Carrier Setup Requirements by Broker

A carrier setup — sometimes called a carrier packet — is the onboarding a broker completes before they will tender you a load. The broker confirms your operating authority is active with the FMCSA, checks that your insurance meets their minimums and names them correctly, collects a W-9 for year-end reporting, and gets a signed broker-carrier agreement on file. Until that paperwork is complete you are not in their system, so their staff cannot dispatch you no matter how good the load fit is. Brokers are each responsible for vetting the carriers they hand freight to, which is why the step exists at every one of them.

The core list is fairly consistent across the industry, but the specifics are not — insurance minimums, how old your authority has to be, and whether they want a certificate of authority or a notice of assignment all vary by broker. That is what this directory is for: select a broker above to see their requirements, their document checklist, and a link to their setup portal. If a broker is not listed yet, or you find their requirements have changed, confirm with their carrier relations team before you submit and let us know so we can correct the page.

It depends on the broker and on how complete your submission is. Brokers running an automated onboarding platform can approve a clean packet in minutes to hours; brokers who review by hand more often take a few business days. Each broker page in this directory lists that broker's typical approval window where we have it. The usual causes of delay are avoidable: a certificate of insurance that does not list the broker correctly, a document that has expired, operating authority younger than the broker's minimum, or a missing signature. Submitting everything at once, current and legible, is the single biggest thing you control.

Nearly every setup asks for a completed W-9, a certificate of insurance showing active cargo and auto liability with the broker listed as certificate holder, and proof of your operating authority. A signed broker-carrier agreement is standard. If you factor your invoices you will also need a notice of assignment from your factoring company; if you do not, expect a request for banking or ACH details instead. Many brokers additionally ask for an equipment list, and some want driver or CDL documentation and references. Carriers on The Cargo Exchange can keep all of these in the Document Vault under Account → Documents and send them to a broker as one master packet.

Yes. A setup does not transfer between brokers — each one keeps its own carrier file and its own signed agreement with you. The good news is that it gets much faster after the first few, because it is the same set of documents every time. Where several brokers use the same onboarding platform, your information may already be on file there and the next setup becomes mostly confirmation rather than re-uploading. Keeping a current copy of every document in one place is what turns a setup from an afternoon into a few minutes.

Insurance is the one that catches carriers out: when your policy renews, the certificate every broker has on file expires with it, and brokers will hold tenders until a current one arrives. Ask your insurance agent to send the updated certificate directly to each broker you are set up with, or upload it in that broker's portal. If the broker uses a shared onboarding platform, updating your file there generally reaches every broker using the same system. The same goes for a new authority, a new address, or a change of factoring company — send the updated document rather than waiting to be asked. Keep your Document Vault copy current too, so anything you send from The Cargo Exchange goes out with the current version.