What Are Trucking Leads?
Trucking leads are motor carriers that just did something in FMCSA’s records that signals a need: they registered a USDOT number, applied for or received operating authority, had insurance cancelled or got their authority back. Each lead comes with the contact details the carrier reported to FMCSA.
Most lead lists are a snapshot: a file of carriers as they were on the day someone exported it. Trucking leads built from FMCSA events work the other way round. They tell you what just changed, and timing is the whole point. A carrier granted authority this week is choosing an insurer, a factoring company and an ELD this week. A carrier whose policy ends next month is shopping for coverage now.
The volume is large. In the last 30 days FMCSA granted 6,224 operating authorities and issued 9,667 new USDOT numbers (CallerTracer count of FMCSA records, data as of Nov 3, 2026). CallerTracer turns those records into leads you can filter by state, fleet size, cargo and contact details, and sends the new ones to your inbox every morning.
9 Types of Trucking Leads
Every lead type below comes from a different FMCSA record. You can search any mix of them, and a single saved search can watch several.
Authority granted
Carriers whose operating authority FMCSA just granted: 6,224 in the last 30 days. Authority is granted only after the required liability insurance and a process agent filing are on record, so these carriers are legally ready to haul and actively looking for freight, factoring, fuel cards and equipment. They are the most popular lead type for almost every buyer.
Needs insurance to activate
Carriers that applied for operating authority and have no liability insurance on file yet: 12,881 applications from the last 90 days are still waiting. FMCSA cannot grant the authority until a policy is filed, so every one of these carriers has to buy insurance before it can haul. A lead drops out of the list the day the carrier is insured or granted.
New USDOT registrations
Companies that registered a USDOT number: 9,667 in the last 30 days. Many are new businesses that will apply for operating authority next; others are private fleets and intrastate carriers. They are the earliest point to reach a carrier, often weeks before it needs insurance on file.
Authority applications
New applications for operating authority, 8,160 in the last 30 days, and the same applications once FMCSA publishes them in the FMCSA Register. These leads reach a carrier before the grant, while it is still lining up insurance and a process agent.
Insurance suspensions
Authorities FMCSA suspended because the required insurance lapsed: 2,641 in the last 30 days. The carrier cannot haul for hire between states until a new policy is filed, which makes these leads urgent for insurance agents and a warning sign for anyone booking freight.
Switched insurer
Carriers whose new liability policy took effect while a policy from a different insurer ended: 314 in the last 30 days. Re-filings with the same insurer are not counted. Agents use these leads to see which insurers are winning business in their states and to put a renewal date in the calendar.
Suspension pending
Carriers FMCSA has served an involuntary suspension notice: 5,538 right now, each taking effect in the next 60 days. FMCSA sends the notice when a required filing is cancelled, usually the liability insurance (otherwise the process agent filing), and suspends the operating authority on the effective date unless a new filing arrives. A lead drops out as soon as a new liability filing is on record or FMCSA withdraws the notice. These carriers need a policy within weeks, which makes them the most urgent leads for insurance agents.
Renewal coming up
Carriers whose liability policy is estimated to renew in the next 90 days: 11,577 right now. Trucking liability policies usually run for a year, so we estimate the renewal as the anniversary of the carrier's current liability filing with FMCSA. We tested that on FMCSA's own insurance history: of the filings that changed around their estimated renewal between May and October 2026, 75 to 80% changed within a month of the date we would have given. Filings more than two years old were less predictable, so we only estimate filings from the last two years, and a lead drops out as soon as a cancellation or a new policy is filed. It is an estimate, not the expiration date on the policy, and it is the list agents use to quote a carrier before it renews.
Reinstatements
Carriers whose authority came back after a suspension: 2,263 in the last 30 days. Many reinstatements follow a new insurance filing, so these carriers often have a new insurer and fresh paperwork, and some are open to better terms elsewhere.
Who Buys Trucking Leads
Truck insurance agents
New authorities need liability insurance on file before FMCSA grants them, carriers with a suspension pending need a new policy before the deadline, carriers suspended for lapsed insurance need one before they can haul again, and renewals coming up are carriers about to shop for their next policy. Insurance agents use all four lead types and filter by fleet size and cargo to match their appetite.
Factoring companies
Shippers and brokers often pay 30 days or more after delivery, which is a long wait for a new carrier. Factoring closes that gap, so new authorities and reinstatements are the natural trucking leads for factoring companies, filtered to the states they fund.
Dispatch services
Owner-operators with a fresh authority and one or two trucks often have no load board subscription or broker network yet. Dispatchers reach them with the cell phone on the lead and a short pitch about keeping the truck loaded.
ELD, fuel card and equipment vendors
Most new carriers need electronic logging devices, a fuel card, often a trailer and sometimes financing. Vendors filter these leads by power units and cargo to reach the right fleets.
Compliance and filing services
Applicants need a process agent (BOC-3) filing, and most also need a drug and alcohol testing program and help with their MCS-150 and new entrant audit. Applications and new USDOT registrations are the earliest trucking leads for these services.
Freight brokers
Brokers use the same records the other way round: to vet a new carrier before onboarding it. The free DOT number lookup and MC number lookup show authority, insurance and history on one page.
What Every Trucking Lead Includes
Each lead links to the carrier’s full profile and carries these fields, as the carrier reported them to FMCSA:
- Company: legal name, DBA name, USDOT number and MC, FF or MX number
- Contacts: business phone, email, cell phone and officer names
- Phone check: whether each phone is a mobile, landline or VoIP line and whether it is a valid number
- Email check: whether the email domain receives mail at all
- Shared contacts: emails and phones that five or more carriers report, which usually belong to a filing service rather than the carrier
- Reachability grade: A for a valid mobile or landline number and an email domain that receives mail, B for one of the two, C for neither
- Insurance: the current liability insurer, the amount on file and, for filings from the last two years, the estimated renewal date
- Safety record: roadside inspections and out-of-service rates for the last 24 months, recordable crashes, the safety rating and any active out-of-service order
- Linked carriers: FMCSA's prior-revocation flag, and phones or emails shared with a carrier under an out-of-service order
- Complaint flags: FTC and FCC complaints and community spam reports on the phone numbers
- Fleet: power units, drivers, interstate or intrastate operation, cargo classes and hazmat
- The event: what happened and when, with the authority type or the coverage and insurer
These are real grants from the last few days, with the contact details masked:
USDOT 5191628 · MC-81813617 · GREENVILLE, SC
m•••@m•••.net · cell (864) •••-••22
USDOT 7930656 · MC-66749612 · FONTANA, CA
h•••@g•••.com
USDOT 8391963 · MC-71984460 · WASHOUGAL, WA
j•••@g•••.com
How We Build Our Trucking Leads
Our trucking leads come only from public FMCSA records published on data.transportation.gov. We do not scrape websites and we do not buy contact lists.
- We read FMCSA's files every day: the Company Census File for company details and contacts, the Motus authority file and authority history for applications, grants and suspensions, the Motus insurance and insurance history files for policies, the Motus suspension notices, the out-of-service orders and the crash file, plus the Safety Measurement System's inspection totals each month.
- We match them per carrier and keep the full history, so each lead knows what happened before.
- We remove noise. Administrative corrections are not leads, a re-filing with the same insurer or insurance group is not counted as a switch, and a needs-insurance lead drops out the day the carrier is insured.
- We check the contacts. New lead phone numbers get a telecom carrier lookup for the line type and whether the number is valid, email domains get a DNS check for a mail server, and we flag contacts shared by five or more carriers and numbers with FTC or FCC complaints.
- We honor opt-outs. A carrier that asks us to hide its email, cell phone and officer names disappears from leads, emails and exports.
Trucking Leads vs One-Time Lists vs Raw FMCSA Files
| CallerTracer trucking leads | One-time list purchase | Raw FMCSA files | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Freshness | New events every day | As of the day the list was made | Daily, but whole files |
| What you receive | Only new matches for your filters | Every record in the list | Millions of rows to process |
| Contacts | Email, cell phone and line type | Depends on the seller | Email and phones, no line type |
| Estimated renewal dates | Yes, for filings from the last two years | Depends on the seller | No |
| Filters | Lead type, state, fleet, cargo, contacts, line type | Fixed when you buy | Build them yourself |
| Safety record | Inspections, out-of-service rates, crashes and orders on every lead | Depends on the seller | Separate files to join |
| Delivery | Daily email with the CSV attached, webhooks, Google Sheets, API on Business | One file | Download and parse |
| Cost | From $49 a month | Varies | Free, plus your time |
Calling and Emailing Trucking Leads: TCPA, DNC and CAN-SPAM
Selling to trucking companies is business-to-business outreach, but consumer protection rules still apply to how you contact people:
- Cell phones. The TCPA restricts autodialed and prerecorded calls and texts to cell phones without prior consent. Many owner-operators use their personal cell phone for the business, and it may be on the National Do Not Call Registry. Every lead marks cell phones so you can treat them correctly.
- Email. CAN-SPAM requires commercial email to identify you, include a valid postal address and offer a working opt-out that you honor within 10 business days.
- Opt-outs. When a carrier asks you to stop, stop, and record it in your own systems.
You are responsible for your outreach; our Terms of Service explain the rules for using trucking leads.
Monitor the Carriers You Already Work With
New leads are half the job. Agents also need to know when a client's policy ends, brokers when a carrier they book loses its authority, and lenders when a borrower's fleet shrinks. Add carriers to your monitoring list from any carrier page, from a lead or by pasting a list of USDOT numbers. Each morning we compare their FMCSA records with the day before and email you what changed: USDOT status, operating authority, liability insurer and amount on file, suspension notices, out-of-service orders, recordable crashes, address, phone, email and fleet size.
Trucking Leads Pricing
Every CallerTracer plan includes trucking leads together with carrier monitoring and monthly phone lookup credits:
- Starter, $49 a month: trucking leads in 3 states, monitoring of 25 carriers, webhook and Google Sheets delivery, 500 credits
- Pro, $99 a month: trucking leads in all 50 states and DC, 3 team members with a shared contact log, monitoring of 200 carriers, emails to 2 addresses, 1,500 credits
- Business, $249 a month: everything in Pro, plus 10 team members, the trucking API, monitoring of 2,000 carriers, emails to 10 addresses, a daily national file of every new lead and 5,000 credits
All plans include every lead type, daily emails for up to 10 saved searches with the CSV attached, CSV export and contact checks. Each carrier appears once per list, with all its matching events. Yearly billing gets you two months free. See the pricing page for details, or start a 7-day free trial that works like Pro, no card needed.
Trucking Leads FAQ
Where do the trucking leads come from?
From FMCSA’s public Company Census File and its Motus registration, authority and insurance files on data.transportation.gov, published every day. We join them per carrier, keep the history and turn each change into a lead you can filter.
How fresh are the trucking leads?
FMCSA publishes its files once a day. We pull them within the hour and send each saved search its new trucking leads every morning, US Eastern time, so you see a new authority the day FMCSA records it.
How many trucking leads will I get in my state?
It depends on the state and the lead types you pick. Large freight states see hundreds of new authorities and registrations a month, small states far fewer. The lead search shows the live count for any filter before you subscribe.
Do the trucking leads include email and cell phone numbers?
Yes, when the carrier reported them to FMCSA, which almost every new carrier does. We check that each phone is a valid number and whether it is a mobile, landline or VoIP line, check that the email domain receives mail, flag contacts shared by filing services and grade every lead A, B or C for reachability.
How is this different from the free FMCSA data?
The raw files hold millions of rows in several formats and change every day. We match them per carrier, keep the history, estimate insurance renewal dates, check phone line types and send only the new changes that match your filters.
Can I try the trucking leads before I pay?
Yes. Start a 7-day free trial with a verified account and you get every lead type in every state, with contacts, daily emails, monitoring of up to 200 carriers and CSV exports of up to 500 rows, no card needed. Without a trial, the lead search shows the five newest matches for any filter with contacts masked.
How do you estimate when a carrier’s insurance renews?
From the anniversary of its current liability filing with FMCSA, since trucking liability policies usually run for a year. In a backtest on FMCSA’s insurance history from May to October 2026, 75 to 80% of the filings that changed around the estimated date changed within a month of it. We only estimate filings from the last two years and drop the estimate once a cancellation or a new policy is filed. It is an estimate, not the expiration date on the policy.
Do trucking leads include safety records?
Yes. Every lead and carrier profile shows roadside inspections and out-of-service rates for the last 24 months next to the national rates, recordable crashes, the safety rating and any active out-of-service order, from FMCSA’s public files. We also flag carriers FMCSA links to a revoked USDOT number and carriers that share a phone or email with one under an out-of-service order. A safety filter hides carriers with an active order, crashes or links.
Can my team share one account?
Each person gets their own login on the same plan: Pro includes 3 team members and Business 10, the account owner included. The team shares saved searches, the monitoring list and a contact log, and a search can hide carriers someone on the team already logged, so two people do not call the same carrier.
Can I get trucking leads into my CRM?
Every plan can push each saved search’s new leads to your own URL as a signed webhook every morning, and the dashboard has a ready-made script that writes them into Google Sheets. Business adds a REST API to search leads and look up carriers from your own systems. The API page lists every field.
Can I track carriers I already work with?
Yes. Add them to your monitoring list from a carrier page, a lead or a pasted list of USDOT numbers: 25 carriers on Starter, 200 on Pro and 2,000 on Business. Each morning you get one email with what changed in their FMCSA records, such as a suspension notice, a liability policy that ended, a new insurer, an out-of-service order, a new crash or a new phone number.
Can I cancel anytime?
Yes. Cancel from Settings and your plan runs to the end of the period you paid for. Upgrades apply right away with a prorated charge; downgrades apply at the next renewal.
Is it legal to call and email trucking leads?
Contacting businesses about business services is common and lawful, but the TCPA, Do Not Call rules and CAN-SPAM still apply to how you do it. Cell phones are marked so you can treat them correctly, and you are responsible for your outreach.