TODAY'S AUTO TRANSPORT BUSINESS; David Explains
Today's auto transport business is dominated by brokers who post yourauto or truck transport needs to a national online listing board. From there drivers bid on your job and someone eventually is selected to pick up and deliver your load. The broker charges you a non-fundable upfront deposit of $200 to $250 in advance of ever posting your job to the board. When your load is delivered you pay the driver directly (usually in cash) for the amount agreed upon between the broker and the driver. To get your business the broker often quotes you a total price they know is too low; and you gladly pay the required deposit to lock-in what sounds like a great deal. For sake of example lets say you get an offer to transport for $1000. The broker then posts your job to the national board for $750 (after deducting the upfront non-refundable deposit). When no drivers accept that offer (assuming the original offer to transport was too low) the broker isn't so quick to answer your phone calls anymore despite you vehicle was never picked up in the amount of time promised by the broker. Eventually the broker will inform you that if you're in a hurry to get your load shipped you are going have to pay a higher price than originally promised. This won't happen at my auto transport business because I am both a driver and a broker; and I also have my own network of drivers and I'm not totally reliant on the national board.