Broker $75K bond won't cover crash liability — what carriers should verify now

Does the broker's $75,000 bond protect me if they picked a bad carrier?

No. The federal surety bond every freight broker must carry covers freight payment defaults — not personal injury judgments. The Supreme Court ruled May 14, 2026, in Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II that brokers can be sued for negligent carrier selection. The vote was unanimous. The FAAAA preemption shield the brokerage industry relied on for decades is gone. But the $75,000 BMC-84 or BMC-85 bond required under 49 U.S.C. Section 13906 does not respond to a tort claim. It does not pay out when a jury decides a broker was negligent in selecting a carrier whose truck killed someone. It exists for one purpose: to ensure motor carriers and shippers get paid when a broker defaults on freight payment obligations.

Seventy-five thousand dollars. Against a legal landscape where the median nuclear verdict in trucking cases is $36 million and climbing.

What the bond actually covers

MAP-21 set the current $75,000 floor in 2012, replacing the previous $10,000 requirement that had been in place since the Motor Carrier Act of 1980. FMCSA tightened enforcement of the bond requirement with a final rule that took full effect January 16, 2026, closing loopholes around BMC-85 trust funds that had allowed some brokers to operate with junk assets and no real liquidity. Those reforms were necessary. Carriers had been getting burned for years by brokers who defaulted on payments while operating on paper-thin financial backing. The tighter bond enforcement protects carriers from non-payment. It does nothing to protect the public — or the carrier who pulled the load — from the consequences of a broker choosing a carrier with a bad safety record.

The insurance gap brokers now face

Brokers will need liability insurance that covers negligent carrier selection. That coverage is not federally mandated. The $75,000 surety bond is the only federal financial responsibility requirement for a freight broker in the United States. Many overseas brokers remain largely shielded from accountability. The Supreme Court ruling that opened brokers to crash liability means brokers who do not carry adequate liability insurance are now personally exposed to multi-million-dollar judgments if they tender a load to a carrier with a poor CSA score or inadequate insurance and that carrier causes a fatal crash.

What carriers should verify before signing the rate con

Carriers should ask the broker three questions before pulling any load:

1. Does the broker carry contingent auto liability insurance? Contingent auto liability covers the broker when the carrier they hired causes a crash. If the broker does not carry it, the broker is betting their business on never picking a bad carrier. That is a red flag. A broker who refuses to disclose their insurance coverage is a broker who may not have coverage.

2. What is the policy limit? A $1 million policy is the industry baseline. Brokers moving high-value freight or operating in states with high nuclear-verdict exposure should carry $5 million or more. If the broker's policy limit is lower than the carrier's own auto liability limit, the broker is underinsured relative to the risk they are asking the carrier to assume.

3. Is the carrier named as an additional insured on the broker's policy? Some brokers add carriers as additional insureds on their contingent auto liability policy. This gives the carrier direct access to the broker's insurance if the broker's negligent selection leads to a claim. If the broker does not offer this, the carrier has no direct claim against the broker's insurer and must sue the broker directly to recover.

Carriers can verify a broker's active authority and bond status using the broker's MC number, but FMCSA SAFER does not display the broker's liability insurance coverage. Carriers must ask the broker directly and request a certificate of insurance before signing the rate confirmation.

Why this matters for double-brokering and fraud

Brokers who operate on thin margins and minimal insurance are the same brokers who are more likely to cut corners on carrier vetting. A broker who does not carry contingent auto liability insurance is a broker who has decided that verifying a carrier's SAFER profile, insurance, and operating authority is not worth the cost. That is the same decision-making process that leads to double-brokering, fictitious pickups, and identity theft. A broker who will not disclose their insurance coverage is a broker who may not have verified the carrier they are tendering your load to. If the broker disappears after the load delivers, the $75,000 bond may cover your freight payment claim — but it will not cover the liability exposure you assumed by pulling a load the broker should never have tendered in the first place.

The verification carriers missed

The freight industry has spent the last decade focused on carrier fraud — stolen identities, fictitious carriers, double-brokering schemes. The Montgomery ruling shifts part of that risk back to brokers. Brokers who do not carry adequate liability insurance are now operating without a safety net. Carriers who pull loads from underinsured brokers are assuming the risk that the broker's negligence will be imputed to them if the load goes sideways. The bond does not cover that risk. The broker's insurance does — if the broker has it.

Carriers should add broker liability insurance verification to their broker-onboarding workflow. Ask for the certificate of insurance. Verify the policy limit. Confirm the carrier is named as an additional insured. If the broker refuses to provide that information, find another broker. The $75,000 bond will not save you if the broker picked you because you were cheap, not because you were safe.