Question for you MR Broker

Thanks I will expand in a bit!

 

your welcome

 

(c) Each party to a brokered transaction has the right to review the record of the transaction required to be kept by these rules.

What is misunderstood by many is that you have the right to review the records that pertain to your transaction. So for this conversation, the carrier can ask for and receive the documents that you would likely already have gotten: rate confirmation, BOL, Invoice, etc.

Documents between the broker and their customer are not required to be turned over.

While the FMCSA has the authority to dictate record keeping they are limited in authority when it comes to contract law. And unless you have an agreement giving you the right to view these documents they are considered proprietary and the FMCSA can't force companies to divulge this information.

You may get away with it with a smaller broker but try getting this information from one of the big boys and you will need a court order.

 

Further Clarification:

Source: http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/documents/rulesregs/small-entity-comp-guide-broker-operations-508.pdf On page 13

 

I was wanting to reply along those lines but for once my brain just would not make it make sense! Thanks for the insight!

 

Your right most will call for a court order but in the end you can and will get to see ALL documents pertaining to record keeping including rates paid to whom and when. It has nothing to do with contract law they have to adhere to the law set forth by the FMSCA period. Now it may cost a small fortune in lawyer fees but they will in the end have to show you everything under this statue pertaining to the load you have involvement with. though they may drag it out for years and hundreds of thousands of dollars. Record of the transaction is clearly everything that follows under records from the first statue of record keeping to the last line there you quoted. The key words (record of the transaction required to be kept by these rules.) Meaning all the guidelines under this statute pertaining to record keeping by the broker is privy to anyone that has involvement in this transaction not just bills etc

 

Did you not read what the FMCSA says about that very rule you are talking about? Not even the FMCSA agrees with you and certainly not the courts. FMCSA can set all the rules they want but when challenged in the court of law it is the court that is going to determine if the FMCSA has the authority to set that rule.

"Pertinent" documents is the key. If Ryder agrees to pay me according to a tariff they have in place with GM then that tariff is pertinent. Or if the broker is saying they will pay me 85% of the rate and tells me the rate is $1000 then what they billed is pertinent.

But if the broker agrees to pay me $850 on a rate confirmation then what he charges his customer isn't pertinent.

The regulations are written the way they are for the first two scenarios (and I am sure many others that I not aware of) and because it has been challenged and ruled on in the courts, the FMCSA issues guidance on this. Like they do on many of the items in the very thick, green book.

If the FMCSA could just make a rule and it becomes law without question then we would all be running speed limiters and EOBRs.

 

This man speaks truth

 

Wow I feel like I am in school. I am happy this forum has come about

 

33%? wow. On everything, i swear our goal is 7.5%. We're smaller (just under 1M revenue per month) but if we make 7.5% on our loads we hit all of our goals. I dont know what brokers are getting loads from there customer covered if they are taking 33%.