Use case · Freight forwarders

Jakub Wujec

Last reviewed: 30 July 2026

Carrier verification for freight forwarders before you assign a load

Before you subcontract a lane, verify in this order: company active in the national register, transport licence valid for your route, VAT active in VIES, insurance when you have plates, and contact details that match the paperwork. One mismatch is a risk signal: hold pickup info until you clear it.

Key checks before you assign the load

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?

Who this page is for

European freight forwarders who book road haulage, subcontract lanes to asset carriers, and need a repeatable check before the first pickup.

You may run Polish carriers Monday, Romanian carriers Tuesday, and a new contact from a load board on Friday. This page is for ops and compliance leads who want the same minimum standard on every booking.

The operational problem

Forwarders live on speed. When a lane is hot, dispatch trusts a licence scan from email instead of opening KREPTD or ARR on booking day.

Screenshots sit in inboxes. UFG or AIDA waits until plates arrive, then gets skipped because the truck is already rolling. When something goes wrong, nobody has a dated record of what was checked before pickup details went out.

What needs to be checked

Same five buckets on every new carrier: company register, transport licence, VAT, insurance when plates are known, and contact details. For the full check table, see Carrier verification before assigning a load. This page focuses on forwarder operating problems and outcomes.

Where manual processes fail

Most carrier risk for forwarders is not exotic fraud. It is inconsistent manual work under time pressure.

Different people check different registers depending on who is on shift.
A subcontractor swap mid-lane with no fresh register pull.
Insurance checked on email PDF but not on UFG, AIDA, or ČKP when plates are known.
Last month's KRS extract reused for a carrier who changed contact details last week.
No file showing who approved the carrier, when, and on which lane.

Example verification order

Typical Monday booking: a Polish carrier on a DE–PL lane. Follow the same order every time.

1. Company register

Pull KRS or CEIDG for the NIP on the invoice. Check status, address, and recent ownership change.

2. Licence and VAT

Read KREPTD for lane scope, then VIES and the VAT whitelist against the invoice name.

3. Insurance and contact

With plates, check UFG on pickup day. Compare email and domain with the register before sending pickup details.

Red flags and common mistakes

Subcontractor swap without a new check

The name on the CMR differs from the carrier you approved. Treat as a risk signal and pull registers again before pickup.

Licence OK but company in liquidation

KRS or CEIDG shows inactive status while email still pushes a low rate. Hard stop until someone clears it.

VAT active, insurance details do not match the booking

VIES looks fine but UFG shows no cover, a different policy number, or a vehicle description that does not match the booked truck. Confirm with the policy document or insurer when needed.

Freemail on a fleet-sized story

Large vehicle count in KREPTD but contact from Gmail or a domain registered last month. Compare RDAP or registry creation date with company age, then confirm via an independently found or previously confirmed contact channel.

Friday evening urgency

Pressure to skip register checks because the lane closes at 18:00. Speed is a risk signal, not a reason to drop KREPTD.

Multicountry lane, wrong register opened

Romanian plates but someone only checked Polish VIES because the forwarder office is in PL. Match checks to the carrier country code.

Verify before you subcontract

One request instead of opening KRS, KREPTD, VIES, and UFG in separate tabs. Registry extracts, verification results, and domain check land in one place before you subcontract.

Polish carrier Monday, Romanian carrier Tuesday: same flow, different registers behind the scenes. When you need proof for a client or insurer, the PDF shows what was checked and when.

Parallel fetch from every supported register for that country.
Clear risk signals so ops knows what needs review.
Web app for ad hoc checks, API when your TMS triggers vetting.
PDF with source documents when internal sign-off or a dispute needs a paper trail.

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

Do we still need our own carrier vetting checklist?

Yes. Certica runs the register checks. Your freight forwarder carrier vetting process may still need signed terms, lane-specific insurance limits, and client approval rules.

Which countries can we verify today?

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.

Does a warning mean the carrier is fraudulent?

It means pause on that point. Recent owner change, VAT name mismatch, or expired insurance may have a legit explanation. Your team still decides on the load.

Is the PDF the main deliverable?

No. The main value is the decision before pickup. The PDF is evidence and audit trail when you need to show what was checked.

Can we hook verification to our TMS?

Yes. Send VAT ID, country, email, and plates to the public API. You get back the verification outcome, data, and a PDF link. Details are in Documentation.