Hot Shot Carriers Pose Challenges for Inspectors Across the U.S.

By Tom Forbes, Motor Carrier Enforcement Chief, Public Utilities Commission of Ohio

Hauling goods, small or large, is vital to U.S. economic infrastructure. Most commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers and companies are on the up and up, meeting the regulations put in place to keep our roadways safe. However, some attempt to skirt their responsibilities.

During a class that I was teaching on cargo tank inspections for the Illinois State Police (ISP), it was brought to my attention that ISP had conducted stops, resulting in multiple violations, on two “hot shot carriers” from Ohio that were transporting automobiles. A hot shot carrier is typically a small dually truck (a heavyduty pickup truck with two sets of rear wheels) pulling a light- to medium-duty trailer. After obtaining the information from ISP, I directed our staff to open a compliance investigation. While investigating the company, we realized the issue was more significant than what was revealed in these stops. Really, that was just the tip of the iceberg.

Through research, we found that the carrier had a history of operating without a commercial driver’s license (CDL), producing false logs, employing drivers who aren’t proficient in English (a violation of CDL requirements), having no international registration plan or international fuel tax agreements, and improperly registering with Unified Carrier Registration. Additionally, we found that the company’s U.S. Department of Transportation registration showed only one truck and one driver. However, inspections indicated that the company had over 100 trucks and drivers, with trucks rated at 14,000 gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) and trailers rated at 12,000 GVWR.

Next Steps

Attempts to contact the motor carrier ended in another roadblock. We received no response to telephone calls, emails or traditional mail service. A visit to the physical address was a dead end, as no building existed. Our next step was to work with the Ohio Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) office to process a denial of access, placing the company’s USDOT number out of service (OOS). While this could have been the end of the investigation, we discovered that the company still had several units operating after being declared OOS. Further investigation included running vehicle identification numbers for the trucks, which led me to find many of the trucks from this hot shot carrier had been inspected under a new carrier name despite having the same trailer and driver information.

As this issue unraveled, I compiled a list of carriers operating under the same scheme. The list was distributed to Midwest Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program (MCSAP) agencies as a resource. Two years later, we now have a record over two pages long, listing offending carriers placed OOS and those still operating under the scheme. We continue to update the list monthly, and the distribution list has grown well beyond Midwestern states. The wider distribution has helped us to discover violation trends more quickly and provide better information on what to look for in inspections.

Findings From the Field

Working on this issue, we have discovered several trends that violators follow:

1. The carrier gets a new USDOT number showing one truck and one driver. They use a fake address. Over a few months, they have several hundred inspections and are labeled high-risk in the FMCSA system. When the agency doing a safety audit (SA) or a compliance investigator attempts to contact the carrier, the carrier does not respond, leading to an OOS for an SA no-show. Then the carrier repeats the process under a new business name.

2. To get started, the carrier steals the name and USDOT number of a small trucking company. Fraudulent lease agreements are faxed to the lease operators. In one case, the actual company had a half dozen MCSAP inspections during the previous seven years, all with the same tractor, trailer and driver. After the name is stolen, there are about 25 inspections per week. Due to our work with the offending carriers list, a law enforcement officer knows to stop a driver operating under the stolen information and files felony business identity theft charges against the driver, impounding the truck, trailer and load.

3. Carriers trying to avoid detection of these schemes use a paper sign in the truck window with the company name and USDOT number. Sometimes, these carriers print the signs at truck stops to change them out on the go. We have seen drivers change the name and USDOT number while a roadside inspection is taking place in an attempt to get back in service, getting a new name and number all within 20 minutes.

Where We Go From Here

In Ohio, we have started scheduling inspection periods, targeting non-CDL vehicles and utilizing portable scales to determine whether a CDL is required. During these periods, our inspectors will stop approximately 20 vehicles a day, and about half the drivers are placed OOS for not having a CDL and another five for falsifying logs.

To help stop the current scheme drivers use to circumvent regulations, we need to jointly work with FMCSA and the MCSAP agencies to make non-compliance more costly than being compliant.

Violations by hot shot carriers are an issue in every state. Many dedicated MCSAP inspectors are working hard to make a difference. By working together to share information, we can crack down and reduce the number of offenders on our roads.