Freight Tips
What to Ask a New Box Truck Carrier Before Tendering a Load
New carriers can run cleaner 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 carriers run newer equipment, take direct ownership of every load, and have time to handle freight that incumbents would push down their queue. The risk is shippers tendering loads without doing 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, HOS compliance, and vehicle maintenance BASICs.
- W-9, certificate of insurance, and 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 age, 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 owner-operator carrier or a brokered relationship dressed as one.
How Illyro answers those questions
We are a small, owner-involved carrier. Ownership is on every load. Equipment is modern and maintained on schedule. 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.