Carrierintel · Blog
What the FMCSA data actually says.
We aggregate every public dataset FMCSA publishes — inspections, violations, crashes, authority, insurance. Then we dig until something interesting falls out. No press releases. Just the numbers.
Phantom fleets: 2,610 active US carriers running 3× more trucks than they declared
A six-week investigation into the gap between what US trucking companies declare on their MCS-150 and what state inspectors actually see at the scale. 2,610 currently-active US carriers are running 3× or more unique tractor VINs than the trucks they admit to owning; 412 are at 10×, seven exceed 100×. The worst (a two-person Washington LLC registered to a man named Willie Charles II Barnes) was inspected with 551 different tractors across 46 states in twelve months. The names, the states, and how the chameleon-authority market actually works.
Arizona just became ground zero for ELD tampering: what carriers need to know
Since FMCSA activated violation code 395.8(e)(2) on April 1, we've aggregated 3,715 inspection rows from 1,558 carriers. Arizona alone accounts for 610 of them, operating with a 90% Out-of-Service rate. Here's what the data shows and why every fleet should care.