What Truckers Need to Know About Their SMS/CSA Scores

What Truckers Need to Know About the SMS/CSA Score

There’s a lot of paperwork and documentation truckers must keep on hand, and one number that matters more every year is your carrier’s SMS data. What does the FMCSA do with this information, and why should you care? Here are the basics of SMS and its role in trucking insurance.

What Is SMS?

The Safety Measurement System (SMS) is the tool the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) uses under its Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) program to identify carriers for safety interventions. SMS uses roadside inspection results, crash reports, and investigation findings from the last 24 months to rank carriers in seven categories called BASICs: Unsafe Driving, Hours-of-Service Compliance, Driver Fitness, Controlled Substances/Alcohol, Vehicle Maintenance, Hazardous Materials Compliance, and Crash Indicator.

Each BASIC gets its own percentile compared with similar carriers. There isn’t one combined SMS score, and SMS percentiles aren’t the same as your official FMCSA safety rating, which comes from a compliance review.

How Do SMS Scores Affect Insurance?

Underwriters look at your BASIC percentiles and out-of-service (OOS) rates when they quote and renew trucking insurance. Lower percentiles and clean inspections usually mean better pricing. High percentiles, especially in Unsafe Driving, Hours-of-Service, Vehicle Maintenance, or Crash Indicator, can raise your premium or make some carriers decline to quote. Brokers and shippers check the same data before they give you loads.

How Do You Improve Your Scores?

• Keep documents current: driver qualification files, medical cards, registrations, and proof of insurance should be up to date and in the truck.
• Stay on top of hours of service: keep your ELD records accurate and follow HOS rules on every trip.
• Win clean inspections: inspections with no violations add positive data and help offset older violations as they age out of the 24-month window. Before any inspection, make sure your truck and paperwork are ready. Our post on preparing for a DOT inspection walks through the checklist.
• Maintain your equipment: brakes, tires, and lights cause many violations. Regular maintenance keeps you out of service and keeps repair costs down.
• Challenge errors: if an inspection or crash record is wrong, file a request through the FMCSA DataQs system.

Your SMS data is one of the biggest factors in what you pay for trucking insurance. Monitor it regularly, fix problems early, and let us know when your numbers improve so we can take them to market at renewal.