THE SIMPLE TRUTH AND HOW THIS ALL WORKS (BROKERING)
For the most part, brokers work the same way as each other in how the process works.
A broker will get a signed contract from a customer. The broker will then post the load to a national load board, or multiple load boards. Carriers go on these load boards when they are looking to fill spots on there trailers and they will have 10’s, or 100’s of shipments to choose from on that particular route. The carriers will pick the highest paying loads that will fit on there trailer the best on a route that works for them. The carrier will then book that load with the broker, the broker will process the paperwork, and then the carrier will usually pick up the shipment within 24 hours of when this happens.
How do brokers price shipments? Well there is a going rate on each lane, that changes from time to time due to weather, and amounts of shipments on that route at the time or if any at all. The bigger the shipment, the more its going to cost as well. On the load boards, loads get taken every day by carriers, and new loads get posted everyday by brokers. If the price is too low of a rate, the carrier will not take it and it will just sit on the load board/s, thus why cancellations happen with brokers.
You don’t want to deal with brokers but an actual carrier? That is fine, but good luck! Why do I say that? Because finding an actual carrier to deliver you goods is very hard to do, but it is possible. Its like selling a house, you could do it yourself or you could hire a broker to do the leg work. It could work out either way, its really a gamble in these industries, and worse comes to worse nothing happens and time is lost, which time is valuable these days. Finding an actual carrier is actually quite hard to do. Internet searches are 80% brokers, and 19% lead sites, and 1% carrier. The lead sites will actually sell your quote to usually 10 brokers for a buck or 2 a lead. Can you guess what happens next with your email and phone number that you just submitted for a quote on those lead sites? Carriers simply don’t have time to market themselves, do customer service, deal with leads. They are full time with driving, dispatching, maintaining, so fourth! Carriers have a full time business without even thinking of getting customers. Not to mention carriers cant handle every customers shipment, as they are limited to usually 1-3 trucks for your avg owner operator which is about 90% of the transport industry. Also if you plan on working with a carrier directly, does the customer even know what to look for in a professional company or going by gods good grace? You have to ask yourself is there MC number active, proper commercial insurance active, are they a good company, what happens if they break down, and is it fair market price? Thank god for brokers!
How do you pick the right broker? We live in a modern age, so everything is pretty much automatic and online when it comes to getting quotes. When you receive instant quotes, that comes from a program that the brokers will individually set. Normally when price shopping, the quotes should generally be in the same area, some might be very low and some might be very high, but for the most part we should all be in the general area. Make sure to read there feedback overall, every broker will have cancels and negative feedback. Its just part of the industry. If the broker sets there pricing too high, they will never get any business, there is a fine line when it comes to budget rates and too cheap for a carrier to move in a timely manner, that’s why its important to choose a price that compares with other A+ Rated Companies!
Good/bad broker? Communication is key in this business. Whether good news or bad news! A broker will not call you everyday to say hi and to give you a status update, they are busy with hundreds of customers among other duties. The only time a broker will usually reach out to a customer is during booking, dispatch, and questions regarding scheduling. The brokers job is to get a carrier assigned within the time frame provided. If the time-frame is not met, the next step should be taken to determine on how to proceed, whether wait it out, add more money to carrier rate, change up the route maybe, or maybe just cancel. Honesty is very important in this business as well, being honest is important, but being honest also makes the process harder for customers, why? A lot of brokers will say they have there own trucks, or have a truck in the area now if you book with us, or they broke down or running late as why its not picked it up yet, basically excuse after excuse until a trucker finally gets assigned or the shipment gets cancelled. A customer will feel good inside at first, until the excuses get old. This dishonest way keeps small talk down with the customer freeing up more time to find a carrier to make their broker fee.
What happens if a shipment does not get assigned to a carrier? The BIG question! This happens, even with good brokers. Back in the day before internet was around, this wasn’t an issue, but now with internet and major competition of other brokers and lead sites that sell to brokers, the brokers are making less on there fee and making a lower rate for carriers, just to stay competitive so the margin of error is big for customers. There is now a FINE LINE between budget rates and too low of a rate for a carrier to take. Brokers used to make higher percentages and had no problem assigning out loads, even if the carrier asked for more money to get the job done, even if the broker would throw in part of there % to make it happen! Now with internet and automatic pricing and even more competition, the rates are now even cheaper for customers, and of course that makes it worse for carriers and brokers as we make less. The broker margin is so small, the broker doesn’t have much to give away if any at all if the carrier requests more money, which comes to the issue of up-selling the customer. Your avg dealer or person who ships a lot understands this process, the person who never shipped before, could encounter this, and skip from broker to broker if there budget is set to low, or even if the broker fee is too high or generally if the route is not common. This is common as well, and by then the customer has a bad taste in there mouth. Its really best not to beat up the broker on pricing. That’s why expedited shipments costs more if you need fast pick up or certain day pickups, the higher paying shipment will stick out, usually leaving a battle between the carriers of who gets that shipment first. A brokers phone will ring like crazy on certain loads if priced right until taken down from the load boards. Dispatchers for Carriers will sit in front of computers all day with there refresh rate set every minute to catch those good paying loads so it makes it a battle for dispatchers to make sure they call first on those loads or they will miss out. Sometimes it takes but a few minutes or even seconds of posting a load for the phone to ring on certain paying shipments!
If your shipment doesn’t move quick enough, email your broker, we can even give you a list of what is on that route, and what has moved in the past 2 weeks. Normally, if your locations cannot change to metro to metro area the usual problem is not enough money to carrier or not enough carriers on that route, not a highly traveled route. It all comes down to $$$ or time or both. Truck It Transport is a good broker, we will throw in our broker fee to carrier rate working for free to help move your shipment in a timely manner. There is nothing better then having a good broker work for free for you. I cannot stress this enough, if things go wrong, talk with your good broker, DO NOT start to scream, argue, complain, or tell the broker how to do there job, and so fourth. That would grant a cancellation right there, as a broker can cancel a contract at anytime. The customer always has the right to cancel if they are not happy as well, but please make sure to read terms and conditions of each broker as some might charge a fee to do so.
Stay Informed When Deciding on a Vehicle Transport Company
- Door-to-Door: Auto Shipping companies that ship door-to-door are the best choice because the customer retains control of their vehicle right up until the moment it is picked up and on its way.
- Terminal Vacations: Companies that utilize terminals are often quick to pick up the customer vehicle, hence guaranteed pick-up dates; but that is a double-edged sword as those companies are often slow to actually deliver, hence no guaranteed delivery dates. We say this is where cars go on vacation.
- Broker Mislead: Companies will mislead the customer into thinking that their vehicle will be transported only on company owned trucks, when in fact they often broker the auto shipment to independent owner operators just like the competitors that they criticize. But that usually happens only after the customer is at wits end and many weeks later.
- Terminals Trap: Companies that utilize terminals will often charge the customer for local hauling if they cancel (hey, they picked it up, right?) and as well for terminal storage charges. It is significantly high enough to make the customer feel trapped in the terminal service. It is an intentional manipulation that we are most critical.
- Auto Brokering: Auto transport brokering is virtually the only method equipped to service the entire country. Think about it â how else can vehicles be organized and shipped from thousands of towns going to thousands of towns? Not one company with their own trucks can even begin to consider such a daunting task. There are actually several thousand auto shipping trucks running on any given day. Brokering is the most efficient way to handle it, and the internet has made that job all the easier.
- Deposit: The customer has actually hired an auto shipping company that collects a nominal deposit. Along with that comes an incentive to perform.
- Weak Companies: Companies that do not collect a deposit up front are usually financially weak and either fear losing their credit card merchant processing gateway, or already have lost it. Some of those companies only accept payment by check or Paypal. Bragging about not accepting a deposit up front has more to do with covering up their company inadequacy than with customer service.
- Checks: It is exceedingly more difficult receiving a refund from an original check transaction than it is by credit card. Companies that primarily exist by checks have a notoriously high cancellation rate, which exacerbates the problem. Try getting a weak company to write a refund check. Only transact by check if you have no other choice.
- Full Payment: Companies that collect the full amount will often first attempt to keep far more than the amount of a nominal deposit. Human nature such as it is, that company may attempt to hire a driver for far too cheap which will usually slow down the process and inconvenience the customer. Only when those efforts have been exhausted, sometimes weeks later, will that company pay a fair price to the driver and the customer vehicle successfully ship. The customer is likely unaware of those shenanigans.
- Google Search Results: Upon performing a Google, Bing or Yahoo search query for âauto transportâ or âcar shippingâ companies, the user is likely to find that nearly three-quarters of the web site results are not actually in the auto shipping business. For those of us that manage a successful business, it is frustrating to see former competitors who failed in this industry now using their well-positioned domains as nothing more than multiple quote services, or redirecting their traffic to sometimes third rate companies with dubious reputations. Also galling to see cheesy multiple quote sites score higher with Google than legitimate car shipping businesses.
- Multiple Auto Transport Quotes: Multiple quote sites create more problems for the customer than they solve. First of all, the customer is not prepared for the deluge of auto transport quotes and emails and phone calls from five to fifty companies, which seemingly have no end. Many customers later regret having filling out a multiple quote forms or going on bidding sites, and receiving numerous low-ball quotes that have little chance of shipping in a timely manner. The games many of these lead providers play are too many to list here.
- Instant Car Shipping Quotes: There are only a couple of companies, ours included, that provide a quote within seconds online. We are one of the first to do it, and still not too many companies does it as well. Why? Because it is a mountain of work to automate something so complicated. But most of the web sites that claim to provide instant quotes are simply using the phrase to lure customers into filling out their form or simply providing an inaccurate quote.
- Owner-Operator Carriers: At any given time, there are several thousand owner-operator trucks rumbling down the highway with several vehicles on board. These are hard working people doing a tough job the best way that they can. We respect the job that they do and we need them. Because they are doing that, it means that they canât be on the phone or internet drumming up business. So they need us. Itâs really that simple.
- Bad Apples in Car Transport: We weed out the bad apples as soon as we sense trouble. Because we do that so effectively, we are left with the gems, which is most of the drivers. Like our customers, the over-whelming majority of drivers are a pleasure to deal with. We have countless stories of their kindness and consideration. At the end of the day, most people are very decent.
Become Aware of Red Flags for Cheap Auto Transport!
- Make sure you have plenty of time to get your vehicle moved. The only possible way to get your vehicle transported for a rate at well below the market value is if a driver is in desperate need to fill a spot on their trailer, and your vehicle is the only one listed in that location. At this point, the auto transport carrier would much rather take your car than go back with an empty spot, even if it is severely under-priced. Obviously, the downfall to this is the unpredictability of when a trucker will find himself in that position. Cheap auto transport services completely depend on your ability to have excess time to move your vehicle.
- Be aware of auto transport companies that quote $200-$400 lower than everyone else, and also state that your vehicle will get picked up in the standard 1-5 days. This will not hold true 99% of the time. The auto transport broker will collect your deposit then take weeks to months to not shipping your vehicle at all. Cheap auto transport quotes are the ones that give you the biggest headache unless the broker is honest from the start, and informs you that your vehicle may or may not get shipped or give you estimated time frames.
- At the end of the day, we recommend not choosing the cheap auto transport broker providing you the cheapest auto transport rate. Although, a couple of hundred dollars may seem like a substantial amount of money, in the long run renting/borrowing a vehicle or using public transportation adds up in a hurry.
