What is mc number?
Also called motor carrier number, docket number
An MC number is the docket number attached to a company's for-hire operating authority. A carrier hauling regulated freight across state lines for payment needs one; a company moving only its own goods does not.
Where the USDOT number identifies the company for safety purposes, the MC number records the permission it holds to carry freight for hire. The two are issued separately and a company can hold the first without the second.
The authority behind an MC number can be granted, and it can later lapse or be revoked. A number that exists is not by itself proof that the authority attached to it is currently active.
Brokers verify it during onboarding, alongside insurance, before any load moves under a broker-carrier agreement.
What it means on a dispatch desk
The number is worth far less than its current status, and a desk that checks the former and assumes the latter will eventually dispatch a truck that cannot legally take the load. Treat an inactive or revoked authority as disqualifying rather than as something the carrier can sort out later, because the broker will treat it that way regardless of what was agreed beforehand.
Related terms
- USDOT numberA USDOT number is the federal identification number carried by a company that operates commercial vehicles in interstate commerce. Safety records, roadside inspections and crash reports are all filed against it.
- Operating authorityOperating authority is federal permission for a company to transport regulated freight for other people across state lines in exchange for payment. Moving your own goods does not require it; moving somebody else's for money does.
- Broker-carrier agreementA broker-carrier agreement is the standing contract between a freight broker and a carrier that governs every load they move together. It is signed once during onboarding, not per load.
Knowing the term is the easy half
Knowing which carriers are worth calling this morning is the hard half.
Start a 7-day free trial