Broker-carrier agreement basics

the agreement is not the vetting

A signed broker-carrier agreement allocates risk. It does not make an unauthorized carrier authorized. Do the FMCSA checks first. Then paper the relationship.

A carrier who will not pass L&I does not become coverable because they signed your packet. A carrier who passes L&I still needs a contract that matches how you actually dispatch and pay.

Keep the dated authority and insurance check with the agreement. The packet without the check is a signature collection. The check without a matching legal name on the packet is a different company.

If onboarding is "sign this and you are approved," stop the process. Approval is L&I plus identity. The signature is later. Reversing that order is how unauthorized names enter the book.

legal name equals fmcsa legal name

The name on the agreement must be the FMCSA legal name or a listed DBA. Close spellings, extra words, and a different entity type are stops. Identity theft often keeps the DOT in the email and changes the legal name on the PDF.

W-9 legal name matches FMCSA legal name (or a documented DBA). Factoring NOA, if any, names that same entity. The agreement should not introduce a fourth name.

If they want the contract in a holding-company name that has no docket, stop. You are contracting with the motor carrier who will haul, or you are contracting with the wrong party.

DBA must be listed on the census record. A brand on a truck door that is not a listed DBA and not the legal name is a match failure. Put the FMCSA string on the signature block.

no re-broker clause

49 CFR Part 371 governs brokers. A motor carrier without broker authority cannot lawfully broker the load to someone else and keep you in the dark. Put a no-re-broker clause in the agreement: no re-brokering without written consent and proper broker authority.

The clause does not detect the conduct. Your desk does: pickup number from a third company, rate con name-change an hour before pickup, dispatcher who will not give the census phone.

If they have broker authority and you agree in writing to a co-broker, that is a different paper trail. Silent re-broker is the failure mode. The agreement should say so in plain language.

A motor carrier who also holds broker authority can still re-broker your load. The dual grant is not consent. Written consent and a named second party are consent. Otherwise treat a third-company pickup number as a stop.

cargo named insured

Require cargo liability and a named insured that is the motor carrier. Certificates that name a related LLC are a gap. Limits must meet your shipper and your load value, not a number copied from 49 CFR 387.9.

387.9 is public liability. Do not let the agreement treat BI&PD as cargo. Spell both: federal liability filings on L&I, and cargo by policy with named insured and exclusions.

The agreement can require notice of lapse. Notice is not a filing. You still look at L&I. No clause should pretend a certificate replaces L&I.

payment and noa

Payment routed per notice of assignment when the carrier factors. Paying the wrong party can mean paying twice. The agreement should say you will honor a verified NOA for that legal entity.

If the carrier later asks you to ignore the NOA, stop and call the factor on a number from the factor's site. The agreement is not permission to follow a chat-message account change.

Dispatch services do not become payees unless you contracted with them. Payment instructions in the dispatcher's personal account are a reject even if the agreement with the MC is signed.

what the packet should attach

Dated L&I screen, QCMobile or SAFER snapshot, and the W-9. If they factor, the NOA. If the load needs cargo endorsements (reefer breakdown, named commodities), those pages too.

Version the agreement. A 2019 packet sitting in email is not evidence you checked authority in 2026. Tie each cover to a check date even when the master agreement is old.

Electronic signature is fine if you can show who signed for which legal name. A first-name scrawl on a PDF with a different LLC in the header is not fine.

Missing W-9 or a W-9 EIN that belongs to a different LLC is a payment and identity problem. Fix it before the first invoice, not after the factor calls.

agreements do not fix after-hours identity

A signed packet from last quarter does not identify the person asking for a rate con change at 9 p.m. Still match name, MC, and DOT. Still open L&I if this is a new docket or a swapped MC.

Do not send a blank agreement as a substitute for a callback to the census phone. Paper is not a voice on the census line.

If they refuse to sign terms you need (no re-broker, named insured, NOA payment), do not cover and hope the rate con saves you. The rate con should repeat the same names and numbers.

indemnity is not a grant

Hold-harmless and indemnity clauses allocate lawsuits. They do not create operating authority. They do not put a BMC-91 on file. A carrier who signs a fierce indemnity and has no active docket is still not coverable.

Do not let a sales person trade a stronger indemnity for a skipped L&I look. The file will show the skip. The clause will not fill the screenshot.

Contingent cargo policies a broker buys are the broker's own insurance conversation with their agent. They are not the carrier's cargo named insured. Do not treat your contingent policy as the carrier check.

If counsel updates the packet, the desk still attaches a current FMCSA check. New legalese on page 4 does not refresh an authority status from last quarter.

desk checklist

• FMCSA checks completed before the packet is treated as coverable.
• Agreement legal name = FMCSA legal name or listed DBA.
• No-re-broker without written consent and proper broker authority.
• Cargo named insured is the motor carrier; BI&PD and cargo are separate lines.
• Payment follows verified NOA for that same entity.
• No clause that pretends a certificate replaces L&I.
• W-9, snapshot, and L&I dated and kept with the agreement.

what belongs in the load file

• Signed agreement naming the FMCSA legal entity.
• Dated authority and insurance check referenced or attached.
• W-9 matching that name.
• NOA if factored, verified to the same legal name.

fail closed

• Agreement name does not match FMCSA legal name or listed DBA.
• Carrier wants payment to a dispatcher or an unverified account against a factoring NOA.
• They will not agree to no-re-broker terms and you have no written co-broker consent.
• Packet signed, L&I never opened.