CDL Crackdowns, Broker Purges, and the 2025 Finish Line
🚛 This Week in Trucking: “Everything’s Fine… Probably”
1. FMCSA coming for sketchy brokers’ money games
Source: FreightWaves
FMCSA is tightening the screws on truck brokers and their BMC-85 “trust” companies.
Starting Jan. 16, 2026, FMCSA will start verifying BMC-85 providers.
If a broker’s trust company doesn’t meet new standards, they’ll get 30 days to fix it or switch providers.
If they don’t? Their authority can be yanked.
What it means for you:
Expect some shaky, slow-pay brokers to disappear or hit pause.
Fewer zombie brokers = fewer “I swear the check is in the mail” situations.
Before you haul, it’s more important than ever to know who you’re dealing with and watch your broker’s status.
2. CDL crackdown: California gets serious
California just reminded everyone that bad paper will catch up to you.
Operation Highway Sentinel targeted trucking companies using unqualified or improperly licensed drivers.
Result: Dozens of drivers arrested over immigration and CDL issues; some tied to serious/fatal crashes.
Feds are also coming after “CDL mills” that hand out licenses without real training.
What it means for you:
If your CDL is clean and legit, you’re on the right side of this. Enforcement like this shrinks the pool of cheap, unsafe drivers undercutting rates.
Carriers running “creative” onboarding processes are playing with fire. When these outfits get shut down, capacity tightens… and that’s usually good for rates.
Make sure your medical card, endorsements, and ELDT/records are squared away. Paperwork isn’t sexy, but neither is getting walked out of a scale house.
3. 2025: The year of “are we in a recovery or not?”
Sources: Transport Topics, FreightWaves, FreightWaves white paper
The year is ending with trucking asking the same question as every driver staring at a half-paying load: “Do I really want to do this?”
Key points:
Freight demand: Choppy. Some regions saw a 10%+ drop in Q3 volumes, others are holding steady.
Spot market: Late 2025 brought a surprise pop in spot rates and higher tender rejections as capacity tightened around holidays.
Big fleets: Many kicked the can on new truck purchases, keeping older iron longer while they wait for 2026 clarity on rates, regulations, and tariffs.
CDL & driver pipeline: With crackdowns on schools and non-domiciled CDLs, the driver supply is getting more restricted.
What it means for you:
Don’t let one good week of spot rates trick you into thinking it’s 2021 again. This is more of a slow grind than a rocket ship.
The setup for better conditions in 2026 is there: tighter driver pool, delayed fleet replacements, and slowly improving freight.
If you can survive this weird middle zone—control your costs, avoid trash loads, and stay picky—you’re positioned to win when things really turn.
4. Top regulatory shifts that shaped your 2025
Source: FreightWaves – 2025 regulatory recap
2025 wasn’t just vibes and cheap freight. A quick lightning-round of changes that matter to truckers:
Rollbacks or changes around emissions rules for heavy-duty trucks.
Speed limiter mandates getting stalled or reshaped.
More focus on English proficiency & legal status for CDL holders.
Extra heat on CDL schools and training standards.
Bottom line: The government is slowly shifting from “more trucks at any cost” to “fewer, more compliant trucks.” That usually means the ones who play by the rules get rewarded later… after a painful transition now.
đź› Service Spotlight (Affiliated): RTS Factoring & Fuel Cards
Ever delivered a load on Friday and then spent the whole weekend refreshing your bank app like it’s a TikTok feed?
If you’re tired of waiting to get paid, check out RTS factoring and fuel cards:
Fast pay on your invoices so you’re not floating brokers.
Fuel discounts to fight back against those “are you serious?” pump prices.
Cash flow that lets you say “no” to garbage loads instead of taking them just to cover fuel.
If you’re an owner operator or small fleet and your “factor” is still your credit card, it might be time to level up.
Meme-in-your-head of the week
That feeling when spot rates finally jump 20 cents, but your maintenance bill just jumped 40:
You: “We’re so back.”
Turbo, tires, and DEF system: “Actually, you’re so broke.”
Stay safe, log honest, and don’t haul cheap.
