In short
The Trust Score combines five FMCSA-published signals — operating authority, crash rate, out-of-service rate, insurance currency, and historical-continuity flags — into a single 0–100 number. Carriers without enough public data are placed in a separate Limited History tier rather than given a misleadingly high score.
1. The five score components
Every score starts at 0 and earns points from five components, all computed from the carrier's own public record. The maximum is 100. There are no default or free points.
| Component | Max points | How it is earned |
|---|---|---|
| Authority & compliance | 30 | Active authority 15 · insurance filing on record 8 (carriers with no for-hire docket are not penalised) · MCS-150 updated within the last 2 years 4 · no prior authority revocation 3 |
| Crash record (24 months) | 25 | Scaled to fleet size: crashes per 100 trucks. 0 crashes = 25 · up to 2 per 100 = 20 · up to 5 = 13 · up to 10 = 6 · above 10 = 0. Each fatal crash removes 3 more points (max 9). |
| Vehicle out-of-service rate | 20 | Compared with the national average: at or below it = 20 · up to 1.5× = 12 · above 1.5× = 4. Fewer than 5 vehicle inspections = 12 (not enough to judge). |
| Driver out-of-service rate | 15 | Same comparison with the national driver average: 15 / 9 / 3; fewer than 5 driver inspections = 9. |
| Experience | 10 | Years of operating authority: 3+ years = 10 · 1–3 years = 6 · under 1 year = 3. |
Deductions and caps
- Active federal out-of-service order: the score is capped at 10, whatever else is on the record.
- Acute or critical violation confirmed in an FMCSA investigation: −10 points.
- History-continuity (chameleon) indicators: −20 points for a strong match (score 70+) or −8 for a partial match (30–69). Matches compare officers, addresses and phone numbers against carriers whose authority was revoked; common names are filtered out and officer matches need at least two name words.
Why scale crashes by fleet size? A carrier running 25,000 trucks will always log more crashes than one running five. Per-100-truck rates and comparisons with the national average make a large fleet and a small fleet comparable.
2. What each tier means
The 0–100 number is also presented as a tier badge with a color. Tier thresholds:
Healthy — 80–100
Active authority, low or zero crashes, strong inspection record, no continuity flags. Suitable starting point for carrier vetting; due diligence still recommended for any contract over your risk tolerance.
Mixed — 50–79
Some warning signals (a crash, elevated OOS, modest history flags), but no single critical issue. Look at which specific chips contributed to the score before making a booking decision.
Caution — 0–49
Multiple stacked issues: inactive authority, high crash rate, high OOS rate, or strong continuity flags. Verify carefully against FMCSA SAFER and consider alternatives.
Limited History — insufficient data
Carrier has fewer than 3 inspections AND zero crashes on record. The scoring formula would give a misleadingly high number from absence of bad signals. Instead we surface the data gap directly. More on this below.
3. Brand-new carriers — the Limited History tier
About 8–12% of active US motor carriers have less than 3 FMCSA inspections on file. Most are simply new (registered in the past 12–18 months) and haven't hit a roadside inspection station yet. A small number are tiny fleets that genuinely operate at very low miles.
The honest problem: our formula awards full points for "zero crashes" and partial credit for "limited inspection history." A brand-new carrier with no record at all would score 80+ — labeled "Healthy" — even though we have no actual evidence of how safely they operate. That's misleading. Healthy implies "proven track record." A 30-day-old carrier has no track record yet.
Our solution: when a carrier has 0 crashes AND fewer than 3 inspections, we suppress the numeric score and show the Limited History tier instead. The widget displays a question mark, "No data" subtitle, and a direct link to the carrier's FMCSA SAFER profile so users can verify and form their own opinion.
This costs us a tidier-looking score on tens of thousands of pages. We accept that cost because telling the truth about data gaps is more useful to shippers, brokers, and insurers than a confidence-projecting number that doesn't reflect reality.
4. What we do NOT use
The Trust Score uses only public, machine-verifiable government data. We deliberately exclude:
- User reviews or ratings. Trucking-industry "review" sites are full of retaliatory feedback from disputes, brokers blacklisting carriers, or coordinated reputation attacks. They don't reflect safety.
- Broker-credit reports. Whether brokers paid a carrier on time tells you nothing about whether their trucks pass DOT inspections.
- BBB ratings, social media sentiment, news mentions. Subjective signals drift further from safety with every step.
- Manual editorial overrides. No human at O Trucking can raise or lower an individual carrier's score. The formula is the same for every USDOT number on the site.
- Pay-to-promote signals. Carriers cannot buy a higher score. We do not offer that product.
Every input maps to an FMCSA or NHTSA public dataset that anyone can audit independently.
5. Data freshness
Scores are built from public motor-carrier records — registration and MCS-150 filings, roadside inspections, crashes, insurance filings, out-of-service orders and authority history — refreshed on daily and monthly cycles. Each carrier page shows when its data last changed, and the score is recomputed whenever the page is rebuilt.
6. Why we publish this score
FMCSA publishes carrier safety data in a deliberately raw, technical format intended for inspectors and compliance officers. Most of it is correct, useful, and free — but practically inaccessible to a small fleet owner trying to vet a partner, or a shipper trying to pick a carrier for next Tuesday's load.
The Trust Score is one number that lets people who don't live inside FMCSA terminology start a vetting conversation. It's explicitly not a substitute for due diligence — every carrier page on this site links directly to the carrier's SAFER snapshot for verification. It's a starting point, not a verdict.
7. Frequently asked questions
Does my carrier need to pay anything to get a score?
No. Every USDOT-registered carrier in the FMCSA database has a Trust Score on this site, computed from public data. There is no paid tier, no remove-my-score fee, and no manual adjustment available for purchase.
My carrier's score looks wrong — how do I correct it?
Trust Scores are computed automatically from FMCSA's public data, which we re-sync monthly. If a fact on your carrier page is wrong, the underlying government record is almost always the source of the error. Carriers correct it by filing an updated MCS-150 with FMCSA; our pages pick up the change on the next sync.
My address matches another carrier's — we're unrelated. Why are you linking us?
The "Other Carriers Registered at This Address" block surfaces address overlaps from FMCSA's public registry. Shared addresses commonly reflect legitimate co-location (industrial parks, registered-agent services, multi-fleet owners). The block carries an explicit disclaimer that overlap does not imply wrongdoing. If a specific entry is incorrect at FMCSA, fix it at the source via your MCS-150.
Why doesn't my brand-new carrier have a number?
Carriers with fewer than 3 FMCSA inspections and zero crashes are placed in the Limited History tier. The formula would otherwise give a high score from the absence of bad signals, which would mislead shippers about the carrier's actual track record. Once you accumulate inspection history, your score will appear automatically.
Is this the same as the FMCSA SMS percentile?
No. SMS percentiles are FMCSA's seven BASIC scores (Unsafe Driving, HOS Compliance, Driver Fitness, Controlled Substances, Vehicle Maintenance, Hazmat, Crash Indicator). They're used for FMCSA prioritization. Our Trust Score is broader — it includes authority status and continuity flags — and produces one number a non-specialist can act on. Both have value; we link to FMCSA SMS where applicable so you can compare.
Does O Trucking use these scores when dispatching for owner-operators?
When we dispatch loads on behalf of carriers we work with, we vet the broker on the other end — not the carrier we're representing. The Trust Score is a tool for the public; our internal vetting goes deeper and uses additional non-public signals (broker-credit history, payment timeliness, etc.) that don't belong on a public page.
About this page: Methodology last updated April 28, 2026 by the O Trucking Research Team. Material changes to component weights or tier thresholds will be noted here with a dated changelog.
Have a question or correction? Email research@otrucking.com with the relevant USDOT number.