Brokers blacklisting me because of no inspections-Blaming Highway

So, this happened a couple months ago with a big brokerage I haul a lot for. Now it's happening way too often.

I'm clean, clean truck, good record and I don't get inspected much. In fact, it's been about 28 months since I was inspected at all. This is running about 45 weeks a year, hauling light and never routing around scales. I just don't get pulled in. I consider this a good thing.

I started noticing my emails weren't getting returned from this brokerage, not going to name them because it's not just them. They vet carriers with Highway but the problem is not Highway with this issue. Even when I called on a load they would tell me "we can't use you. Call Highway. There is something wrong with your profile and you are not clear to haul with us".

So I call Highway and they tell me no problem on their end.

Turns out it's been over 2 years since I had an inspection so they think I'm crooked somehow. This has now happened with several brokerages that I've hauled many loads for, as many as 50 or more, over a span of 7 years. They will NOT override this.

So, it's a total catch22. Most scales no longer do voluntary inspections. So i can't get freight, so I can't run freight which would put me on the road where an inspection would happen eventually, randomly, as they always have.

Should I do something stupid in front of a DOT cop in order to get an inspection? Absolute nonsense.

This rule that brokers are adopting is essentially putting carriers out of business. Good carriers, if I do say so myself. Carriers that keep their #### together and don't get pulled in for inspections.

Seems like these brokerages are looking at this completely backwards when it comes to solid carriers they have worked with for years.

 

Arkansas will be happy to inspect you.

I get the same thing from several brokers who use Highway now, brokers I've used repeatedly in the past, and I've had several inspections each year.

 

I completely understand your frustration, but fraud/theft are incredibly problematic right now. It is genuinely 10X worse than it's ever been, and one stolen load will off set months of work for a customer. One of the key indicators that a carrier MIGHT be fraudulent is inspection data, so many brokerages are using that data even if it gives the occasional "false positive". If there is a better way to avoid fraud I'm all ears.

 

Used to be a day when you knew your broker face to face. They knew you and knew your truck and operation. A guy who stayed under the radar and ran a clean tight ship with no inspection record or trouble with the dot is what they wanted. There once was a day when getting inspections meant you were outlaw or running illegal. Now you are an outlaw for not getting inspected. Mind boggling.

 

Belleville Kansas loves to do inspections. Going south I know.

 

Trust me not just you. I’ve been told in the last 2 years: “Gmail address, can’t use you”
“No inspections”
“Can’t connect to a ELD/ ELD exempt can’t use you”

10 years, same MC, Email, I answer the phone, my voicemail is me, never any major issues with anyone ever. It is frustrating to no end. I have only been hauling for direct customers which is few and far between and the good old brokers that know me well, which is few and far between. It is really sad, and really makes me wonder where I’m heading in life. It has become a joke. I’m going to keep on trucking though for now. oddly enough I still love it.

 

Highway sucks a fat one

Same here
'95 exempt truck
Ain't been inspected since 2020
Authority since 2013
Same email & phone # the whole time

 

Everyone has a camera in their pocket now
How bout a picture of my truck, name & #'s on the door, hell I can even stand in the picture & chuck ya a duce if that's what might help?

Ole southern drawl vs a foreign accident might even give ya the warm fuzzy's? Hell I don't know but y'all need to come up with sumthin..

 

Highway, compiling location information to sell back to brokers to help set rates thanks to everyone eager to give up their ELD log in info to grab that 1.65 load. It's not about fraud detection, it's about money.

 

The brokerage that prompted me to start this thread wasn't using Highway. That broker uses Carrier411, which I hate even more than Highway for their anti-carrier tactics. I just noticed it first with a brokerage that uses Highway.

What Highway is doing is obvious but that's another thread, a lot of them actually. This is about inspections. Highway, Carrier411 and others like them don't mandate the rules a brokerage goes by to vet carriers, the broker itself does, the carrier vetting company or whatever you want to call them just organizes it in a way where the agents you talk to on the phone can scan your profile quickly and sell you the load or deny you.