Knowledge · 9 min read

Jakub Wujec

Last reviewed: 1 August 2026

Carrier vetting process for freight forwarders

A solid carrier vetting process runs intake, register and licence checks, VAT and insurance verification, contact review, approval, and documentation before pickup details leave your desk. Same steps for every new carrier, with a named approver when a risk signal appears. Speed comes from a fixed order, not from skipping registers.

Key checks before you assign the load

Intake: VAT ID, country, legal name, email, plates when available.
Register pass: company active, address, ownership or board changes.
Operational pass: licence, VAT, insurance, domain.
Decision: approve, conditional approve, or stop before pickup info.
Document sources, approver, and date in the TMS or load file.
Re-vet after long gaps or when ownership changes.

Carrier vetting process step by step

Build the carrier vetting workflow so ops, compliance, and sales use the same sequence. Friday night shortcuts are where fraud and double brokering slip through.

For the five register buckets themselves, see Carrier verification before assigning a load. This page owns intake, roles, approval, exceptions, and re-vetting.

Step 1: intake

Collect VAT ID, country, legal name, contact email, vehicle plates when available, and the lane. Open the check before any pickup details go out.

Step 2: company register

Pull a fresh extract: KRS or CEIDG for Poland, ANAF for Romania, ARES for Czechia, or the local equivalent. Read status, address, and recent ownership or board changes.

Step 3: transport licence

Open the national road transport register for the carrier country: KREPTD, ARR, JISCD, RPSD, or the local licence register. Confirm scope for your lane and vehicle type on booking day.

Step 4: VAT

Validate the invoice VAT ID in VIES plus the local VAT whitelist where it applies. Match the registered name to the invoice and company register.

Step 5: vehicle MTPL when you have plates

Check UFG, AIDA, ČKP, or the local plate-based source when your process requires MTPL before the first load. 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.

Step 6: 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.

Step 7: contact and domain

Compare domain age, website, phone, and email with the register address. Fake carrier cases often start in the inbox.

Step 8: approval

A named person signs off, clears an open risk signal, or stops the load. The process fails when nobody owns the final yes.

Step 9: file the proof

Attach extracts and note what was checked on booking day in the TMS or load file. Audits ask what you knew before the truck rolled.

Roles in the vetting workflow

Small teams combine roles. Larger forwarders split intake, verification, and approval. The carrier vetting process fails when nobody owns the final yes.

Intake owner: collects data and opens the check.
Verifier: runs registers or triggers the automated pass.
Approver: accepts residual risk when a warning is cleared.
Archive: stores PDFs and register printouts on the load.

What to document before assigning the load

Audits and insurers ask what you knew before the truck rolled. The vetting file should answer that without reconstructing memory.

Register extract or screenshot with date stamp.
Transport licence status from the official register, not only a PDF from email.
VIES or local VAT printout tied to the invoice name.
Vehicle MTPL bureau confirmation for the booked plate on pickup day when plates are known.
Cargo or CMR policy document with policy holder, dates, limits and territorial scope.
Who approved the carrier, when, and on which lane.
Any follow-up call notes if a risk signal was cleared manually.

Red flags and common mistakes

No named approver on exceptions

When someone overrides a warning, record who and why. Otherwise the process looks like rubber stamping.

Vetting only at onboarding, never again

Re-check after insolvency filings, licence suspensions, or long idle periods.

Sales bypassing verification on urgent lanes

Urgent load is not a register waiver. Same carrier vetting workflow every time.

Spreadsheet of links instead of a fixed sequence

Links rot and steps get skipped. Order matters: register, licence, VAT, insurance, contact.

Standardize vetting after intake

Opening each register by hand after intake adds minutes per new carrier. Plug one request in after VAT ID and country are known so approvers see the same structured outcome.

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

Production countries: Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia, Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, France, Slovenia, and Serbia.
Parallel register fetch cuts manual vetting time.
PDF audit trail for compliance sign-off.

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

How is carrier vetting different from a one-off check?

Vetting is the repeatable workflow: intake, checks, approval, documentation, and periodic re-checks. A single check is one step inside that workflow.

When should we re-vet an existing carrier?

After register filings show ownership change, licence suspension, or when they were idle for months. Also when contact details change suddenly.

Can verification teams automate only exceptions?

Yes, but running every new carrier through the same pass reduces drift. Exceptions then stand out clearly.

What is the minimum sequence for a new carrier?

Intake, company register, licence, VAT, contact, named approval, and dated proof in the load file. Add insurance when you have plates or when policy requires it.