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The Carrier Vetting Checklist

25 Essential Verification Steps Before Tendering Freight

Use this checklist to assess whether your carrier vetting process meets industry standards for fraud prevention, compliance, and risk management. The 25 items below represent the verification steps that separate high-risk carrier relationships from protected ones.

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25 checks 5 sections Free — no form to fill out
Checks you can verify today
0 / 25
Tick each item you can verify today — for every carrier, every time.
Can't tick them all? Schedule a 30-minute call →

Run every carrier through these 25 checks

If you can't verify an item, leave it unticked — that's a gap. Your score updates as you go.

1

Basic Carrier Credentials & Authority

0/6
2

Insurance & Liability

0/4
3

Safety & Compliance Records

0/5
4

Identity & Fraud Prevention

0/6
5

Operational Verification

0/4

How to Score Your Carrier Vetting

  • 25Full compliance. Carrier is approved with no restrictions.
  • 22–24Acceptable compliance. May require manager override with additional controls.
  • 20–21Below standard. Requires compliance approval and enhanced monitoring.
  • < 20Do not approve. Risk is unacceptable.

Critical Red Flags — Stop & Escalate

Any carrier with these conditions should be immediately rejected:

  • ANY fatal crashes in past 2 years
  • Active identity theft or fraud alerts
  • Non-Domiciled or Limited-Term drivers in fleet
  • Broker authority (for motor carrier role)
  • Active out-of-service orders
  • No insurance certificates or insufficient coverage
  • Authority less than 365 days continuous operation
  • Cannot provide active tracking or live location capability
Let's talk

Can't tick every box? We should have a conversation.

If your purchasing team, freight broker, or 3PL can't reliably tick all of these boxes — for every carrier, every time — you're carrying risk you may not be able to see. Schedule a 30-minute call and we'll talk through your situation.

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Or email us directly at sales@supplychainsolutionscorp.com

This checklist represents industry-standard carrier vetting requirements. The goal is to eliminate high-risk carriers and catch fraud vectors before they become problems. General guidance only — adapt thresholds to your own policies. Authority, insurance, and safety data are available through FMCSA's public tools (SAFER, SMS, and Licensing & Insurance).