Guide

A conditional rating is the result of a review

You already have the USDOT, and someone said the carrier is conditional. The rating comes from a review. The free search shows the flag and the out-of-service line. ClearTheTender’s file is $35 after you look them up.

FMCSA assigns a conditional rating after a review. The carrier is not prohibited from operating. The rating is not on the free search.

What conditional means

FMCSA says a conditional safety rating means the carrier does not have adequate safety management controls in place to meet the safety fitness standard. Satisfactory means those controls were adequate at the review. Unsatisfactory means the problems had already shown up. Unrated means no rating has been assigned. A focused review can end with no rating at all.

The rating is not the flag

The free search shows whether FMCSA has flagged a category, and whether the carrier is out of service. Our flag is on only when the latest stored order has no rescind date and the order date is within 365 days. That is our rule on the stored file. It is not a live SAFER session. FMCSA says its safety measurement system does not assign the rating. A satisfactory rating can sit for years and still only describe the day of the review. In fiscal year 2019, FMCSA reported 11,671 reviews among more than 567,000 active interstate carriers. Those figures are from that year, on FMCSA’s page.

We don't show a crash or hazmat score. Those records are not public for the carriers you hire, so a number there would not be FMCSA's file.

How we read an out-of-service order

What this page will not tell you

We do not say the carrier is safe. We do not say what a rating does in a lawsuit. We do not monitor insurance, bonds, or authority. A final unsatisfactory rating is a different record from our out-of-service flag.

Look up the USDOT

Type the USDOT you already have. The search shows the flag and the out-of-service line. It does not show the safety rating. ClearTheTender’s file is $35 after that search, on that carrier, and that is where the rating appears. The PDF has a SHA-256 hash so you can check it against that day. The hash does not win a case. ClearTheTender Broker Pro is $129 a month for up to 500 USDOTs, with a daily email when a watched carrier is out of service or FMCSA’s alert flag is on. It is not an email that something changed.

Or read Broker Pro details.

Questions

What does a conditional safety rating mean?

FMCSA says the carrier does not have adequate safety management controls in place to meet the safety fitness standard. The carrier is not prohibited from operating. We do not say the carrier is safe.

Does the free search show the rating?

No. The search shows whether FMCSA has flagged a category, and whether the carrier is out of service. The rating is on ClearTheTender’s $35 file, after that search.

Does conditional mean the carrier is out of service?

No. Our out-of-service flag follows the latest stored order, with no rescind date, within 365 days. A conditional rating is the result of a review. They are different records.

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