A compliance firm that started at the border

1988, Napierville, Quebec

Benoît Hamel founded Profirm in 1988 in Napierville, a farming town on the I-87 corridor a few miles north of the New York line. The first clients were Quebec carriers hauling produce and freight into New York and New England. They needed US registrations, fuel tax returns and permits handled correctly, in French, by someone who understood both countries' rules. Nobody in the US market was doing that, and nobody in Quebec knew the US side well enough.

The work grew with the rules. When the DOT drug and alcohol testing regulations came into force in the 1990s, Profirm built a consortium so that Quebec drivers crossing into the US could be tested under 49 CFR Part 40 without driving to a US clinic. When IFTA and IRP replaced the old patchwork of state fuel permits, we set up the quarterly filing service. New York's highway use tax, Kentucky's KYU, the Clearinghouse in 2020, the Motus registration system in 2026: each one became a line on the price list.

Along the way we added training, supervisor reasonable-suspicion courses, driver qualification files and audit preparation, because the same clients kept asking for them. Everything has been done in English and French from the first day.

US carriers found us through Canadian clients and through the border. A Texas fleet adding Montreal lanes, a Buffalo owner-operator confused by the Clearinghouse, a Florida start-up who could not get a straight answer on what a USDOT number costs. Profirm USA is the answer to those calls: the same desk, the same prices, published in USD.

What we believe

• The legal minimum and not a test more. Random testing at 50 percent drug and 10 percent alcohol is the rule. Some providers run alcohol at 70 percent because they bill per test. We run the legal rate and bill only for tests that were required.
• The government fee on its own line. A USDOT number costs $0 from FMCSA. Operating authority costs $300 on Pay.gov. UCR is a fixed bracket. We say so before we charge for the work, on every page and every invoice.
• A person answers. Monday to Friday, 8 am to 5 pm Eastern. English, French or Spanish. Not a queue, not a chatbot, not a call center reading a script.
• No fear. We state a penalty once, with the citation, and move on. We do not send scare letters timed to your MCS-150 month.

Who we are not

Profirm Inc. is a private company. We are not part of FMCSA, USDOT, the UCR plan, any state agency or any Canadian ministry. We operate as a consortium / third-party administrator under 49 CFR Part 40, work with SAMHSA-certified laboratories and certified Medical Review Officers, and file in FMCSA systems as an authorized third-party filer on your behalf. FMCSA does not certify or endorse compliance firms, including this one.

The team

Profirm is a small firm on purpose. The people who file your registrations are the people who pick up the phone when you call about them. Our compliance staff have between them decades of FMCSA audits, IFTA audits, Clearinghouse cases and border problems. When you call, you reach someone who has seen your situation before.

How to tell a real compliance firm from a mill

FMCSA publishes fraud alerts because carriers are targeted every week by lookalike services. The facts, as of September 2026:

• FMCSA never robocalls. A recorded call saying your USDOT number will be deactivated unless you pay is not from FMCSA.
• FMCSA never charges for forms. The USDOT number is free. The MCS-150 update is free. The BOC-3 has no government fee. Operating authority is $300 per type, paid on Pay.gov and nowhere else.
• FMCSA never endorses vendors. Any firm that claims approval or certification from DOT or FMCSA is describing something that does not exist.
• Only motus.dot.gov is the registration system. In September 2026 FMCSA flagged four fake Motus sites collecting identity documents and card numbers.
• The company official verifies identity, not the consultant. A firm that offers to do your Login.gov identity check for you is asking for something it should never hold.

A legitimate firm passes all five tests and shows you the government fee separately from its own. If you are unsure about a letter or a call you received, send it to us. We will tell you what it is, at no charge.