Why There Is No Real-Time CSA Score Relay

A common question: "Why doesn't [vendor] show real-time CSA scores?" Answer: FMCSA doesn't publish them that way. Period.

SAFER refresh cycle

FMCSA recalculates and republishes SMS data monthly, typically around the 15th of each month:

• Inspections from past 24 months
• Crashes from past 24 months
• Peer group reassignments
• BASIC percentile recalculation
• Public display update

There is NO real-time API. Vendor "real-time CSA" claims are either:

1. Reading the same monthly SAFER feed
2. Estimating based on individual inspection events (predictive, not actual)
3. Pure marketing

What IS available faster than monthly

• Individual inspection results — appear in FMCSA database within 1-3 business days of inspection
• Crash reports — within 5-10 business days
• Carrier operating status changes — same day

These individual events are not your "CSA score" — they're the data feeding into your eventual recalculation.

What Compass does

• Pulls your individual inspection + crash data daily (within 1-3 business days of FMCSA recording)
• Estimates score trajectory using current methodology
• Refreshes your official BASIC scores monthly when SAFER updates
• Alerts you when an inspection arrives with violations that may push you into alert

What Compass does NOT do

• Claim real-time CSA scores
• Pretend to have advance knowledge of FMCSA recalculations
• Sell "predictive CSA" as if it's the same as actual scores

Honest customer messaging

"FMCSA publishes CSA monthly via SAFER. We pull the moment it refreshes (~15th of each month) and surface your delta. Between refreshes, we track inspections + crashes that will affect your next recalculation, so you have 4-6 weeks of warning instead of finding out the day FMCSA publishes."

Why this matters for sales conversations

Prospects ask "do you do real-time CSA?" Wrong answer: "yes!" (deceptive). Right answer: "FMCSA doesn't publish real-time CSA — no one has it. We pull the monthly refresh and show you the delta plus the in-flight inspections that will affect your next recalculation." This positions Compass as honest + transparent vs. competitors making false claims.

CFR citations

• FMCSA SAFER public website
• FMCSA SMS Methodology Refresh Schedule

How Compass surfaces this

Searchable in Compass Ask. Runs against the carrier's actual fleet data when invoked from the relevant tracker. Read-only; no actions without explicit user approval.

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