MC vs DOT guides
Identifier basics, authority types, what each number means.
Beginner
MC Number vs DOT Number: The Difference Explained
What each carrier identifier means, when carriers need one or both, and why brokers should reference both during verification.
IdentifiersBasics
6 min readBeginner
Common, Contract, and Broker Authority Explained
Authority types in plain English — Common, Contract, Broker, and Freight Forwarder. What each allows, when carriers hold more than one, and what 'revoked' actually means.
AuthorityCompliance
7 min readBeginner
How to Verify a Carrier's MC Number Is Active
Confirm a Motor Carrier number is live and authorized before tender — every status value the federal registry returns, the fields brokers actually read, and the 60-second workflow.
MC NumberAuthority
8 min readBeginner
What Does 'Authority Pending' Actually Mean?
The 'authority pending' status decoded — what it means, why it can take weeks, what carriers can and cannot do under it, and the patterns brokers should never accept on a tender.
AuthorityCompliance
8 min readIntermediate
BOC-3 Process Agent: What It Is and Why Every Carrier Needs One
The BOC-3 filing decoded — what a process agent does, why federal authority cannot be granted without one, the per-state designation rule, and the patterns brokers should read into a missing or stale BOC-3.
AuthorityCompliance
9 min readIntermediate
How to Read a Carrier's Authority History (Identity-Flip Detection)
Authority history is the single strongest fraud-detection signal in the public record. This guide explains how to read the granted/revoked/reinstated timeline and how to spot the identity-flip pattern that drives modern double-brokering scams.
AuthorityFraud
10 min read