--- title: How Often Is Lead Data Updated? description: "Table of contents - [The Two-Tier Sync Architecture](#0-toc-title) - [Which Fields Refresh on Which Schedule](#1-toc-title) - [Your Lists Refresh On Different Schedules](#2-toc-title) - [List Refresh Notifications](#3-toc-title) - [How Changes Are Tracked](#4-toc-title) - [How Long Until a Brand-New Carrier Shows Up?](#5-toc-title)…" url: "https://dotleadscout.com/docs/how-often-is-lead-data-updated/" updated: "2026-04-29" category: Understanding the Data --- # How Often Is Lead Data Updated? Table of contents - [The Two-Tier Sync Architecture](#0-toc-title) - [Which Fields Refresh on Which Schedule](#1-toc-title) - [Your Lists Refresh On Different Schedules](#2-toc-title) - [List Refresh Notifications](#3-toc-title) - [How Changes Are Tracked](#4-toc-title) - [How Long Until a Brand-New Carrier Shows Up?](#5-toc-title) - [When Data Might Lag](#6-toc-title) All Plans DOT Lead Scout's lead data is synchronized from FMCSA on a regular cadence. The headline answer: **core fields refresh every night, extended fields refresh every Sunday**. This article explains exactly what that means, how list refreshes work for your saved lists, and what it takes for a brand-new carrier to show up. ## The Two-Tier Sync Architecture Behind the scenes, DOT Lead Scout runs two sync jobs against the FMCSA dataset on different schedules: ##### Tier 1 — Daily Sync **Every night at midnight Eastern.** Refreshes 33 high-value, frequently-changing core fields across all ~3 million carriers. Takes about 5–10 minutes. ##### Tier 2 — Weekly Sync **Every Sunday at 2 AM Eastern.** Refreshes an additional 66 extended fields (cargo flags, vehicle counts, rare details). Slower but rare-change fields. ## Which Fields Refresh on Which Schedule ### Tier 1 (Daily) Fields These are the fields you care about most for outreach. They refresh every night: - Operating authority status (`status_code`) - Safety rating and rating date - Phone, email, fax, cell phone - Total drivers, power units, truck units, bus units - Fleet size class - MCS-150 filing date - Address (physical and mailing) - Legal name and DBA - Company officer names - MCS-IP step (compliance review status) - HAZMAT indicator - Carrier operation type ### Tier 2 (Weekly) Fields These fields change rarely — weekly is plenty often: - Cargo classification flags (66 different cargo types) - Owned vs. termed vehicle counts - Interstate/intrastate driver splits - MCS-151 mileage and year - Docket/MC numbers - Specific vehicle counts (school buses, motor coaches, etc.) ## Your Lists Refresh On Different Schedules The FMCSA backend syncs every night — but how often *your* saved lead lists pick up new carriers depends on your plan: | Plan | List refresh cadence | Description | | --- | --- | --- | | **Trial / Scout** | Weekly | New leads matching your saved list criteria appear every Monday morning. | | **Engage+** | Daily | New leads matching your saved list criteria appear every morning. Best for time-sensitive outreach on new entrants and reactivations. | ##### Why daily refreshes matter On Engage+, a carrier that newly registered Monday at 9 AM appears in your saved list Tuesday morning — before competing examiners on weekly cycles even know they exist. First contact is a real advantage in this business. ## List Refresh Notifications When new carriers appear in one of your saved lists, you can get an email summarizing what was added: - Email arrives the morning after the new leads are added - Includes a count of new carriers and a direct link to the list in your portal - Configurable in **Profile → Email & Notification Settings** — you can turn it off if you prefer pull-only ## How Changes Are Tracked Every time a field changes during the daily sync, DOT Lead Scout writes a **changelog entry**. That changelog is what powers: - **Change signals** on the dashboard (Engage+) — Adding Drivers, Reactivated, MCS-150 Updated, Safety Concern, etc. - **Lead history** on the lead detail panel — what changed and when - **Hot lead detection** — carriers that had recent changes get higher priority in your daily digest ##### First-time-population is suppressed When DOT Lead Scout fills in a field for the first time (e.g. a NULL value gets a real value), the changelog skips that entry — otherwise you'd get spammed with fake change signals on every new carrier. ## How Long Until a Brand-New Carrier Shows Up? When a new carrier registers with FMCSA, here's the rough timeline before they appear in DOT Lead Scout: ##### Carrier registers with FMCSA Files the initial USDOT registration. Authority status starts as `N` (Not Authorized) while FMCSA reviews. ##### FMCSA processes registration Anywhere from same-day to several weeks depending on the application. Approved carriers move to `A` (Active). ##### FMCSA publishes to data portal The next FMCSA dataset refresh exposes the new carrier on `data.transportation.gov`. Usually within 24 hours of approval. ##### DOT Lead Scout's nightly sync Picks up the new carrier the next time the daily sync runs (midnight Eastern). They're in your platform. ##### List match runs Your saved list criteria are evaluated. If the new carrier matches, they're added to the list. ##### You see them On Engage+, next morning. On Scout, the following Monday. Refresh email arrives if you've enabled it. ##### Total time: 24-72 hours after FMCSA approval On Engage+ this means a carrier registering Monday afternoon could show up in your list Wednesday morning. That's genuinely fast — the FMCSA data portal itself updates roughly daily, and we sync immediately after. ## When Data Might Lag - **FMCSA data portal outages** — if the `data.transportation.gov` endpoint is down, our nightly sync skips and retries. Status banner appears in the portal. - **Sync running long** — rarely, the nightly sync extends past midnight. New carriers visible by mid-morning at the latest. - **FMCSA propagation delay** — FMCSA itself sometimes takes 1–3 days to publish a registration change to the public data portal. We can't sync data that hasn't been published yet.