An inspection on the wrong carrier's record: what DataQs reviews

Prepare your request: evidence checklist

• Identify the inspection report number, State and date, and the exact field or violation you dispute.
• Explain which carrier was operating the vehicle at the inspection time and request correction of the carrier assignment. Identify the report's USDOT number, carrier name and vehicle.
• Suggested supporting records, chosen for your facts: the inspection report, effective lease or rental agreement, shipping documents or driver contract. The Guide also identifies a sworn or verifiable statement from the responsible carrier when the lease or other evidence cannot clearly identify it (§6.11, pp. 57–59). A document must relate to this vehicle and event; ownership alone need not identify the operating carrier.

RoadsideProof's upload checklist is an intake condition for its optional automated completeness check. An inspection report that lets the software start is not proof that an RDR should be granted. The reviewing agency decides whether the evidence supports the correction. A record-error request does not require a court disposition merely because it is an RDR.

Next: submit the evidence with your own DataQs request, then track it and answer requests for more information. For State requests, use the deadlines guide to check the applicable review stage and response window.

• DataQs deadlines and review stages

The request type

FMCSA's DataQs Analyst Guide describes the situation as a filer "asserting that motor carrier information contained on a State's inspection record had been inadvertently uploaded to the wrong registered carrier in the MCMIS database." (§6.11, p. 57).

What the analyst checks first

"The DataQs analyst should review the original State report (crash or inspection) and SAFETYNET to verify the carrier assigned to the vehicle record in question." (p. 57).

• "Do the carrier identification number (USDOT) and company name match on the report?" (p. 58).
• "If not, does at least one of the two (USDOT number or company name) match the identifying information for the carrier submitting the RDR?" (p. 58).
• "Is it possible that a number was transposed by the inspecting officer when the USDOT number was recorded?" (p. 58).

Leases: who has to show the responsible carrier

"While it is often difficult to identify the appropriate, responsible motor carrier when there is a leasing situation involving the vehicle, the driver, or both, identification of the responsible motor carrier may be accomplished through relevant and complete documentation that should be provided by the DataQs filer requesting the data review" (p. 58).

"If a requestor is unable to produce the lease agreement or other information to identify the responsible carrier clearly, then the requestor should provide a sworn or verifiable statement from the responsible carrier." (p. 58).

The documents the guide names

When the filer's explanation is thin, the analyst is told to ask for documentation. The guide lists what a carrier should have on hand: "an inspection report, a citation or ticket, a repair bill, shipping documents, lease or rental agreement(s), driver contract(s), etc." (p. 58).

Then the analyst calls the officer: "What documentation did the officer review to determine that the company name identified on the inspection report was the correct carrier name?" (p. 58).

"Not ours" is not an explanation

In the parallel crash section the guide warns that a carrier "may simply write, 'Not ours. Please remove.'" and tells the analyst to "Ask the carrier to be more specific." (§6.3, p. 52).

The revised State DataQs process applies to requests submitted on or after September 18, 2026. It is not retroactive and does not establish deadlines for Federal reviews. The requestor bears the burden of proof at all three stages. A request to remove or modify information must explain the factual or legal basis for why it is incorrect or incomplete, with necessary supporting documents (91 FR 20567).

What the regulations say about leased equipment and markings

49 CFR 376.12(c)(1): "The lease shall provide that the authorized carrier lessee shall have exclusive possession, control, and use of the equipment for the duration of the lease. The lease shall further provide that the authorized carrier lessee shall assume complete responsibility for the operation of the equipment for the duration of the lease."

49 CFR 390.21(b)(3): "If the name of any person other than the operating carrier appears on the CMV, the name of the operating carrier must be followed by the information required by paragraphs (b)(1), and (2) of this section, and be preceded by the words 'operated by.'"

These are the regulations' words. They are not a reading of your lease.

If the State agrees

"Corrections to MCMIS data should be uploaded within 7 days from the date that the State concluded an error occurred. The DataQs analyst should then notify the motor carrier and other involved participants via the DataQs website that this change was made." (p. 59).

How long a review can be requested

The revised State DataQs process applies to requests submitted on or after September 18, 2026. It is not retroactive and does not establish deadlines for Federal reviews. The 2026 notice requires States to accept and conduct a good-faith review of inspection RDRs submitted within 3 years of the inspection and crash RDRs within 5 years of the crash (91 FR 20566).

How RoadsideProof handles this category

For this category the paid check looks for two documents: the inspection report, and a document showing which carrier the vehicle was running under. The check is about whether the first filing is complete.

We do not file for you. You file from your own account and you sign it, and that signature carries 18 U.S.C. 1001.

We do not promise an outcome. The burden of proof is on the filer. The revised State DataQs process applies to requests submitted on or after September 18, 2026. It is not retroactive and does not establish deadlines for Federal reviews. Its stages are Initial Review, Reconsideration, and Final Review. FMCSA considers the State's RDR decision final after Final Review is completed; this is separate from a court's disposition of a citation.

Sources

FMCSA, DataQs Analyst Guide: Best Practices for Federal and State Agency Users, 2nd edition, December 2014, sections 6.3 and 6.11, as hosted on the DataQs site and archived on 2026-05-26. Page numbers are the guide's own. Burden of proof: Federal Register, 91 FR 20567, FR Doc. 2026-07429. Regulations: 49 CFR 376.12(c)(1) and 390.21(b)(3), eCFR text linked below.