability — bodily injury + property damage	Required for almost every interstate motor carrier
BMC-91X	Liability for fleets — same coverage, fleet-rated terms	Carriers using a fleet-rated insurance program
BMC-34	Cargo — physical damage to the freight in transit	Required for household-goods carriers; broker-required elsewhere
BMC-84/85	Broker bond — financial responsibility for brokers	Property brokers and freight forwarders (not motor carriers)

Cargo is a broker-required field, not a federal one

Outside of household-goods, FMCSA doesn't require a BMC-34 cargo filing — but most broker SOPs require at least $100k in cargo coverage. We surface the filing whether it's federally required or not so you can match your own coverage minimum.

Active vs filed: the gotcha that costs brokers claims

L&I uses the word 'active' in two different places. Authority status 'active' means the carrier can legally haul. Insurance filing 'active' means the policy hasn't passed its cancellation date — but a filing can be active and useless if the cancellation is set for tomorrow.

The check that actually matters

Look at the cancellation date on every BMC-91 the day you tender. If it's within 30 days, treat the carrier as elevated risk and ask for a current certificate of insurance directly. KnowHaul flags any policy with a cancellation date inside the next 30 days at the top of the carrier card.

How to run an insurance check

Two paths. The single-carrier check is what most brokers run before tendering. The lane-driven view is for prospecting where you want carriers that already pass your insurance minimums.

Method	When to use it	Latency
Single-carrier check	You have one carrier to vet before tendering	<1 second
Lane-driven shortlist	You want active carriers on your lane filtered by coverage minimums	<2 seconds

Pro Tips

Re-check the BMC-91 the day you tender, not the day you onboarded the carrier. Onboarding packets get stale fast. The cancellation date can move between onboarding and the load you're tendering today; a same-day check costs you a second and catches the lapse before it becomes a denied claim.
Match cargo coverage to load value, not load type. $100k in cargo coverage is fine for general freight, but the same policy is underweight on a $400k load of electronics. Use the load's invoice value as the floor; don't trust a flat cargo minimum across every commodity.
Ask for the certificate of insurance directly when something looks off. L&I is the regulator's view; the COI from the carrier's broker is the policy's view. If the dates don't match, that's a signal — and the COI is the field a court will look at, not the L&I extract.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is BMC-91?

BMC-91 is the standard FMCSA form on which a motor carrier's liability insurance is filed. It covers bodily injury and property damage caused by the carrier's operations. Almost every interstate motor carrier is required to have a current BMC-91 on file to maintain operating authority.

Is cargo insurance required by FMCSA?

Cargo insurance (BMC-34) is federally required for household-goods movers and a handful of specialty operations. For general freight, FMCSA does not require a cargo filing — but most broker SOPs do. KnowHaul surfaces the BMC-34 filing whether federally required or not so you can apply your own minimum.

How often does the insurance data refresh?

We pull the L&I register daily. Insurance filings post to L&I within 24 hours of the underwriter submitting, so the data you see is at most a calendar day behind the regulator's record. The same-day check matters most for cancellation dates that fall inside the next 30 days.

Does an 'active' authority mean the insurance is current?

Not always. Authority can be 'active' for a window after an insurance filing lapses — FMCSA gives carriers a grace period before formally revoking. The cancellation date on the BMC-91 itself is the field to watch; authority status is a lagging indicator of an insurance problem.

What if the carrier has no BMC-34 on file?

It means the carrier hasn't filed cargo coverage with FMCSA — common for general-freight carriers, since the filing isn't federally required outside of household-goods. Ask for a certificate of insurance directly to confirm cargo coverage exists at your required limit.

Check your next carrier's insurance

Paste a DOT or MC. Get BMC-91, BMC-34, effective and cancellation dates in under a second.

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MELISSA A SCHELLER

Liability (BMC-91)

Cargo (BMC-34)

Recent filings

Insurance check — verify carrier coverage in seconds

MELISSA A SCHELLER

Liability (BMC-91)

Cargo (BMC-34)

Recent filings

Insurance check — verify carrier coverage in seconds

Quick Answer

What insurance fields we surface

Why the cancellation date matters more than the status flag

BMC-91 vs BMC-91X vs BMC-34 — what each one is

Cargo is a broker-required field, not a federal one

Active vs filed: the gotcha that costs brokers claims

The check that actually matters

How to run an insurance check

Pro Tips

Frequently Asked Questions

What is BMC-91?

Is cargo insurance required by FMCSA?

How often does the insurance data refresh?

Does an 'active' authority mean the insurance is current?

What if the carrier has no BMC-34 on file?

Check your next carrier's insurance