Carrier profile · USDOT 201734 · MC-157313 · Updated Jun 21, 2026

Kotaco Fuels Inc

DBA NICHELSON OIL

106 power unitsavg 11.5 yrMulti-region · 10 statesFARGO, ND88/100
CARRIER ACTIVEMC-157313 ACTIVERATED SATISFACTORYHAZMAT
Verified linkskotacofuels.comFMCSA SAFER

Safety

Roadside out-of-service rates versus the national benchmark, inspection and crash trends, decoded violation themes, and ELD / hours-of-service integrity — the full safety picture behind the verdict.

Out-of-service rate· 24-mo cumulative · vs national

Vehicle OOS 14.9%24-mo cumulative
050%nat'l 22.26%
Driver OOS 0.8%24-mo cumulative
030%nat'l 6.67%

Every inspection in the window pooled — 94 vehicle and 125 driver inspections over 24 months.

Vehicle OOS rate· vehicle OOS · vehicle-level inspections · 6-month trailing

16.7% · latest 6-mo window▲ Rising

Share of vehicle-level roadside inspections in each trailing six-month window that resulted in a vehicle out-of-service order. Trending up 13.9 pts across the window. The national vehicle benchmark uses the same metric and is shown on the chart.

Roadside inspection history· 24 charted calendar months · vehicle / driver level · any-OOS overlay

117 inspections in the charted months · busiest month Sep '24 · 12

Vehicle-levelDriver-levelAny OOS

Monthly FMCSA roadside inspections across the 24 charted calendar months. Bars show level-qualified vehicle and driver populations; one inspection can qualify for both. The line shows inspections with any out-of-service result.

Inspection coverage· expected vs observed · the fraud signal

Inspection coverage

How heavily FMCSA inspects this fleet for its size — it tells you how much to trust the safety signals above. Thin coverage on a young authority is a fraud signal nobody else surfaces.

Expected band
Under-inspected
Expected
Well-monitored
Heavily inspected
≈0.6 / unit·yr
thin signalabundant signal
Roadside-inspection volume is about what you'd expect for a 106-unit fleet — enough signal to read the safety record, though not a heavy sample.
Registered power units
106
Inspections · 24 mo
125
Annualized
≈63 / yr
Coverage
≈0.6 inspections / unit · yr

BASIC categories· CSA SMS · Aug 2026

6%
Unsafe Driving
Vektor peer est.
41%
Hours-of-Service
Vektor peer est.
Driver Fitness
0violations
clean · per-BASIC
Controlled Substances
0violations
clean · per-BASIC
47%
Vehicle Maintenance
Vektor peer est.

Percentile = standing among same-exposure peers (higher = worse). FMCSA publishes percentiles for only some carriers (shown official); elsewhere we show a Vektor peer-percentile estimate, or the absolute SMS measure when there are too few inspections to rank.

Violation themes· decoded · grouped by BASIC

What this carrier actually gets cited for — FMCSA violation codes decoded into plain English, ranked by frequency.

  • 392.2 State/local traffic law violation (speeding, etc.)Unsafe Driving33 · 0 OOS
  • 393.45 Brake tubing / hose defectsVehicle Maintenance30 · 6 OOS
  • 393.9 Inoperative required lampsVehicle Maintenance21 · 1 OOS
  • 393.47 Brake actuators / linings / componentsVehicle Maintenance19 · 1 OOS
  • 393.55 Antilock brake system (ABS)Vehicle Maintenance13 · 0 OOS
  • 396.3 Inspection / repair / maintenance not performedVehicle Maintenance11 · 7 OOS
  • 393.75 Tires (defective / underinflated / worn)Vehicle Maintenance8 · 3 OOS
  • 393.53 Automatic brake adjusters / indicatorsVehicle Maintenance6 · 0 OOS
  • 393.48 Brakes inoperativeVehicle Maintenance6 · 0 OOS
  • 177.817 Other violationOther5 · 2 OOS

ELD & hours-of-service

6 hours-of-service / ELD violations on record · most recent Aug 13, 2025. FMCSA does not publish the ELD device brand; these are the carrier's logging-compliance signals.

2ELD device issues
0No log / no ELD
2False logs
1Drove over hours

Trending worse — 100% of ELD violations are in the last 24 months. Falsified-log violations are a serious integrity flag.

Crash history· 19 total · 3 in 24 mo

19
Total crashes
3
In last 24 mo
1
Fatal
9
Injury
YearCrashesFatalInjuryTow
20252012
20241001
20231011
20224124
20213023
20202002
20194034
20161001
20111001
DateStateFatalitiesInjuriesTow-away
May 29, 2025CO01Yes
Feb 21, 2025NE00Yes
Dec 3, 2024ND00Yes
Jul 3, 2023CO01Yes
Nov 9, 2022ND00Yes
Sep 20, 2022ND11Yes
May 9, 2022ND01Yes
Feb 16, 2022WY00Yes
Nov 30, 2021ND00Yes
Jun 21, 2021NE01Yes
May 5, 2021NE01Yes
Nov 18, 2020SD00Yes
Nov 4, 2020WY00Yes
Sep 24, 2019TX01Yes
Jul 1, 2019ND02Yes
May 31, 2019TX00Yes
May 2, 2019ND01Yes
Jun 23, 2016ND00Yes
Dec 9, 2011ND00Yes