Brokers, carriers, and licences: questions and answers

A broker arranges the truck. A carrier moves the car. Under 49 CFR 371.2, a broker, for compensation, arranges or offers to arrange transportation by an authorized motor carrier. A carrier that is hauling freight it is authorized to haul, and that it has accepted, is not a broker for that shipment. You may pay the broker and meet a different company's driver. 49 CFR 371.7 says a broker may not represent itself as a carrier, and its advertising has to show broker status, in the name on its registration. RideShipper is neither.

Ask any company for its legal name and its USDOT or MC number, then look that number up yourself. The SAFER Company Snapshot is the safety record. The FMCSA Licensing and Insurance search is the authority record. The legal name on both has to match the contract. A slogan on a website is not that match. RideShipper shows a price range first. If you request quotes, licensed companies that serve the route contact you.

Yes. You can call a carrier and hire that carrier. You still look up its authority on SAFER and on the Licensing and Insurance search before you pay. A direct carrier may already be full, so the wait can be longer than a broker who is offering the load to many trucks. The contract should name the carrier that will haul. If a company will not say whether it is the broker or the carrier, stop. 49 CFR 371.7 forbids a broker from advertising as the carrier.

The word on the homepage is not the test. Look up the legal name. Broker authority and carrier authority are different registrations. 49 CFR 371.7 says a broker shall not represent its operations as those of a carrier, and advertising has to show broker status. If the contract is with one company and the truck belongs to another, you are dealing with an arranger plus a carrier. Ask which name is on the bill of lading. The federal screens will.

No. The bond does not insure the car. 49 CFR 387.307 requires a property broker to have a surety bond or trust fund of $75,000 in effect. FMCSA will not register the broker without it. That security pays shippers or motor carriers if the broker fails to carry out its transportation contracts. It is not the carrier's freight pay, and it is not cargo coverage on your vehicle. Ask the carrier for the cargo limit in writing. Public liability for many for-hire trucks, under 49 CFR 387.9, is a separate $750,000 filing, and that figure is not a stated value for your car either.

49 CFR 371.3 says each party to a brokered transaction has the right to review the broker's record of that transaction. Brokers keep those records for three years. The record covers the shipment, including what was paid and the payment to the carrier. Ask for the broker's fee and the carrier's freight charge before you pay a deposit, and ask for the carrier's name and registration number once one is assigned. A quote that will not say either number is not finished.

No. RideShipper is a free comparison and quote-request service owned by World Media Group LLC. You see a price range before you give a name, email, or phone. If you ask for quotes, you tick a consent box, and licensed auto transport companies that serve the route contact you. A company that receives a request may pay RideShipper.

Pay the company named in the contract you sign, and know which role it has. If you hired a broker, the total often splits into the broker's fee and the freight the carrier is paid. Ask for both numbers before a deposit. The driver at the curb works for the carrier, or for a carrier the broker booked. Do not pay a new person, by a payment app, just because they claim to be the driver. A deposit, if you agree to one, is charged by the company you hire.

A broker offers your car to motor carriers until one accepts. The offer is the lane, the vehicle, the dates, and the pay the carrier would earn. Your quoted price is not a government rate. It is real only when a carrier agrees to haul for that money. That acceptance is dispatch. Everything before it is a search. If no carrier accepts, the first number can fail. Read whether the contract lets the price change when that happens. RideShipper's range is an earlier model. It is not the broker's offer and not dispatch.

There is no federal quota for your load. An open trailer and an enclosed trailer hold different counts, and two trucks of the same type are not identical. The useful fact is whether your car fits the space that carrier has on the days you can release it, including height and ground clearance. Ask that carrier what that truck holds and where your car would sit. A number you saw in an ad is that ad's equipment, not a rule. Ask the carrier that would haul your car. An ad's headcount is not your load.

That count belongs to the ship. A foreign voyage is booked with the ocean line, not as a highway quote. A highway car carrier and a vessel are different equipment. Hawaii, Alaska, and Puerto Rico are U.S. ocean moves with named operators, and those operators publish what they accept. They do not publish a single national headcount you can reuse. Ask the line for the sailing you would actually use. Do not apply a truck-trailer guess to a ship.