Outsourced carrier onboarding for freight brokers: who checks the carrier before the load moves?
Every carrier checked before your load leaves the dock.
A dedicated, full-time carrier onboarding coordinator from Neon Link costs $2,995 a month, month to month, or $2,895 a month on the 6-month plan, with no setup fee. Working remotely from the Philippines on your US hours, they collect each new carrier's packet, check the carrier's authority, safety record and insurance against your rules, look for the signs of double brokering and stolen carrier identities, and set the carrier up in your TMS, then keep watching for lapsed insurance and changed authority. It fits freight brokers and 3PLs adding carriers every week, while the decision to approve a carrier stays with you.
Rates come from our live rate card. Page updated .
See 3 candidate profiles for your role
Tell us the role. Within 48 hours our team emails you 3 anonymized profiles from people who applied for this kind of work with us: their experience, their region and the software they use.
What your Linker handles
- Send new carriers your packet and collect it complete: the signed broker carrier agreement, W-9, certificate of insurance, authority letter and the factoring company's notice of assignment when there is one
- Check each carrier's operating authority, DOT and MC numbers, safety rating and authority age on the FMCSA's records, against the rules you set
- Check the certificate of insurance with the agent: limits, cargo coverage, covered vehicles, and your brokerage listed as certificate holder
- Look for fraud signs, such as contact details that do not match the FMCSA record, recently changed phone numbers or emails, brand new authority on a high value load or a request to change where payment goes, and bring them to you before the carrier is approved
- Run carriers through your monitoring tool, such as Highway, RMIS or MyCarrierPackets, and act on its alerts by your rules
- Confirm any change to a carrier's payment details by calling the number already on file, never one given in the request
- Set approved carriers up in your TMS with the right contacts, equipment, lanes and payment details, and keep the file current
- Watch for cancelled insurance, revoked authority and expiring documents, and mark the carrier do not use in your TMS until it is fixed, by your rules
- Send the operations manager a short end of shift note on carriers approved, held, waiting on documents and flagged
We screen for the systems you run, such as McLeod, Aljex, Revenova, Tai or Turvo for your TMS, Highway, RMIS or MyCarrierPackets for onboarding and monitoring, and the FMCSA's public records. If a finalist has not used yours, you'll know before they start.
How the work is measured
What your Linker is measured on. The targets are set with you in the first week, from your volumes and your hours, and written into your statement of work.
- No carrier set up without a complete packet and every check you require on file
- Every fraud sign written down and brought to you before the carrier is approved
- Every change to payment details confirmed by phone with the number already on file
- Insurance and authority alerts acted on during the shift they arrive, by your rules
What a team costs
| Team | Month to month | 6-month plan |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Linker | $2,995 | $2,895 |
| 2 Linkers | $5,990 | $5,790 |
| 3 Linkers | $8,985 | $8,685 |
| 4 Linkers | $11,980 | $11,580 |
| 5 Linkers | $14,975 | $14,475 |
| 6 Linkers | $17,970 | $17,370 |
Per month. 40 hours a week per Linker. No setup fee. Prices from our live rate card.
How we vet your Linker
Our recruiting team in the Philippines runs a strict screening and review of every applicant, using a process built by our founder, Dan Betthauser, from twenty years running outsourced operations across the Philippines, Costa Rica and the United States. Every Linker goes through:
- A screen of the application against your role: the work, the software and the experience you need
- A recorded spoken English sample, reviewed by our team
- A practical skills test for your work, scored in our own system
- A live video interview with our recruiting team
- An ID check and a background check: NBI clearance in the Philippines, police clearance in India and Pakistan
- A workspace check before day one: a quiet, private room, wired internet, a backup connection and a plan for power outages
- A signed confidentiality agreement before they see any of your data
- Your own interview with the finalist: nobody starts until you say yes
How it starts
- Step 1Tell us the work: a 15 or 30 minute call with our team, or the sixty second scope on the homepage.
- Step 2Get a written quote at the published rate, held for 30 days.
- Step 3We recruit and screen for your work and your software, and you interview the finalist before they start.
- Step 4Your Linker works your queue on your hours. A Neon Link manager runs the account and answers when you need them.
- Step 5If the fit is wrong in the first 60 days, we swap them at no cost.
A good fit, and not a fit
- Freight brokers and 3PLs onboarding new carriers every week, where agents set them up between calls
- Brokerages that have been hit by, or nearly missed, a double brokered load or a stolen carrier identity
- Growing brokerages that want one person who owns carrier files, separate from the people booking freight
- Deciding which carriers you approve or the rules you approve them by. You set the rules; your Linker applies them and flags the exceptions
- Your broker authority, bond and contracts. Those stay with you and your counsel
- Investigating cargo theft or filing claims with insurers or law enforcement. Your Linker gathers the file; you take it from there
- A 24/7 carrier desk. Your Linker is one person on your hours
Open roles behind this page
We recruit for this work now. These are the live postings we hire your Linker from:
See 3 candidate profiles for your role
Tell us the role. Within 48 hours our team emails you 3 anonymized profiles from people who applied for this kind of work with us: their experience, their region and the software they use.
Questions owners ask
How much does it cost to outsource carrier onboarding?
$2,995 a month for one dedicated, full-time person (40 hours a week), month to month, or $2,895 a month on the 6-month plan. There is no setup fee, and pay, equipment and management are inside that one number. For comparison, a US dispatcher costs about $5,590 a month fully loaded, using the BLS median wage plus employer costs.
Can someone offshore really spot carrier fraud?
They can spot the signs, which is most of the work. Fraud usually shows up as details that do not line up: an email or phone number that does not match the FMCSA record, contact details changed days before a load, brand new authority on an expensive load, or a request to send payment somewhere new. Your Linker checks every carrier the same way against your rules and brings anything that looks wrong to you before the carrier is approved. The call on a borderline carrier stays with you.
Will they book loads or negotiate rates?
Not in this role. This page is about the carrier file: packets, checks, setup and monitoring. If you also need someone to run check calls and track loads, a track and trace coordinator from Neon Link does that work, and you can add one.
How is carrier and payment information handled?
Your Linker signs a confidentiality agreement, passes a background check and works inside your TMS and onboarding tools with the access you give them. Carrier documents and payment details stay in your systems, never on personal devices or personal email, and no payment detail changes without the phone check on file.
How is this different from hiring a virtual assistant?
You get one dedicated person who handles your work on your hours, inside your software, and a Neon Link manager runs the account: pay, equipment, replacement if it comes to that, and a phone that gets answered. You never run offshore payroll or manage a freelancer alone. It is not a ticket queue or a 24/7 answering line.
How fast can someone start?
We start recruiting when you say go. You interview the finalist before anyone starts, and the start date is set with you once you pick the person. We would rather take the time to find the right fit than hand you whoever is free.
What if the person is not the right fit?
If the fit is wrong in the first 60 days, we swap them at no cost. After that, if they leave, we recruit the replacement at no charge and manage the handover. Training on your process runs at the normal monthly rate.
Do we have to sign a long contract?
No. Month to month is available on every plan. The 6-month plan trades a longer commitment for a lower monthly rate. A written quote at the published rate is held for 30 days.
Related pages
- Trucking & Logistics: DQ files, IFTA, CSA monitoring, driver onboarding paperwork, billing and settlements.
- Track and trace coordinator for freight brokers: What a dedicated coordinator costs to run check calls, keep tracking current, catch late loads early and keep your customers told, for freight brokers and 3PLs.
1 US dispatcher, fully loaded: ~$5,590/mo How we calculate this
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