How CSA scores and safety ratings affect trucking insurance

CSA scores are percentile rankings FMCSA assigns to motor carriers from roadside inspection, violation and crash data, and the safety rating (Satisfactory, Conditional or Unsatisfactory) comes from a separate FMCSA review of the carrier's operations. Underwriters read both. A carrier above an intervention threshold, or with a Conditional rating, will see fewer quotes and higher prices, and an Unsatisfactory rating can end the business. Loss history still matters more at most carriers, but the federal data is the first thing an underwriter pulls.

Two different measures

SMS began in December 2010, and FMCSA uses it to prioritize carriers for interventions, according to FMCSA's Federal Register notices on the system (88 FR 9954, Feb. 15, 2023; 89 FR 91874, Nov. 20, 2024).

The categories and their thresholds

The system measures carriers in seven categories, called BASICs (Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories). A carrier is prioritized for intervention when its percentile reaches or exceeds a threshold. Under the thresholds FMCSA described in its February 2023 notice, for property carriers (non-hazmat, non-passenger):

Hazmat carriers and passenger carriers face lower thresholds: 60 and 50 percent in the first three categories, and 75 and 65 percent in Vehicle Maintenance, Controlled Substances/Alcohol and Driver Fitness. The Hazardous Materials Compliance threshold is 80 percent for everyone. FMCSA set the lowest thresholds on Unsafe Driving, Crash Indicator and Hours-of-Service Compliance because its analysis found them most closely related to crash risk.

Percentiles are relative: a carrier is compared with others that have a similar number of inspections or crashes, and more recent events count for more. A 70th percentile in Unsafe Driving does not mean 70 percent of anything.

A change to watch

On November 20, 2024, FMCSA announced an enhanced SMS methodology that regroups the BASICs into "Compliance Categories": Unsafe Driving (which would absorb the controlled substance and alcohol violations and operating-while-out-of-service violations), Crash Indicator, Hours-of-Service Compliance, Vehicle Maintenance, a separate Vehicle Maintenance: Driver Observed category, Driver Fitness and Hazardous Materials Compliance, with simplified severity weights and new thresholds. The notice said a follow-up announcement would give the launch date (Federal Register). At the time of writing (October 2026) we could not find a Federal Register launch notice, so check FMCSA's SMS website for the version in use. The principles below apply either way.

What the public can see

Under section 5223 of the FAST Act, FMCSA removed SMS percentiles and alerts for property carriers from the public SMS website. Percentiles for passenger carriers remain public, and so do inspection, crash, investigation and registration data for all carriers. A property carrier can log in and see its own percentiles. The practical result is that outsiders, including brokers, shippers and insurers, can read the underlying inspection and crash records even where they cannot see the carrier's percentile.

How underwriters use the data

Trade press has described the pattern for years. A 2018 Transport Topics report on how insurers use CSA data quoted brokers and an insurance-industry foundation saying CSA scores had become a major underwriting factor, that insurers typically review them 60 to 120 days before renewal and ask first whether they are trending better or worse, and that carriers with several alerts, a high Inspection Selection System (ISS) score or a Conditional rating can have trouble finding coverage (Transport Topics). The same report quotes insurance people who doubt that all BASIC scores predict crashes and who note that small fleets may have too few inspections to be judged fairly. FMCSA's own analyses say higher percentiles correlate with higher crash rates, and critics dispute the strength of that link in some categories. Both sides agree underwriters use the data.

In practice an underwriter looks for:

• Alerts and trend. Which categories are over threshold, and whether the line is moving up or down.
• Inspection volume and out-of-service rates compared with the national average, which FMCSA publishes.
• Crashes per power unit, and whether they were preventable.
• Safety rating and operating authority age. A Conditional rating or a new authority narrows the market.
• Loss runs. Five years of loss runs often count more than percentiles, and a carrier with clean losses and a rough BASIC can still place.
• Management controls. Driver hiring (Driver selection, MVRs and your commercial auto premium), maintenance, telematics (telematics and dashcams in commercial auto insurance) and a written safety program (building a fleet safety program that insurers notice).

Plaintiffs' lawyers read the same data, and the 2018 report notes they use it in court. A carrier that ignored an alert for months gives a jury a story, as discussed in trucking verdicts and the cost of auto liability.

What the safety ratings mean

Under 49 CFR 385.3, a Satisfactory rating means the carrier has adequate safety management controls in place for its size and type of operation. Conditional means it does not have adequate controls to ensure compliance with the safety fitness standard, which could result in the occurrences listed in § 385.5. Unsatisfactory means inadequate controls that have resulted in those occurrences. An unrated carrier has not been assigned a rating.

The consequences are concrete. Under § 385.13, a carrier rated Unsatisfactory is prohibited from operating a commercial motor vehicle. For carriers hauling placarded hazardous materials or passengers, the prohibition begins on the 46th day after the notice of the proposed rating, and for others on the 61st day, with up to 60 more days possible if FMCSA finds a good-faith effort to improve. Federal agencies cannot use an Unsatisfactory carrier. A Conditional rating does not stop operations, but many shippers, brokers and insurers will not touch it. The MCS-90 and FMCSA filings described in FMCSA insurance requirements and filings for motor carriers and The MCS-90 endorsement explained: what it guarantees and what it doesn't remain the legal proof of financial responsibility regardless of rating.

How to challenge and improve the data

1. Review your SMS profile every month, because it updates monthly, and watch the categories, the violation detail and the inspections behind them.
2. File DataQs requests to challenge inspection or crash records that are wrong, such as the wrong carrier, wrong driver or a violation that did not occur. Keep the evidence.
3. Use the Crash Preventability Determination Program. Under FMCSA's December 4, 2024 notice, carriers and drivers can submit requests for data review of eligible crash types through DataQs. Crashes determined Not Preventable are excluded from the Crash Indicator calculation, while Preventable and Undecided crashes stay in. The burden is on the submitter, who is encouraged to supply videos, photographs and court documents (Federal Register). Dashcam footage (telematics and dashcams in commercial auto insurance) is often the best evidence.
4. Fix the causes. Train drivers on the violations that appear in your record, tighten pre-trip inspections, repair the equipment problems that recur, and fix logbook or ELD compliance.
5. Treat FMCSA contact seriously. A warning letter or investigation request needs a prompt, documented response.
6. Tell your broker what you changed. Carriers want to see the trend, and a short written explanation of corrective action helps at renewal.

A hypothetical

Say a 12-truck flatbed carrier learns two months before renewal that its Vehicle Maintenance percentile is 84, above the 80 percent threshold for property carriers. Its broker warns that two markets will decline to quote. The owner reviews the roadside inspections behind the score, files DataQs challenges on two violations written against the wrong unit, and finds that most of the rest involve lighting and tire problems that a pre-trip check should catch. The shop adds a weekly trailer light check and a tire pressure log. The score will not change overnight, because older events fall away only as time passes, but the owner can show the underwriter a trend line and the corrective steps. The numbers are made up to show the process. The carrier still faces a harder renewal than a clean fleet, and it should expect the underwriter to focus on loss history as well.

Key takeaways

• CSA percentiles come from inspections, violations and crashes and update monthly. Safety ratings come from FMCSA reviews and carry legal consequences.
• For property carriers, intervention thresholds are 65 percent for Unsafe Driving, Crash Indicator and Hours-of-Service Compliance, and 80 percent for the other categories, per FMCSA's February 2023 notice. FMCSA announced a restructured methodology in November 2024, so confirm the version in use.
• A Conditional rating narrows the insurance market, and an Unsatisfactory rating prohibits operating a commercial motor vehicle after a short period.
• Underwriters use the data alongside loss history and management controls. Trends and documented corrective action help.
• Use DataQs and the Crash Preventability Determination Program to correct the record, and fix the underlying violations.