Is your insurance active?Check it in 90 seconds.

Every for-hire carrier has to keep liability insurance — the BIPD filing — on record with FMCSA. When a policy is in force and the insurer has filed it, your record shows coverage on file and the insurance reads as active. When the policy is cancelled, expires, or the insurer withdraws the filing, the record shows nothing on file and the insurance reads as inactive.

That distinction matters beyond paperwork. FMCSA can revoke operating authority over a lapsed filing, so an inactive reading is usually the first sign that an authority is at risk. It is also the first thing a serious acquirer looks at, for three reasons: an active policy is a continuity signal, it is the onboarding gate that networks like Amazon Relay require before they take on a carrier, and it means an underwriter has already verified the authority, the vehicle registrations and the DOT compliance.

If you are not sure which state you are in, the lookup box above reads it straight off your FMCSA record. The other reliable check is a call to your insurance agent asking whether the policy is in force and whether the FMCSA filing is current — they are not always the same thing.

Insurance active

The straightforward case. Coverage is re-bound under the new owner at closing, with the existing carrier or a new one, and the transition is invisible to anyone checking the company’s coverage. This works whether or not the company has an Amazon Relay contract. For a company without Relay, active coverage is usually a hard requirement, because without it the company cannot move into Relay onboarding without re-binding from scratch.

Insurance inactive, active Amazon Relay contract

Still qualifies. The contract is the asset: even with lapsed coverage the company has a current relationship with Amazon, and insurance is re-bound immediately at closing as part of the transfer. How a Relay sale runs is on selling a Relay carrier.

Insurance inactive, no Relay contract

Generally does not qualify. There is no active operating relationship to step into, and a bare authority with no operating history and no contract is not worth much on its own. The full eligibility list is on requirements.

Practical points at closing

• If the policy is active, keep paying premiums until closing so it does not lapse mid-deal. Prepaid coverage from the closing date forward is reimbursed pro-rata.
• Open claims are not deal-breakers, but disclose them up front.
• Commercial auto, cargo and general liability policies all transfer together; nothing is cherry-picked.

The longer version is in active vs. inactive insurance, and how the company itself changes hands is on how the LLC transfer works.