Carrier profile · USDOT 283413 · Updated Jul 18, 2026

MERCHANTS METALS LLC

80 power unitsavg 3.9 yrNational · 32 statesATLANTA, GA94/100
AUTHORITY STATUS UNKNOWNRATED SATISFACTORY
Verified linksfencingsupplygroup.comLinkedInFMCSA 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 18.7%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 — 75 vehicle and 124 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 11.3 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

119 inspections in the charted months · busiest month Oct '24 · 10

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
≈0.8 / unit·yr
thin signalabundant signal
Roadside-inspection volume is about what you'd expect for a 80-unit fleet — enough signal to read the safety record, though not a heavy sample.
Registered power units
80
Inspections · 24 mo
124
Annualized
≈62 / yr
Coverage
≈0.8 inspections / unit · yr

BASIC categories· CSA SMS · Aug 2026

42%
Unsafe Driving
Vektor peer est.
28%
Hours-of-Service
Vektor peer est.
25%
Driver Fitness
Vektor peer est.
Controlled Substances
0violations
clean · per-BASIC
46%
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 Driving38 · 0 OOS
  • 393.9 Inoperative required lampsVehicle Maintenance19 · 0 OOS
  • 393.75 Tires (defective / underinflated / worn)Vehicle Maintenance12 · 11 OOS
  • 393.45 Brake tubing / hose defectsVehicle Maintenance11 · 1 OOS
  • 393.47 Brake actuators / linings / componentsVehicle Maintenance10 · 0 OOS
  • 393.110 Cargo securement — number of tiedownsVehicle Maintenance8 · 8 OOS
  • 396.3 Inspection / repair / maintenance not performedVehicle Maintenance7 · 3 OOS
  • 393.53 Automatic brake adjusters / indicatorsVehicle Maintenance6 · 0 OOS
  • 396.17 Periodic (annual) inspectionVehicle Maintenance5 · 0 OOS
  • 393.95 Emergency equipment (extinguisher, triangles)Vehicle Maintenance4 · 0 OOS

ELD & hours-of-service

11 hours-of-service / ELD violations on record · most recent May 14, 2026. FMCSA does not publish the ELD device brand; these are the carrier's logging-compliance signals.

7ELD device issues
0No log / no ELD
0False logs
1Drove over hours

Trending worse — 57% of ELD violations are in the last 24 months.

Crash history· 70 total · 4 in 24 mo

70
Total crashes
4
In last 24 mo
0
Fatal
25
Injury
YearCrashesFatalInjuryTow
20262021
20252012
20241001
20235005
20221001
20216006
20201001
20192012
20184014
20177037
20166036
20151001
20141001
20132002
20122012
20104034
20091001
20081001
20073031
20063022
20053013
20042012
20032011
20023013
19981001
19971001
19961001
19952012
DateStateFatalitiesInjuriesTow-away
Jul 7, 2026IA01Yes
Mar 17, 2026NC01No
Mar 28, 2025NC00Yes
Jan 7, 2025TX01Yes
Apr 19, 2024FL00Yes
Dec 27, 2023CA00Yes
Nov 28, 2023LA00Yes
Oct 12, 2023FL00Yes
Sep 27, 2023MN00Yes
May 1, 2023KY00Yes
Aug 15, 2022CA00Yes
Oct 11, 2021MO00Yes
May 12, 2021KY00Yes
Apr 7, 2021FL00Yes
Apr 5, 2021IN00Yes
Mar 23, 2021MI00Yes
Feb 8, 2021OH00Yes
May 27, 2020FL00Yes
Dec 19, 2019CA01Yes
Aug 23, 2019TX00Yes
Oct 18, 2018CA00Yes
Apr 16, 2018IL00Yes
Feb 20, 2018CA01Yes
Feb 8, 2018NC00Yes
Dec 21, 2017IN00Yes