How DOTScreener Works
Three steps — review, verify, document — produce a tamper-evident record of every carrier screening, preserved as part of your system of record.
Why DOTScreener Exists
On May 14, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 9–0 in Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II that freight brokers owe a duty of reasonable care when selecting carriers. Documented carrier-review procedures matter more than ever.
The Need
Without a record at the moment of screening, the diligence is hard to reconstruct accurately later. Capturing it as part of the workflow keeps it contemporaneous and consistent.
The Approach
DOTScreener produces a timestamped, tamper-evident operational record automatically on every load — with zero friction for your operations team.
What every screen produces
One timestamped Carrier Selection Record per screen — a clear decision, the findings behind it, the carrier's attestation, and a tamper-evident audit trail. It assembles automatically.
Live FMCSA snapshot
Authority · insurance · BASICs · OOS history
Policy result
Clear / Review / Block, evaluated against your thresholds
Carrier attestation
Signed, with a shareable verification link
Decision rationale
Reviewer, decision, and notes
Contemporaneous timestamp
The time of selection, fixed on the record
A clear decision first — Clear, Review, or Block — so your team can act in seconds.
Only the findings that matter, shown against FMCSA national averages instead of raw numbers.
The carrier's signed attestation, captured with a shareable verification link.
A hash-chained timestamp, so the record can be shown unaltered after the fact.
Review the Carrier
Enter an MC or DOT number. DOTScreener pulls authority, insurance, safety, and out-of-service data in parallel, then joins it to the Fleet Intelligence layer — the equipment the carrier actually runs. The full review loads in under 60 seconds.
All four queries run simultaneously. Every check is scored against your brokerage’s configurable screening policy — you set the thresholds. The screen then resolves to a single Review Status — Clear, Review Recommended, Elevated Review, or Policy Block — so your team gets one clear recommendation, not raw data.
Every data point is timestamped at retrieval — the screen captures what FMCSA reported at the time you made the decision, not what the database shows weeks later.
The equipment layer most screening tools don't have.
Every screen joins the carrier's authority and safety data to a separate fleet-intelligence layer — the equipment they actually run, decoded down to axle count, trailer length, and tractor↔trailer pairings.
Tractors observed
Year, make, model, body class, GVWR class, and the carrier-assigned unit number recorded on the door of the truck.
Trailers observed
Body type (reefer, van, flat, tank), trailer length, and axle configuration — the spec a broker actually needs to match a load.
Tractor ⇌ trailer pairings
Which trailer each tractor most often pulls — derived from observed activity, not carrier self-report.
Plates · states · last seen
The plates a unit runs under, the states it's been observed in, and how recently — the recency signal that matters.
Why this changes screening
A broker is tendering a 53′ reefer load. The carrier's authority is clean. Insurance is on file. Safety rating is satisfactory. Under any traditional screening tool, that's a green light.
But the carrier's observed fleet is 18 dry vans. No reefers. The Fleet Intelligence layer surfaces that in the same screen, so the broker can decide the carrier doesn't fit the load — before the truck shows up at pickup.
We're intentionally not publishing how the layer is assembled. What we'll say: it's derived from verified public-record sources and manufacturer specifications, and it reflects observed activity rather than carrier self-report.
Carrier Signs the Safety Attestation
The carrier receives one email with one link. No account, no login, no uploads. The attestation is built from the screen — a standard core set plus checks matched to its specific concerns — one signature, done.
The attestation is built from the screen
When an attestation is requested, it includes a standard core set. DOTScreener then adds targeted checks onlyfor the specific concerns your screening surfaced — so the carrier confirms exactly what’s relevant, not generic boilerplate.
The Attestation Gate
This is server-enforced — not a checkbox your team can skip. A screen cannot be marked APPROVED until the carrier’s signature lands. The system architecture documents that the attestation was collected before the screen moved to APPROVED status.
Carrier Selection Record
The moment you approve the load, DOTScreener auto-generates a single tamper-evident PDF — everything bundled into one documented diligence record.
If a claim ever arises, you have one clean PDF ready. The hash chain makes tampering evident — any alteration breaks the chain and is immediately visible. No scrambling, no missing attestations, no gaps.
The Tamper-Evident Audit Trail
Every event is cryptographically linked. Alter one record and the entire chain breaks — visible to anyone who checks.
Same tamper-evidence property as blockchain systems, without the complexity. Each Carrier Selection Record includes the full chain for independent verification by any party.
16 Safety Checks Per Screen
Each check is scored against thresholds you configure in your brokerage’s screening policy, and the full screen resolves to a single Review Status — Clear, Review Recommended, Elevated Review, or Policy Block.
The policy is yours to own — DOTScreener enforces it consistently across every team member.
What DOTScreener Does & Doesn’t Do
What it does
- Screens carriers against live FMCSA data in seconds
- Monitors carriers daily and alerts you when FMCSA data changes
- Surfaces what equipment the carrier actually runs — tractors, trailers, axles, body type
- Shows tractor↔trailer pairings from observed activity
- Surfaces insurance term-end dates and filing history
- Reads uploaded insurance certificates (COIs) with AI OCR — coverage limits, expiration dates, and every VIN — and verifies the named insured matches the carrier
- Pulls 389k+ OOS records on every screen
- Collects carrier documentation responses
- Auto-generates tamper-evident Carrier Selection Records
- Issues branded Carrier Documentation Response Records
- Detects broker-only entities (double-broker flag)
- Builds SHA-256 tamper-evident audit trails
- Driver ID Capture — license photo + face photo
- Configurable risk thresholds for every data point
- TMS Integration API for programmatic screening
What it is not
- Not a cargo-theft prevention platform
- Not a guarantee of future safety or performance
- Not a carrier directory or load board
- Not a crash prediction engine
- Not legal advice or a legal guarantee
Free for everyone. Unlimited reviews.
Completely free — no credit card required.
Free for every team member
Unlimited carrier reviews. No caps. No overages.
See what's included — completely free, no credit card required.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does a carrier screen take?
Under 60 seconds. DOTScreener pulls live carrier data from multiple authoritative sources in parallel — authority, insurance, safety scores, OOS history — and joins that to its Fleet Intelligence layer so the full report loads in a single pass.
What is Fleet Intelligence?
The equipment layer on every screen. For each carrier we surface the tractors and trailers they actually run — year, make, model, body class, axle count, trailer length — plus which trailer each tractor most often pulls. This is derived from verified public-record sources and manufacturer specifications, not carrier self-report. So when you're tendering a 53′ reefer load, you can see in seconds whether the carrier's observed fleet matches. The full method is proprietary.
Does the carrier need to create an account?
No. The carrier receives one email with one link. They review the attestation built for that screen — a standard core set plus any checks tied to the specific concerns the screening surfaced — sign once, and they're done. Whether an attestation is requested at all is driven by your policy and the screen result (it can be not required, recommended, or required). No account, no login, no uploads. The broker already has their COI on file.
How does DOTScreener read insurance certificates (COIs)?
Upload a certificate of insurance as a PDF or a phone photo — even an iPhone HEIC snapshot — and DOTScreener reads it automatically with AI-powered document OCR. It pulls out the structured details that matter: each liability and cargo coverage with its limit, deductible, and effective/expiration dates, plus every truck and trailer VIN on the schedule (each VIN is then decoded against NHTSA vPIC for make, model, and year). Before anything is attached, an identity guard cross-checks the certificate's own named insured — legal name, USDOT/MC, and address — against the carrier you're screening. If they don't match, the document is quarantined and flagged so a wrong-carrier COI never lands on your record or your fleet data. Everything captured becomes part of the same tamper-evident screening file.
What happens if the carrier doesn't sign the attestation?
Inside DOTScreener, the screen cannot be marked APPROVED — the diligence-file artifact — until the carrier's signature lands. This is server-enforced and applies to DOTScreener's approval state, not to your underlying load-management system. The result is a clean evidentiary record that you did not move the load to APPROVED status in your diligence file without the attestation in hand.
What is the Carrier Selection Record?
A single tamper-evident PDF auto-generated the moment you approve the load. It bundles the FMCSA snapshot, insurance filing history, OOS order records, the carrier's signed attestation, and a SHA-256 tamper-evident audit trail. If a claim ever arises, you have one clean document ready for your insurer or attorney.
What does 'tamper-evident audit trail' mean?
Every event in a screening — data pull, risk evaluation, attestation signature, approval — is hashed with SHA-256 and linked to the previous event's hash. If anyone altered or deleted an event after the fact, the chain would break and the tampering would be visible. This gives the record the same tamper-evidence property used in blockchain systems, without the complexity.
Where does DOTScreener get its data?
All carrier data is pulled live from the FMCSA at the moment of screening. DOTScreener queries QCMobile (safety scores, crash and inspection history), L&I (insurance filings with expiration dates), the Out-of-Service order feed (389k+ records), and Census (authority status, entity type). No cached databases, no stale snapshots.
How much does it cost?
Nothing — DOTScreener is completely free for everyone right now. Every feature, unlimited carrier reviews, your whole team, no credit card required. Brokers, shippers, and carriers all use it free. Need SSO, API access, or custom retention for a large organization? Contact us through the enterprise inquiry form.
Does DOTScreener replace our TMS or load board?
No. DOTScreener is a carrier-selection documentation tool. It runs alongside your existing TMS and load board — you screen the carrier, collect the attestation, and the selection record is generated. It does not manage loads, track shipments, or replace any part of your load-management workflow.
Document your diligence on every load.
Screen carriers, collect attestations, and auto-generate tamper-evident selection records — all in under 60 seconds.
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