Freight Tips
What to Ask a New Freight Carrier Before Tendering a Load
New carriers can run newer equipment and tighter service than incumbents, if you ask the right questions. A practical due-diligence checklist for shippers.
- Author
- Illyro Logistics
- Published
- Reading time
- 1 min
TL;DR. A new carrier is not automatically a risk. New asset-based carriers run newer equipment, take direct ownership of every load, and have time to handle freight that incumbents would push down their queue. The real risk is tendering loads without the basic vetting that should happen on every carrier, regardless of age.
The basic vet, in one page
Before tendering a load to any motor carrier, including Illyro, confirm:
- USDOT number is active and registered for property. Verify on FMCSA SAFER.
- MC authority is active. Check operating authority status.
- Insurance is on file. $750k minimum auto liability for general freight, $100k cargo. Many shippers require $1M and $100k.
- CSA scores are within thresholds. Look at unsafe driving, hours-of-service compliance, and vehicle maintenance BASICs.
- W-9, certificate of insurance, and a signed broker-carrier or shipper-carrier agreement.
Questions that separate carriers
Past the paperwork, ask:
- Who answers the phone at 6pm on a Friday when a load is en route?
- What is the equipment, how old is it, and who maintains it?
- What is the chain of custody from pickup to delivery? How many hands touch the freight?
- What is the protocol when a pickup or delivery appointment slips?
The answers tell you whether you are working with an asset-based carrier that controls its own trucks or a brokered relationship dressed as one.
How Illyro answers those questions
We are a family-owned, asset-based carrier. Ownership is on every load. Our trucks are late-model semi sleepers, maintained on schedule, pulling full truckloads across all trailer types. The phone is answered by the same people who quote the freight.
For our full positioning, see the about page. For a rate, send a quote request.