FMCSA Warns Against Selling or Buying DOT Numbers
When going for a drug test, using someone else’s material whether that be hair or urine is illegal. The same can be said about USDOT Numbers and Operating Authorities. In an effort to crack down on chameleon carriers, the Federal Motor Carrier Administration (FMCSA) is reminding trucking businesses that these numbers are non-transferrable.
Details
Chameleon carriers exist to skirt the rules of safety: when their safety ratings get too low, they take a path of less resistance by closing up shop and starting over with a blank slate. Oftentimes, doing so entails buying the DOT number from an individual or corporation.
As of the current time of publishing, nothing has changed: selling and buying these numbers have always flown directly in the face of regulation. The FMCSA just wants to remind trucking companies that these transactions always take two: one to buy and one to sell.
“These efforts are about restoring integrity and safety,” Sean Duffy said in the original announcement targeting these bad actors. “When we get on the road, we should expect that we should be safe and that those who drive those 80,000-pound big rigs are well trained, they are well qualified and they’re going to be safe.”
“We’re going to have way more stringent regulations for our carriers,” Duffy continued. “One individual can get 100 different DOT numbers. We want to make sure that the DOT number is connected to an actual individual.”
As it currently stands, the only way to transfer a DOT number within regulations is for a corporation to be sold in whole and adopted by another entity.
Conclusion
The long and short of it is that if you are following normal procedures of getting one DOT number for your business and just using it to drive trucks, you have nothing to fear. The FMCSA just wants to make it abundantly clear that transferring these numbers, especially when there is money involved, is a bad move.
The FMCSA says it will immediately deactivate DOT numbers that it finds are being used by different entities that apply for one, but has not yet said if it will take direct punitive actions against buyers and sellers. Just to be on the safe side, if someone offers to buy your DOT number, be sure to say no!
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