Carrier profile · USDOT 2786651 · Updated Jun 21, 2026

PICO PROPANE OPERATING LLC

DBA PICO PROPANE AND FUELS

140 power unitsavg 7.4 yrRegional · 3 statesSAN ANTONIO, TX90/100
AUTHORITY STATUS UNKNOWNHAZMAT
Verified linksmeritumenergy.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 14.2%24-mo cumulative
050%nat'l 22.26%
Driver OOS 0.7%24-mo cumulative
030%nat'l 6.67%

Every inspection in the window pooled — 141 vehicle and 144 driver inspections over 24 months.

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

20.6% · 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 11.6 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

142 inspections in the charted months · busiest month Feb '26 · 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
≈0.5 / unit·yr
thin signalabundant signal
Roadside-inspection volume is about what you'd expect for a 140-unit fleet — enough signal to read the safety record, though not a heavy sample.
Registered power units
140
Inspections · 24 mo
144
Annualized
≈72 / yr
Coverage
≈0.5 inspections / unit · yr

BASIC categories· CSA SMS · Aug 2026

2%
Unsafe Driving
Vektor peer est.
Hours-of-Service
0violations
clean · per-BASIC
51%
Driver Fitness
Vektor peer est.
Controlled Substances
0violations
clean · per-BASIC
33%
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.

  • 396.3 Inspection / repair / maintenance not performedVehicle Maintenance19 · 7 OOS
  • 393.45 Brake tubing / hose defectsVehicle Maintenance17 · 3 OOS
  • 393.9 Inoperative required lampsVehicle Maintenance17 · 0 OOS
  • 392.2 State/local traffic law violation (speeding, etc.)Unsafe Driving16 · 0 OOS
  • 393.11 Required lamps/reflectors missingVehicle Maintenance12 · 0 OOS
  • 393.95 Emergency equipment (extinguisher, triangles)Vehicle Maintenance10 · 0 OOS
  • 393.47 Brake actuators / linings / componentsVehicle Maintenance9 · 0 OOS
  • 396.17 Periodic (annual) inspectionVehicle Maintenance9 · 0 OOS
  • 393.53 Automatic brake adjusters / indicatorsVehicle Maintenance8 · 0 OOS
  • 177.817 Other violationOther7 · 3 OOS

ELD & hours-of-service

2 hours-of-service / ELD violations on record · most recent Feb 25, 2025. FMCSA does not publish the ELD device brand; these are the carrier's logging-compliance signals.

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

Trending worse — 100% of ELD violations are in the last 24 months.

Crash history· 18 total · 2 in 24 mo

18
Total crashes
2
In last 24 mo
0
Fatal
8
Injury
YearCrashesFatalInjuryTow
20261011
20251001
20241001
20232012
20222002
20213032
20201001
20182022
20171001
20164013
DateStateFatalitiesInjuriesTow-away
Feb 3, 2026TX01Yes
Jul 21, 2025TX00Yes
Feb 6, 2024TX00Yes
Jul 10, 2023TX00Yes
Jul 7, 2023TX01Yes
Dec 23, 2022TX00Yes
Apr 12, 2022TX00Yes
Aug 16, 2021TX01Yes
Apr 8, 2021TX01No
Mar 16, 2021TX05Yes
Apr 6, 2020TX00Yes
Dec 3, 2018TX01Yes
Aug 7, 2018TX01Yes
Nov 16, 2017TX00Yes
Nov 18, 2016TX00Yes
Sep 21, 2016TX01No
Aug 16, 2016TX00Yes
Jun 30, 2016TX00Yes