Last updated: June 2, 2026
Welcome to SearchCarriers. These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your access to and use of the SearchCarriers platform, including our website, web application, API, and Chrome Extension (collectively, the "Service"). By accessing or using the Service, you agree to be bound by these Terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the Service.
SearchCarriers provides tools to research motor carriers, freight brokers, shippers, and other entities with DOT numbers, using publicly available data from the FMCSA and other public sources.
You must be at least 18 years old and capable of entering into a legally binding agreement to use the Service. By creating an account, you represent that all information you provide is accurate and current.
The Service is offered only to users located in North America (the United States, Canada, and Mexico). We do not support, and do not accept, accounts from users located outside of North America. By creating an account, you represent that you are located in North America. We reserve the right to suspend or terminate any account that we determine, in our sole discretion, is operated from outside North America.
You are responsible for maintaining the security and confidentiality of your account credentials, including your password and API keys. You are liable for all activity that occurs under your account. Notify us immediately if you suspect unauthorized access.
We reserve the right to suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms or engage in activity that is harmful to the Service or other users.
In addition, we reserve the right, in our sole discretion and with or without prior notice, to suspend, restrict, or terminate any account at any time, for any reason or no reason, including termination for convenience. We are not required to demonstrate a violation of these Terms to exercise this right.
You agree to use the Service only for lawful purposes and in accordance with these Terms. You must not:
The data and intelligence provided through the Service — including but not limited to carrier safety ratings, SMS scores, inspection records, crash history, insurance information, equipment data, authority history, and associated entity information — is provided for your internal research and business decision-making purposes only.
You may not:
Reasonable use of data for internal business purposes, such as vetting carriers, making freight decisions, compliance checks, or populating your own internal systems, is permitted within the scope of your subscription plan.
The Service provides data, scores, signals, and analytics to support your independent carrier vetting and selection process. SearchCarriers does not select, recommend, endorse, approve, or disapprove any motor carrier, broker, shipper, or other entity. Any score, rating, signal, or similar output produced by the Service is an analytical estimate based on public data and proprietary modeling — not a recommendation, certification, or guarantee of safety, fitness, authority, or operational quality. SearchCarriers is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or operated on behalf of the FMCSA or any government agency, and its outputs are not official safety ratings or fitness determinations. The decision to hire, dispatch, contract with, or do business with any entity is solely yours, and you are solely responsible for that decision and for compliance with all duties of care imposed on you by applicable law.
You may not build or distribute a commercial application, product, or service that integrates SearchCarriers data or the SearchCarriers API and is sold, licensed, or otherwise distributed to third parties outside your organization, unless you have subscribed to an enterprise plan and obtained explicit written authorization from SearchCarriers.
Violation of this provision may result in immediate termination of your account, revocation of API access, and potential legal action. If you are interested in a commercial integration arrangement, please contact us to discuss enterprise licensing options.
API access is subject to the rate limits and usage quotas associated with your subscription plan. Rate limits are enforced to ensure fair access and service quality for all users.
Access to certain features requires a paid subscription. By subscribing, you authorize us to charge your payment method on a recurring basis at the then-current subscription rate.
The Watch feature allows you to monitor specific carriers, brokers, shippers, or other entities and receive notifications when changes are detected. By enabling Watch alerts, you consent to receiving notification emails to the address on your account.
Watch alert delivery is not guaranteed and may be subject to delays. SearchCarriers is not liable for any decisions made or not made based on Watch alert notifications or any failure to deliver them.
You can manage your Watch list and notification preferences through your account settings at any time.
The data displayed in the Service is sourced primarily from the FMCSA and other public government databases. While we strive to keep data current and accurate, we make no warranty as to the completeness, accuracy, or timeliness of the information.
You acknowledge that:
SearchCarriers is not a consumer reporting agency as defined by the Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq. ("FCRA"), and the data and information made available through the Service do not constitute "consumer reports" under the FCRA. The Service is designed for commercial research and business decision-making relating to motor carriers, freight brokers, shippers, and other entities with DOT numbers — it is not designed or intended to evaluate individual consumers.
You agree that you will not use the Service, or any data obtained from the Service, in whole or in part, as a factor in establishing an individual consumer's eligibility for (a) credit or insurance to be used primarily for personal, family, or household purposes; (b) employment; (c) housing; or (d) any other purpose authorized or regulated under the FCRA. You are solely responsible for your use of any data obtained from the Service and for compliance with all applicable federal, state, and local laws governing such use.
Your use of the Service is also governed by our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated into these Terms by reference. By using the Service, you agree to the collection and use of your information as described in the Privacy Policy.
The Service, including its design, software, algorithms, enriched data layers, and branding, is owned by SearchCarriers and protected by applicable intellectual property laws. You are granted a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to use the Service solely for its intended purposes and in accordance with these Terms.
Content you submit through the Service (such as tips, reports, feedback, or other user-submitted information) remains your property. However, by submitting such content, you grant SearchCarriers a worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, fully paid-up, sublicensable, and transferable license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, translate, publish, distribute, display, and create derivative works from such content, in any media now known or later developed, in connection with operating, improving, promoting, and commercializing the Service, including in aggregated, anonymized, or derivative form as part of other products, features, or partner integrations.
We continually improve and evolve the Service. We reserve the right to add, modify, or remove features and functionality at any time, with or without notice. We will make reasonable efforts to communicate significant changes that affect your use of the Service.
We may suspend or discontinue the Service (in whole or in part) at any time. We will try to provide reasonable notice of any planned discontinuation.
THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE," WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, ACCURACY OF DATA, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE, OR THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED.
SearchCarriers shall not be liable for, and shall not be deemed in breach of these Terms as a result of, any failure or delay in the performance of its obligations caused by events or circumstances beyond its reasonable control, including but not limited to acts of God, natural disasters, fire, flood, war, terrorism, civil unrest, labor disputes, epidemics or pandemics, governmental actions or restrictions, power or telecommunications failures, internet or hosting provider outages, cyberattacks, denial-of-service attacks, and failures or disruptions of third-party services, APIs, or data sources on which the Service depends.
TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT SHALL SEARCHCARRIERS, ITS AFFILIATES, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, OR AGENTS BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES — INCLUDING LOSS OF PROFITS, DATA, BUSINESS, OR GOODWILL — ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO YOUR USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE SERVICE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
OUR TOTAL LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ANY CLAIM ARISING FROM THESE TERMS OR YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE SHALL NOT EXCEED THE AMOUNT YOU PAID TO US IN THE TWELVE (12) MONTHS PRECEDING THE CLAIM.
Without limiting the foregoing, in no event shall SearchCarriers be liable for any bodily injury, property damage, cargo loss, consequential business loss, or any damages of any kind arising from any accident, incident, theft, fraud, double-brokering, identity theft, regulatory action, or other event involving any carrier, broker, driver, shipper, or other entity researched, monitored, or surfaced through the Service. Liability for such events rests with the parties to the underlying transaction, not with SearchCarriers.
You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless SearchCarriers and its affiliates, officers, directors, employees, and agents from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses — including reasonable legal fees — arising out of or related to your use of the Service, your violation of these Terms, or your violation of any third-party rights.
Without limiting the foregoing, you specifically agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless SearchCarriers from any third-party claim, including but not limited to claims for negligent hiring, negligent selection, negligent entrustment, or vicarious liability arising from your selection of, contract with, or business relationship with any motor carrier, broker, shipper, driver, or other entity, regardless of whether you used data from the Service in connection with that selection.
If you are accessing the Service on behalf of a company or other legal entity, you represent that you have the authority to bind that entity to these Terms, and references to "you" include that entity. The entity accepts these Terms and is responsible for ensuring its employees, contractors, and agents comply with them.
You represent and warrant that (a) you are not located in, under the control of, or a national or resident of any country that is subject to a comprehensive United States embargo or other similarly restrictive trade sanctions; (b) you are not identified on any U.S. government list of prohibited or restricted parties, including the U.S. Treasury Department's List of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons or the U.S. Department of Commerce's Denied Persons List or Entity List; and (c) you will not access or use the Service in violation of any applicable export control or economic sanctions laws, including the U.S. Export Administration Regulations and the sanctions programs administered by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
We may update these Terms from time to time. We will notify you of material changes via email or through a notice within the Service. The updated Terms will be effective as of the date indicated. Your continued use of the Service after changes take effect constitutes your acceptance of the revised Terms. We encourage you to review these Terms periodically.
These Terms, and any dispute, claim, or controversy arising out of or relating to these Terms or your use of the Service, shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of North Carolina, without regard to its conflict of law principles and without regard to the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods.
You and SearchCarriers agree that any such dispute, claim, or controversy shall be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in Wake County, North Carolina, and each party hereby irrevocably consents to the personal jurisdiction and venue of such courts and waives any objection based on inconvenient forum.
SearchCarriers may receive subpoenas, court orders, discovery requests, or other legal process relating to your use of the Service, including in connection with third-party litigation involving you or counterparties you researched. You agree that: (a) SearchCarriers may comply with any such legal process without prior notice to you where prohibited by law or where SearchCarriers determines in good faith that notice is inappropriate; (b) where SearchCarriers does provide notice, it has no obligation to challenge or quash the process on your behalf; (c) you will reimburse SearchCarriers for reasonable costs of compliance, including attorneys' fees and personnel time, incurred in responding to legal process arising from your use of the Service or to which you are a party; and (d) historical data, audit logs, account activity, and other records maintained by SearchCarriers may be produced in response to such process.
If you have questions about these Terms or need to contact us regarding your account or subscription, please reach out through the support channels available within the Service or your account settings.