---
title: "Chameleon carrier"
url: https://carrierkyc.com/glossary/chameleon-carrier
description: "A chameleon carrier is a motor carrier that re-registers under a new name or USDOT number to escape a poor safety record, unpaid penalties or an out-of-service order."
---

# Chameleon carrier

**Definition:** A chameleon carrier is a motor carrier that re-registers under a new name or USDOT number to escape a poor safety record, unpaid penalties or an out-of-service order.

Also called: Reincarnated carrier, Chameleon. Category: Fraud.

FMCSA can act against them under 49 CFR 386.73, which allows out-of-service orders and record consolidation when a company operates under a new identity to avoid an order, a penalty, enforcement or a negative compliance history. The factors FMCSA weighs include common ownership and officers, shared addresses, phones and email, the same equipment and drivers, and continuity of insurance and customers. GAO reported new applicants with chameleon attributes rising from 759 in 2005 to 1,136 in 2010.

For a factor, the new entity looks young and clean, while the old one may have left unpaid fuel advances, chargebacks or liens at another factor. Detection means matching people, contacts and equipment across entities, not reading one record. FMCSA's census file includes `prior_revoke_flag` and `prior_revoke_dot_number` fields that tie some carriers to an earlier revoked registration.

> **Red flag: Red flags** A new authority sharing a phone, address or email with a revoked or out-of-service carrier. An officer who ran a carrier that closed recently. Trucks whose VINs were registered to a prior entity. A gap of weeks, not months, between one company's shutdown and the next one's application.

The [carrier check](https://carrierkyc.com/tools/carrier-check) shows carriers sharing the same phone, email or address, and the [chameleon carriers guide](https://carrierkyc.com/guides/chameleon-carriers) explains how to read those links.

## Related

- [Chameleon carriers: how to find related entities in FMCSA data](https://carrierkyc.com/guides/chameleon-carriers)
- [Out-of-service order](https://carrierkyc.com/glossary/out-of-service-order)
- [Authority age](https://carrierkyc.com/glossary/authority-age)
- [Revocation](https://carrierkyc.com/glossary/revocation)
- [Carrier risk check](https://carrierkyc.com/tools/carrier-check)

## Sources

- [49 CFR 386.73: Operations out of service and record consolidation (reincarnated carriers)](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-49/section-386.73) (eCFR)
- [GAO-12-364: New applicant reviews should expand to identify freight carriers evading detection](https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-12-364) (US Government Accountability Office, 2012-03-22)
- [FMCSA Company Census File](https://data.transportation.gov/Trucking-and-Motorcoaches/Company-Census-File/az4n-8mr2) (data.transportation.gov)