Frequently Asked Questions

A Carrier Health & Insurance Profile (CHIP) report is a comprehensive overview of a motor carrier's safety and compliance status. It includes:

• BASIC percentiles and safety scores
• Insurance filings (liability, cargo, bonds)
• Operating authority status
• Fleet size and operation type
• Inspection and crash history
• Compliance indicators and recovery forecasts

CHIP reports are commonly used by insurance companies, brokers, shippers, and carriers themselves to assess risk and compliance.

Our data is refreshed regularly from FMCSA sources:

• Census data: Updated weekly
• Insurance filings: Updated daily
• Safety scores (SMS): Updated monthly
• Inspection data: Updated as reported

A CAB (Compliance, Accountability, and Behavior) score is a composite metric that combines multiple safety indicators into a single number from 0-100. It considers:

• BASIC percentiles
• Out-of-service rates
• Inspection frequency
• Violation severity

Lower CAB scores indicate better safety performance.

This is one of the most common questions we receive:

Primary Auto Liability:

• First layer of coverage
• Pays claims from the first dollar up to the policy limit
• Underlying limit = $0
• Required for all for-hire motor carriers

Excess Auto Liability:

• Additional coverage layer
• Only kicks in AFTER primary coverage is exhausted
• Optional additional protection

BMC-91 and BMC-91X are FMCSA form codes for auto liability insurance filings:

• BMC-91: Standard auto liability form
• BMC-91X: Alternate auto liability form (often used for excess coverage, but not always)

Common FMCSA insurance filing forms include:

• BMC-91/91X: Auto Liability (BIPD)
• BMC-34: Cargo Insurance
• BMC-82: Broker Surety Bond
• BMC-84: Freight Forwarder Surety Bond
• BMC-85: Broker Trust Fund Agreement

FMCSA minimum liability requirements vary by operation type:

• General Freight (non-hazmat): $750,000
• Household Goods: $750,000
• Passengers (≤15): $1,500,000
• Passengers (>15): $5,000,000
• Hazmat (non-bulk): $1,000,000
• Hazmat (bulk): $5,000,000
• Oil Hazmat: $1,000,000

BASICs (Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories) are seven categories FMCSA uses to measure carrier safety:

• Unsafe Driving - Speeding, reckless driving, seatbelt violations
• HOS Compliance - Hours-of-service violations, log falsification
• Driver Fitness - Invalid CDL, medical certificate issues
• Controlled Substances/Alcohol - Drug/alcohol violations
• Vehicle Maintenance - Brake defects, lighting issues, tire problems
• Hazmat Compliance - Hazardous materials handling violations
• Crash Indicator - Crash history and severity

Percentiles range from 0-100. Higher percentiles = worse safety performance compared to peer carriers.

A carrier shows "Not Subject to Threshold" when they don't have enough inspection data in a BASIC category to generate a statistically valid percentile.

This can happen when:

• The carrier is new and hasn't had enough inspections
• The carrier has no violations in that category
• There's insufficient data for that specific BASIC

This status appears when a carrier:

• HAS Hazardous Materials (HM) authorization on file
• BUT doesn't have sufficient hazmat-related inspection data

Normally, carriers with HM authority face stricter intervention thresholds (e.g., 60% instead of 65% for Unsafe Driving). However, if the carrier:

• Doesn't regularly transport hazmat, OR
• Hasn't had hazmat inspections, OR
• Only transports small quantities

...they won't be measured against the stricter HM thresholds.

When a carrier's BASIC percentile exceeds these thresholds, they may face FMCSA intervention:

General Carriers:

• Unsafe Driving: 65%
• HOS Compliance: 65%
• Driver Fitness: 80%
• Controlled Substances: 80%
• Vehicle Maintenance: 80%
• Crash Indicator: 65%

Hazmat Carriers have lower thresholds (stricter):

• Unsafe Driving: 60%
• HOS Compliance: 60%
• Driver Fitness: 80%
• Controlled Substances: 80%
• Vehicle Maintenance: 75%
• Hazmat Compliance: 80%
• Crash Indicator: 60%

Passenger Carriers have the strictest thresholds:

• Unsafe Driving: 50%
• HOS Compliance: 50%
• Driver Fitness: 80%
• Controlled Substances: 80%
• Vehicle Maintenance: 65%
• Crash Indicator: 50%

An Active operating authority means the carrier is authorized to operate and has met all requirements including:

• Valid insurance filings on file
• Process agent (BOC-3) on file
• No pending revocations

A carrier with Not Authorized status cannot legally operate for-hire transportation. Common reasons:

• Insurance lapsed or cancelled
• Never completed authority application
• Authority was revoked
• Missing required filings (BOC-3, etc.)

After purchase, you have 24-hour access to the full CHIP report for that DOT number. During this time you can:

• View the complete report
• Download PDF copies
• Access all sections

Due to the nature of digital reports with immediate access, refunds are generally not available once the report has been viewed. However, if you experience technical issues or data problems, please contact us and we'll work to resolve the issue.