Guide
How to find out what trucking company hit you
USDOT numbers, MC numbers, door markings, and the federal records that identify the motor carrier after a crash.
Start with what is painted on the truck
Federal rules require most commercial motor vehicles to display a legal name, or a single trade name, and a USDOT number on both sides of the power unit. That marking is often the fastest identification you will get at the scene. Photograph the door, the rear of the trailer, any placards, and the license plates on both the tractor and the trailer. The name on the trailer is frequently a shipper or leasing company, not the carrier that was operating the truck.
If the crash report later lists a company that does not match the door, that is common. Owner-operators lease onto other carriers. Brokers put freight on trucks they do not own. The operating carrier is the company whose USDOT number was on the power unit, or the company the driver was dispatched under, not necessarily the brand on the box.
USDOT number, MC number, and the crash report
A USDOT number is the carrier's census identity in FMCSA's system. An MC (or MX or FF) docket number is the operating-authority number used for for-hire interstate work. You only need one of them to pull the federal record. Police crash reports in most states include a commercial-vehicle supplement that asks for the USDOT number. Ask for that supplement, not only the passenger-car face sheet.
If the officer did not capture a USDOT number, the plate on the tractor, the VIN, or the company name still gets you into the lookup. Name search is fuzzier. Two carriers can share a similar trade name. Confirm the city and the USDOT number before you treat the record as the same company.
What the federal record actually identifies
The carrier lookup on this site returns the legal name, any DBA, the physical address on file, the USDOT number, and any MC docket on file. It also returns operating-authority status. That is identification, not a verdict. The record does not tell you who caused the crash, and it does not tell you which entity will ultimately answer a claim.
Once you have a USDOT number, use the evidence tool to see which records that carrier is required to keep and for how long. A preservation letter to the carrier, its process agent, and its insurer is how you keep those records from aging out under the federal minimums.
The rule cited on this page
49 CFR 390.21, current eCFR.