Ensuring the reliability of carriers is a crucial aspect of the transportation and logistics industry. While advancements in technology have made the vetting process easier, encountering suspicious addresses remains a challenge.
One constant situation our community often asks themselves, and with our expertise, we have a responsibility to address, is the need to check a carrier's address to ensure legitimacy. There are instances where a carrier’s address may raise your eyebrows, appearing isolated or unclear. Let’s explore what you can do in these situations.
Question: What Do You do When a Carrier's Address Looks Suspicious?
Imagine you're at your computer, deep into your day-to-day vetting process. Armed with the carrier's information, phone number, email, and the all-important address, you decide to take the next step and verify if this information is real.
You take the carrier’s address to see where they are located in the GPS. But wait- it looks like a location where many companies exist. . Something seems off. In this situation: Do you trust technology or your gut?
Why You Should Verify Your Carrier's Addresses
Before we dive into how to navigate suspicious addresses, let's talk about why checking carriers' addresses is crucial for legitimacy and trust.
- Verification of Existence: Ensures the carrier is a real, legitimate business.
- Business Transparency: Analyze whether other trucking and logistics companies exist at the same address, which increases the risk for double brokering and theft.
- Operational Stability: Legitimate carriers typically have stable and accessible business locations.
- Risk Mitigation: Reduces the risk of dealing with fraudulent or unreliable carriers.
At Carrier Assure, we strongly recommend implementing a procedure that requires you to verify your carrier’s address before making any decision to hire. However, we understand that manually vetting your carrier’s address can be overwhelming. That's why our platform is designed to simplify this critical step!
Carrier Assure provides you with seamless access to your carrier’s contact information, including clickable links that effortlessly redirect you to verify details such as email, address, phone, and more.
Also, when reviewing a carrier’s suspicious activity in our software, we display an image of their address and provide alerts and reports of virtual addresses for your consideration.
Here's a pro-tip: Carrier Assure's latest features allow the platform to notify you when a carrier updates their information, including their address. If you notice a carrier constantly changing their address, consider it a red flag.
How To Vet a Carrier’s Address
Let's say that you've already verified a carrier's name, address, and phone, and you feel confident in your preliminary checks. However, as you dive deeper into the vetting process, you may encounter situations where the address is sketchy.
The picture you find of the address may show you a lonely house or road, but don't jump to conclusions. This is your chance to use GPS as an ally for these following steps:
- Check out aerial views to uncover hidden truths behind fields and rural areas. The carrier might be there, waiting for you to discover it.
- Closely examine the entire picture you see. Ask yourself: Do you see any trucks? Do you see any drivers around?
- Communicate with the carrier and ask them questions, such as: ‘’What's next door to your business?" A simple question can unveil a wealth of information and determine whether this carrier is a trustworthy partner.
- Verify the GPS’ last updated picture. Sometimes, maps are not always up to date and might show you old pictures.
- Cross-verify the address in search engines to see if there’s any additional information that can add value to your vetting process.
Suspicious or not, it's up to you to unravel the tale. These steps should not be missed, and if something catches your eye, you should always trust your gut, or trust Carrier Assure.
Feel free to email us at tech@carrierassure.com if you want any address investigated further.
We're here to support you in making informed decisions and ensuring a secure and reliable logistics partnership!
