Guide · Checking a haulier
How to check a haulier: 8 checks before you give out a load
The load has to go, a haulier responds with a sharp price and can load today. That is exactly when fake carriers strike. With these checks you know within fifteen minutes whether you can give out the job.
Why is it worth checking a haulier?
Short answer: because a fake carrier does not need a truck. He accepts the job in the name of a real haulage company, sells it on or makes the load disappear. He often uses a taken-over or copied freight exchange account. See also Spotting a fake carrier and Cargo theft without a break-in.
Which 8 checks do I do for every new haulier?
- Register: look the company up in the official register of its country. Is it active, and is the activity really road haulage?
- Licence: ask for the operator’s licence (in the EU the community licence) and check with the competent authority of that country that name and number match.
- Insurance: ask for the CMR insurance certificate and call the insurer yourself to confirm the policy is running. A PDF alone is not proof.
- Call yourself: look up the haulier’s landline via the official website or the register and ask whether this trip is really being run by them.
- Freight exchange account: check how long the account has existed, whether the contact has worked for this company before and whether the account details match the register.
- Plate and driver: get the plate and driver’s name in advance. At loading, check that truck, plate and ID match.
- No re-brokering: agree in writing that the trip will not be subcontracted. If another haulier turns up anyway, do not load without a new check.
- Payment details: only pay to an account in the haulier’s own name, and always confirm a changed bank account by phone.
Which signals mean I should not load?
- The price is strikingly lowor the haulier accepts immediately without negotiating.
- Contact only by mobile or messaging appand nobody answers the company’s landline.
- The email address does not match the websiteor is a free address.
- Last-minute changeof plate, driver or delivery address.
- A different truck comes to loadthan the one announced.
Let Safetybizz check it
SafetyBizz puts the register next to the details you received from the haulier: email address, domain, phone, contact and bank account. If something does not add up, you see it before anything is loaded.
See SafetyBizzFrequently asked questions
How do I check whether a haulier is reliable?
Check the company in the official register, ask for the operator’s or community licence and the CMR insurance certificate, and have the insurer confirm the policy. Call the haulier on a landline you looked up yourself and check plate and driver at loading.
What is a fake carrier?
A fraudster posing as a haulier, often in the name of an existing transport company or through a taken-over freight exchange account. He accepts jobs to steal the load or to sell the trip on without paying.
May a haulier pass my trip on to someone else?
Only if you agree to it. With a new haulier, agree in writing that the trip will not be subcontracted. If another haulier comes to load anyway, do not load until you have checked them again.
Read also
Free checks
This page is general information and not legal advice.