Data sources and verification
The kinds of sources behind Pingtail feeds, what we check before a record reaches a file, and how to ask for a correction or removal.
Last updated 2026-09-14
This page is a template prepared for review. Bracketed items are placeholders that must be completed, and the text must be reviewed by a qualified lawyer before launch.
Pingtail is not affiliated with or endorsed by the US Department of Transportation or any government agency. [LAWYER REVIEW: confirm the terms of use of each source before launch.]
Where our data comes from
Our team compiles records from these categories of sources:
| Source category | What it provides |
|---|---|
| Official US government registries of transportation businesses | USDOT registration, operating authority and its dates, revocation-pending status, insurance on file and the required minimum, bonds and process agents, inspection summaries, and the registered business name, officers, address, fleet size and cargo types |
| Business filings | Contact details that businesses registered themselves |
| Company websites and business listings | Websites, and owner names where the business publishes them |
We do not buy contact lists and we do not scrape social networks.
What we check
- Registration and authority status: the registration is active and the operating authority is active today, as each feed requires.
- Revocation pending: removed from the active feeds.
- Insurance on file: compared with the federal minimum.
- Phone validation: numbers are validated and typed where possible.
- Agent and shared contacts: contacts that belong to filing services, or are shared by unrelated businesses, are removed.
- Automated verification: every build passes automated checks on a random sample and the flagged rows (contact validity, authority status, duplicates, the removal list and freshness) before release, and every feed is checked again daily. Our data specialists spot-check samples.
- Removal list: honoured in every file, dashboard view and API response.
- Last-verified date: every row carries the date it was last verified.
The step-by-step process is on Our process.
Our additions
Beyond the registered values we add our own fields: phone number validation and type, email domain checks, detection of shared and agent contacts, time zone, our authority status labels, the last_verified date and the removal list. Mistakes in these fields are ours.
Corrections
If a registered record itself is wrong, the business should correct it with the registry that holds it. If one of our own fields is wrong, tell us at dipa@pingtail.com. To remove a record from our data, use the removal page.