Pilot Car & Escort Operator Directory

Most are not, and every card says which. Each listing carries a verification tier, and the default — Self-reported — states in words that the operator entered it and nobody here has checked it against any state record. Where we did check something, the card says what we checked, when, and links the register we checked it against. A tier word never appears without that sentence under it: there is no code path that renders the pill alone.

Operators list themselves. Nothing here was scraped, imported or seeded from another directory — a record exists because that operator submitted it and ticked a consent box the schema will not accept as false. There is no ingest job in this feature and nowhere for one to write. That also means the directory is smaller than the incumbents, and new: an empty result is often a gap in the directory rather than a gap in the trade.

Only where the state you are working in says so, and the published positions do not line up. Of the 51 jurisdictions tracked here, 6 publish a list of whose certificates they accept — and 1 of those lists is empty, meaning that state accepts nobody. Only 1 publish who accepts THEIRS, so "where is my card good" is usually not a published fact at all. 2 states' own documents contradict each other, and we record both readings rather than averaging them. The filter therefore counts only a current, unexpired certificate issued by the state you picked; a card from a state that reciprocates is shown on the profile and never satisfies the filter, because whether it is accepted is the working state's call.

Yes, and it is the trap the free-text directories cannot show you: some states regulate the escort VEHICLE as well as the driver. Tennessee is the one we hold a citation for — its rule requires an escort vehicle weighing more than 2,000 lb with a manufacturer's GVWR under 18,000 lb — and a certificate earned elsewhere does not change it. That is why escort-vehicle GVWR and vehicle type are filterable columns here rather than prose, and why operators who have not stated a GVWR are excluded from that filter rather than assumed to fit.

Because the state filter is an AND, not a shortlist: an operator has to cover every state you picked. Most pilot-car outfits work a region, so a long lane is usually two or three operators handing off rather than one who runs the whole thing. When nothing matches, the page offers each state on its own as a separate link rather than leaving you to conclude the trade has nobody in it.

Not a question this directory answers — it is a per-state rule that depends on your dimensions and the road class. The oversize permit calculator answers it from each state's own escort rules with the statute behind every line, and links back here pre-filtered to the states and certificates that lane needs. The permitting office for each state on your route is the final word, and it also keeps its own list of certified operators.