Risk signals from official data

Jakub Wujec

Last reviewed: 1 August 2026

Carrier risk assessment before the first load

This carrier risk assessment tool reads official registers and insurance sources and returns carrier risk signals in a structured report. One flag does not mean scam. It means look here before pickup. Certica supports your decision; it does not replace your verifier.

Key checks before you assign the load

Clear verification outcome for each check area.
Company active or not in the business register.
Ownership or board changes where the source shows them.
Transport licence status in the national register.
VAT in VIES and local lists.
Vehicle MTPL for the booked plate and whether the vehicle is commercial.
Cargo or CMR liability from the policy document when your process requires it.
Email domain age and match against registry data.

What the risk assessment is based on

We start with what the government sources say, not what the carrier wrote in an email.

Company register, transport licence, VAT, vehicle MTPL bureau, cargo policy documents, and domain data: same buckets as on the Certica homepage, country by country.

Company still active in the business register?
Recent change of owner or board where the register shows it?
Transport licence valid for the route you want to book?
VAT active in VIES and local lists where we fetch them?
Vehicle insurance active, and is the vehicle actually a truck?
Email and domain line up with registry data?

Carrier risk signals worth a second look

Certica automatically collects and analyses carrier verification data, detects risk signals, and supports your decision before a load is assigned.

After the fetches finish, Certica highlights risk signals that need a human read.

On Polish carriers you might see inactive company status, open insolvency proceedings, suspended licence, missing MTPL cover, VAT mismatch, or a fresh email domain.

Countries covered by the assessment

Today we cover Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia, Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, France, Slovenia, and Serbia. Each country has different registers. See Documentation for the current list per country.

How to run a carrier risk assessment manually

Before you book, walk the official registers yourself. Work through status, licence, VAT, vehicle MTPL, cargo liability, and contact in that order, then decide.

1. Company register status

Open the national company register for the carrier country. Poland: KRS search for limited companies, or CEIDG public search for sole traders. Romania: ANAF. Czechia: ARES.

Type the VAT ID or company number from the invoice, complete any captcha, and pull a fresh extract. Read status (active, suspended, liquidation), registered address, and recent ownership or board changes. Inactive or insolvency status is a hard stop before pickup details go out.

2. Transport licence scope

Open the road transport register for that country. Poland: KREPTD (GITD) (search by NIP, reCAPTCHA). Romania: ARR public register (CUI, reCAPTCHA). Lithuania: LTSA Vektra. Confirm community or national licence, validity, and vehicle count for your lane on booking day.

Match the legal name to the company register. A PDF from last year or a national-only licence on a cross-border load is a risk signal, not a green light.

3. VAT and VIES

Open VIES, pick the country code, and enter the VAT number without the country prefix where the form asks for it. Then check any local whitelist (Polish VAT whitelist for PL).

The registered name must match the invoice header and the company register. Valid VAT alone does not prove transport rights.

4. Vehicle MTPL with plates

When you have plates, open the plate-based MTPL bureau for that country. Poland: UFG (UFG Infoportal). Romania: AIDA RCA. Czechia: ČKP. Enter plate, check date (use pickup day), and country of registration.

Confirm active cover for the booked plate on pickup day. Bureau output may include the insurer, policy number and vehicle description, depending on the country. Passenger-car class on a freight job means stop and ask for a current vehicle.

5. Cargo or CMR liability from the policy document

Verify policy holder, dates, limits and territorial scope from the cargo or CMR policy document. Do not treat a plate bureau result as proof of cargo cover.

6. Contact and domain match

Compare the email domain, website, and phone with the address and contacts in the company register. Look up domain age if the mail looks new while the company shows years of history.

Typo domains, fresh registrations, and free mailboxes on a large fleet are common impersonation patterns. Clear contact mismatches before you share pickup address or cargo value.

How a risk assessment run works

Enter VAT ID, country, email, and plates when available. Certica pulls the supported registers, highlights review versus stop signals, and leaves a PDF audit trail. For the full product workflow, see Carrier verification software.

Why run freight risk assessment before booking

Most freight problems start small: VAT ID from an old company, Gmail on a fleet of forty trucks, licence PDF from last year.

A structured freight risk assessment gives dispatch something concrete instead of "they sounded fine on the phone". Certica supports that. It does not replace your verifier or lawyer.

Documenting the assessment

The PDF summarizes risk signals and attaches registry extracts. Handy when compliance asks why you took the load, or when an insurer wants proof you checked ANAF and ARR before the truck moved.

Red flags and common mistakes

Strong stop signal

A serious mismatch on company or licence data. Pause before you share pickup address or cargo value.

Register did not respond

Source timeout or error. Retry, or finish that register manually. Do not approve on partial data.

Cargo policy on another name

Cargo or CMR policy holder differs from your carrier contract. Ask for a current policy before you move. Plate bureau MTPL is a separate check.

Passenger car on a freight job

Domain looks like impersonation

Typo domain, homoglyphs, or registered last week while KRS shows a ten-year-old sp. z o.o.

Carrier due diligence software on live registers

No more country tabs in Excel with links that half the team does not use. Same risk engine, every carrier.

Verification sees the outcome and opens the PDF from KRS or ANAF without logging into five portals again.

Check summary in plain language.
Source PDFs stored with the result.
Search history by VAT, name, or plate.

Certica

Don't want to do this on every booking?

Certica pulls data from the same registers, checks it, and shows a clear result: what is OK, and what needs clarifying before loading.

Check 20 carriers for free

Official sources

FAQ

Review signal vs stop signal?

Stop signal: we would not proceed on that point, e.g. company inactive. Review signal: odd but maybe explainable, e.g. recent board change. You decide after reading.

Is this carrier due diligence software or a score?

Carrier due diligence software that shows source-based checks and verification outcomes. There is no opaque credit score. You read the registers and the risk signals.

Can I skip manual review after a clean verification outcome?

A clean verification outcome is a strong signal, but your process may still need contracts and insurance copies. We read registers. You still run the business.

What do you check on a Romanian carrier?

ANAF for company and VAT status, ARR for operator and vehicle licence, AIDA for RCA insurance with plates, plus VIES and Domain. Same set Certica uses in production for RO.

One red flag enough to reject?

Treat it as a prompt to dig, not automatic rejection. Combine register, licence, VAT, insurance, and contact checks.