BROKER ALERT -RE: PRIVATE FLEET SALES aka PFS LOGISTICS INC. OUT OF BUSINESS

So 3-4 months ago and you never went to the bond?

 

When a broker goes out of business the surety bond does not disappear with it. Under FMCSA Part 387 every licensed broker is required to carry a $75K bond, and that bond can be claimed even after the company has closed. If you have the load confirmation and proof of delivery, you can file directly against the bond through the surety company listed on their FMCSA profile at safer.fmcsa.dot.gov. Worth doing before you go the legal action route because it is often faster and the documentation you already have is enough to get the process started.

 

Start at safer.fmcsa.dot.gov, search by the broker's MC number, and look for the BOC-3 or insurance section to find the surety company and their contact info. Reach out to the surety directly and request their bond claim form. Send them the rate con, signed BOL, POD, and your invoice along with documentation that you tried to collect. One thing to know is that other carriers can file against the same 75K bond, so the sooner you submit the better. If multiple claims exceed the bond the surety usually pays out pro rata, but acting fast still matters.

 

No worries, you don't need the MC number to start. Here's the full process:

1. Go to safer.fmcsa.dot.gov and click Company Snapshot
2. Search by the broker's company name or DOT number if you have it
3. Confirm the Entity Type says BROKER and status is ACTIVE
4. Click "Licensing & Insurance" on that page
5. Click HTML to see the details
6. Look at the Bond row. If it says YES / YES the bond is active
7. Click "Active/Pending Insurance" at the bottom. That shows the surety company name, the bond number, and the effective date. That's who you file against

From there you send a demand letter to the broker first, then if they don't pay you file a claim with the surety company directly. You'll need your BOL, rate con, ELD screenshots showing arrival and departure, and any sign in sheet from the facility.

The most important thing is having the right documentation. Without it the surety will deny the claim.

If you don't want to deal with all of that yourself, there's a company called HaulClaim that does exactly this for O/Os. They handle the whole process from the lookup to the demand letter to the bond claim. I heard that they were pretty new so they are not charging anything yet. Send them an email at [email protected] with whatever paperwork you have and they'll tell you if it's worth going after.