How to check a freight broker before you haul the load

1. Confirm it is a broker, and that the authority is active

Look the MC number up in FMCSA's public records. You want to see broker authority, not only carrier authority, and you want it active. A company holding only motor carrier authority that hands you a load it doesn't haul itself is a red flag for double brokering.

While you are there, check how long the authority has been active. New is not automatically bad — every broker started somewhere — but a brand-new authority offering a rate well above market deserves a phone call before a pickup.

2. Check the bond is on file

A broker must keep $75,000 of financial security on file with FMCSA — a surety bond (BMC-84) or a trust fund (BMC-85). No bond on file, no load.

Understand what that $75,000 is and is not. It is one pot for every unpaid carrier and shipper with a claim against that broker. If a broker goes under owing forty carriers, $75,000 does not go far. The bond is a floor, not a guarantee you get paid.

When a claim or a judgment drops the bond below $75,000, the surety has to tell FMCSA, and the broker then has 7 business days to restore it or show the notice was wrong — or its authority gets suspended.

3. Match the contact details

• The company name and address on the rate confirmation should match FMCSA's records.
• Call the phone number listed with FMCSA, not the one in the email signature, and confirm the person and the load are real.
• Look at the email domain. A free email account, or a domain one letter off from a known broker, is how impersonation works.
• If the pickup or delivery details change after you accept — a new consignee, a new payee, a request to change where you get paid — stop and verify again.

4. Check how they pay

If you factor, ask your factoring company before you book. They see payment history across many carriers and will tell you if a broker pays slow or not at all. If you don't factor, ask the broker for their payment terms in writing, on the rate con.

5. Read the rate con before you sign it

Detention, layover, TONU, fuel, lumper, payment terms, and anything that makes you liable for more than the load. Pay attention to insurance language — which brings us to the part that changed this year.

What the 2026 Supreme Court decision changes for carriers

On May 14, 2026, the Supreme Court decided Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II unanimously. The short version: a claim that a broker was negligent in choosing the carrier is not blocked by federal law. Brokers can be sued under state law for picking an unsafe carrier.

What that means for you on the carrier side:

• Brokers will vet harder. Expect more questions about your safety record, your inspections, your drivers and your insurance before they tender.
• Expect more requests to be named "additional insured" on your auto liability. Brokers are trying to move their new exposure onto your policy.

Certificate holder vs. additional insured

A certificate holder gets proof that your insurance exists. That is normally all a broker needs to confirm you are covered.

An additional insured gets to claim under your policy. On a trucking auto liability policy that can mean your limit gets shared with the broker's defense, claims involving the broker land on your loss runs, and your insurer may lose the right to recover from the party that actually caused the loss. All of that shows up at renewal.

Some shippers and brokers will still require it, and sometimes the freight is worth it. But don't agree to it inside a rate con without asking your agent first. It is a coverage question, not a paperwork question.