FMCSA carrier data: a guide for truck dispatchers
What the FMCSA publishes about every motor carrier, what each field means, how fresh it is, and how dispatchers use it to find carriers to work with.
Updated · 8 min read
Every company that runs trucks across state lines in the US registers with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). Much of what it registers is public. For a dispatcher, that public record is the best map there is of who is out there, who just started, and how to reach them.
This guide covers what the FMCSA publishes, what the fields mean, how fresh the data is, and how to turn it into carriers you actually work with.
What the FMCSA publishes
The FMCSA's public data comes in a few families. The two that matter most for finding carriers are:
- The company census. One row per USDOT number: legal name, trade name (DBA), physical and mailing address, phone, email, company officers, number of power units and drivers, and what kind of operation it is (interstate or intrastate, for hire or private, hazmat or not).
- Licensing and insurance. Operating authority (the MC, MX or FF docket numbers), when each authority was granted, whether it's active, pending or inactive, and the insurance filings behind it.
Both are published as open datasets and refreshed daily on weekdays. In 2026 the FMCSA began moving registration into its new Motus system, so the newest authority and insurance records come from the Motus datasets, and older ones from the legacy licensing files.
The fields that matter to a dispatcher
| Field | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| USDOT number | The company's ID in every FMCSA safety record. Never changes. |
| MC number | Its operating authority to haul regulated freight for hire across state lines. See MC number vs USDOT number. |
| Authority granted date | When it could legally start hauling for hire. The best signal of a new carrier. |
| Authority status | Active, pending or inactive. Only active carriers can be dispatched. |
| Power units and drivers | Fleet size as the carrier reported it. Most new authorities run one or two trucks. |
| Phone and email | What the carrier gave the FMCSA. Usually right for new carriers, because they filed recently. |
| MCS-150 date | When the carrier last updated its registration. Every carrier must update it every two years; an old date can mean stale contact details. |
How fresh is it?
The datasets are rebuilt in full each weekday. Most grants show up within a few days of happening, but some arrive later, which is why weekly counts for the most recent week can still grow a little. Contact details are only as current as the carrier's last filing.
One trap: many new carriers use a filing service to set up their authority, and the service's email ends up on the carrier's record. The same address then appears on dozens or hundreds of carriers. Emailing it reaches the agent, not the carrier. HaulBloom flags these shared agent emails so you can leave them out.
Why new authorities are the best leads
A carrier with a brand-new authority has a truck, insurance it is paying for every month, and often no customers yet. Many brokers won't load a carrier whose authority is only weeks old, and new entrants are also in the FMCSA's new entrant safety program, with a safety audit in their first year. That's exactly when a good dispatcher is worth the most to them.
The first people to call a new carrier usually get the conversation. Read how to find new trucking authorities for a simple routine, or see how many were granted in each state last week.
Contacting carriers the right way
- Call during business hours in the carrier's time zone, say who you are and why you're calling, and honor any request not to be contacted again.
- Marketing emails need an accurate sender, a working unsubscribe link and your postal address, under the CAN-SPAM Act.
- Don't use automated dialers or texts to cell phones without consent. Rules like the Telephone Consumer Protection Act apply even when the number is public.
- Keep one shared record of who has been called, so a carrier doesn't hear from three people on your team in one morning.
Putting it to work
You can download the FMCSA datasets yourself; they're large, change every day and need cleaning. HaulBloom does that part: it reads them daily, keeps the active carriers with operating authority, cleans phone numbers, flags agent emails, and gives your team one list with statuses, owners, follow-ups and a morning email. You can also look up any carrier by MC or USDOT number for free.