W-9, COI and authority: the three documents that stall onboarding

A truck is ready. A load is booked. Rates are agreed. And then onboarding stalls because a W-9 came in unsigned, a certificate of insurance is missing an additional-insured line, or nobody can confirm the carrier's operating authority is actually active. This happens constantly, on both sides of the table, and it is almost always avoidable.

Why these three documents hold everything up

Brokers and shippers cannot legally move freight with a carrier, or pay one, until a basic compliance file is complete. That file almost always comes down to three things: a correctly filled W-9 for tax reporting, a certificate of insurance that proves adequate coverage is in force, and confirmation that the carrier's operating authority is valid and in good standing. Any one of the three being incomplete or questionable is enough to freeze an onboarding file, and freight does not move on an incomplete file.

The W-9: small form, common mistakes

The W-9 tells a broker how to report payments for tax purposes. The usual snags are a business name that does not match the legal entity on file, a missing or mismatched EIN, or a form signed by someone without authority to sign for the company. None of this is complicated, but a mismatch between the W-9 and other onboarding paperwork is one of the fastest ways to get flagged for manual review.

The COI: a certificate is not the same as coverage

A certificate of insurance is a summary, not the policy itself, and brokers read it closely. They are generally looking for auto liability and cargo coverage at levels appropriate to the freight being hauled, the broker or shipper listed as an additional insured or certificate holder where required, and a cancellation notice period so coverage will not lapse without warning. Requirements vary by broker and by commodity, so a carrier that keeps an updated COI on hand, and renews it before expiration rather than after, avoids a lot of back-and-forth.

Authority: issued is not the same as active

Having an MC number is not the same as having active, usable authority. Authority can be inactive for unpaid fees, revoked for insurance lapses, or under review for other compliance issues, and any of those states will stop a reputable broker from dispatching a load. This is checked against FMCSA's public data, and it is checked again over time, not just once at signup, because status can change.

Ellys vets carriers against live FMCSA data before dispatch and continues monitoring status afterward, which is part of why a clean, consistent onboarding file matters from the first interaction.

What a clean onboarding file looks like

• W-9 with legal name, EIN, and signature matching the carrier's other paperwork
• Current COI with correct coverage types, limits, and additional insured language
• Active operating authority with no open compliance flags
• Consistent company name and MC number across every document submitted

None of this requires guessing what a broker wants. It requires having the current version of each document ready before it is requested, and updating it the moment anything changes, rather than waiting for a dispatcher to notice.

Carriers who want to see how this works in practice, and get onboarded without the usual back-and-forth, can start at /carriers.