$100k Guarantee: How Highway Cuts Freight Fraud to 1 in a Million
Highway’s $100,000 performance guarantee has paid out just once across nearly one million loads.
The company’s Chief Commercial Officer, Michael Caney, revealed the figures during a FreightWaves Today discussion, emphasising that the industry’s focus should shift from the riskiest 18% of carriers to the 82% that meet Highway’s standards.
Highway’s guarantee model is simple: if a broker moves freight using Highway’s guarantee tier and loses a load, Highway writes a cheque for $100,000. The programme covers the vast majority of carrier capacity in North America, yet the single payout to date stemmed from a rare identity-verification flaw tied to California’s non-domiciled limited-term licensing rules. A fraudulent carrier exploited the state’s process, resubmitted in Highway’s system, and the alert dropped before the bug was caught. The loss? $100,000, a fraction of the $250,000 average cargo theft value cited by Caney.
Caney’s argument is blunt: the freight industry is fixated on solving for the riskiest 18% of carriers, while the majority, those that meet Highway’s guarantee standards, are overlooked. “What I would tell you is the industry keeps trying to solve for the bottom 18% of the market,” he said. “And what we’re saying is if you will just move your freight to this cohort of carriers, which is the majority of capacity in North America, not only will you be fine, but Highway will stand behind it with a performance guarantee.”
Of the approximately 175,000 carriers that move freight for brokers, more than 82% qualify for Highway’s guarantee tier.
“The average cargo theft is not the $100,000, it’s $250,000. This idea that a motor carrier can just show up and say, hey man, I’m gonna need this cargo, it’s $250 grand, I’m good for it, is bananas.”
Michael Caney·Chief Commercial Officer, Highway
The rare payout highlights the complexity of freight fraud. Caney described theft events as a “Swiss cheese” of compounding decisions rather than a single failure point. In the California case, a fraudulent carrier obtained a new licence through the state’s non-domiciled limited-term process, resubmitted in Highway’s system, and the alert dropped before the bug was fixed. The incident underscored the need for real-time monitoring and adaptive fraud detection, which Highway now employs.
Data Ownership and the Battle for Transparency: Highway
Highway’s approach extends beyond fraud detection. The company has taken a hard stance on data ownership, arguing that carrier ELD (electronic logging device) data belongs to the motor carrier, not the telematics provider. This position led to a roughly 24-hour-hour standoff with telematics provider Motive earlier this year, which was resolved only after Highway publicly accused Motive of throttling its data access. “You can’t get in the way of the way a motor carrier gets paid,” Caney said, framing the dispute as a broader industry issue.
The data-ownership debate isn’t limited to telematics. Highway’s CCO and the FreightWaves host noted that DAT, another major player in the freight space, includes default agreements that prohibit customers from sharing data with other providers. While larger customers can negotiate these terms, smaller brokers and carriers often cannot, creating an uneven playing field. Caney’s argument is clear: intermediaries should not obstruct the flow of data between carriers and brokers, as transparency and automation are critical to reducing fraud and improving efficiency.
Highway’s commitment to transparency is further evidenced by its recent investigations.
By focusing on the 82% of carriers that meet its guarantee standards, the platform reduces risk without the operational overhead of scrutinising every potential partner. The $100,000 guarantee provides financial security, while continuous monitoring ensures that even the rare fraud attempt is caught before it causes significant damage. As freight fraud continues to evolve, Highway’s data-driven approach may well set the standard for the industry.
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