Claims and complaints: questions and answers

Type the USDOT or MC number into two federal screens before you pay, and match the legal name to the contract. The SAFER Company Snapshot shows the safety record. Licensing and Insurance is the authority search. FMCSA's consumer advisory on automobile transporters, updated 10 February 2015, says interstate auto transporters and brokers must be registered and tells you to check the MC docket. A number on a website is not that match. Public-liability insurance on file is not cargo insurance for the car.

This page will not name one. A low complaint count can mean a small company, a short history, or a site that does not collect complaints. It does not prove the next car will arrive unmarked. Read a pattern: price changes, no-show pickups, and damage claims that go unanswered. Then do the license check anyway. For your own damage, the path is the carrier on the bill of lading, not a ranking.

Photograph it, write an exception on the delivery bill before you sign, and write down the driver, the carrier, and the truck number. Do not wash, buff, or repair the panel first. Do not sign a clean delivery sheet. The contract's clock often starts at delivery. The note is evidence. It is not the claim. You still send a written demand for a specific amount, inside the deadline in the contract. Nothing here promises the carrier will pay.

Notify the carrier named on the bill of lading, in writing. The broker can help you find that carrier. The broker is not automatically the company that pays. Tell them the day you see the damage, even if you already marked the bill. Keep a copy of what you sent and when. If a second company called you the quote and a third company hauled the car, the claim still goes to the carrier that had the car, unless your contract names a different process. RideShipper is neither of those companies.

Before the truck leaves at pickup, and again at delivery, photograph the four corners, the roof if you can see it, each wheel, the glass, the interior, the odometer, and every mark that is already there. Use the same order both times. If you cannot see the roof, write that limit on the bill. Do not sign a line that says the roof was inspected. Photos support the note and the written claim. Under 49 CFR 370.3 they are not the claim by themselves. Keep a copy that does not live on only one phone.

No. Write the exception anyway, in words a stranger can understand, before you sign. Do not sign a blank damage section, and do not sign a line that says the car arrived undamaged if you have not looked. 49 CFR 370.3 says a notation of damage on the delivery receipt, standing alone, is not a claim. You still file a written demand that identifies the shipment, asserts liability, and asks for a specified or determinable amount of money.

The deadline you use today is the one printed in your contract and on the bill of lading. Write it down at delivery. This page does not invent a number of days. If 49 USC 14706 applies, the carrier may not set a claim period under 9 months, or a lawsuit period under 2 years from a written disallowance. Whether your shipment is in that section is a legal question. If the contract is shorter, ask a lawyer. Follow the contract while you get that advice.

Send the carrier a written claim for a specific dollar amount, inside the contract deadline. Identify the shipment. Say they are liable. Ask for an amount that is specified or can be determined, such as a repair estimate you attach. A damage note, an inspection report, or photos, standing alone, are not that filing under 49 CFR 370.3. Keep proof of what you sent. This is general information for interstate shipments, not legal advice, and it does not promise payment.

Photograph it as soon as you see it. Do not wash or repair first. Write down the date you found it and notify the carrier that day, even if you already signed. Your contract may allow a short period for damage you could not see, and it may not. Read that sentence. You still need a written dollar claim inside the deadline the contract states. A signature that says the car was fine is a fact the carrier will raise. Your photos and the limit you noted, if you could not see a panel, are the answer you have.

Under 49 CFR 370.5, the carrier acknowledges a proper written claim within 30 days after receipt, unless it has already paid or declined it in writing in that time. Under 49 CFR 370.9, it pays, declines, or makes a firm compromise offer within 120 days after receipt, or it sends a written status and the reason for delay, then again at least every 60 days. Those clocks are not a promise of payment. They start from a proper claim, not from a note alone.

No. The claim goes to the carrier. Companies that receive a quote request may pay RideShipper. That payment does not make RideShipper the insurer. If you want a correction to something printed on this site, that is a separate editorial process, not a cargo claim.

For the damage, file with the carrier first. That is the claim. For a registration or authority problem, FMCSA's consumer advisory points you to the federal record, and the damage-claim materials cite an FMCSA complaint line at 1-888-368-7238, weekdays, 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Eastern. A complaint is not a substitute for the written dollar claim, and it does not pause the contract deadline. You can also report a scam pattern to the Better Business Bureau. Keep the contract, the bill, and your photos.