What do Not Authorized and Inactive USDOT mean?

The operating status line, value by value

• AUTHORIZED FOR Property, Passenger or HHG: the authority types the carrier or broker is allowed to operate under.
• NOT AUTHORIZED: active USDOT number, no operating authority. SAFER adds that this status does not apply to private or intrastate operations.
• OUT-OF-SERVICE: the carrier is under an out-of-service order of some kind and may not operate.
• Inactive USDOT Number: the biennial MCS-150 update was not completed.

Out-of-service orders, and how they differ from inspection out-of-service rates, are explained in the out-of-service guide.

Why a carrier shows NOT AUTHORIZED

The status describes the authority, not the company’s history, so there are several routes to it. The company may never have held authority, for example a private fleet that hauls only its own goods, which SAFER says the status does not apply to. Its application may still be pending; FMCSA’s Licensing and Insurance carrier search covers carriers with applications pending as well as those granted authority.

Or the authority ended. A registrant can ask FMCSA to revoke or suspend its own authority. FMCSA can also suspend, amend or revoke a registration after notice, for reasons that include willful failure to comply with the rules or failure to pay a civil penalty. If a carrier does not keep the required insurance on file with FMCSA, its operating authority is revoked or suspended involuntarily. A for-hire carrier’s authority cannot stay in force without accepted proof of liability coverage on file. When a carrier does not pay a civil penalty within 90 days after the date set in FMCSA’s final order, its registration is suspended.

Why a USDOT number goes inactive

Every interstate carrier must file its MCS-150 before operating and update it every 24 months, in a month set by the last digit of its USDOT number. A carrier that misses the biennial update can be penalized and can have its USDOT number deactivated. In VetCarrier’s October 2026 tests, SAFER showed a “Record Inactive” page instead of a full snapshot for such numbers, so the detail is not visible there either.

An inactive number tells you the registration is not being kept up. It does not tell you why, and it is not something to accept on the carrier’s word that “it is being fixed”: wait until the record shows the number as active.

The FMCSA field that can mislead

FMCSA’s data service has an “allowed to operate” field that it defines as whether a carrier is allowed to operate by law. It notes that when the field is Y, no out-of-service date is listed. In VetCarrier’s October 2026 test of 475 FMCSA records, the field read Y exactly when no out-of-service order existed, including for carriers with inactive authority or an inactive USDOT number. A tool that prints that field on its own can therefore show “allowed to operate” next to a dead record. Read the authority status and the USDOT status, not that field alone.

What to do before you tender

1. Look up the MC number and read the operating status and USDOT status first. How to check an MC number covers the rest of the snapshot.
2. If it says NOT AUTHORIZED, ask the carrier why and when the authority will be active; for a for-hire interstate load, wait until the record shows AUTHORIZED FOR Property.
3. If the USDOT number is inactive, wait until it is active again on the record before you book.
4. When a status has just changed back to active, confirm the carrier’s phone and email through contact details you found yourself. The FBI reports that criminals change real carriers’ contact information with FMCSA.
5. Save a dated copy of the record you relied on with the load file.

What to watch out for

• A carrier offering a different MC or USDOT number than the one on its paperwork, or asking you to book under another company’s authority.
• A broker-only record presented as a carrier. Broker authority is a license to arrange transportation, not to haul it.
• Insurance on file below the requirement next to an authority status that just changed: missing insurance is one route to involuntary revocation.