What is an Auto Transport Broker?
What is an Auto Transport Broker?
What is an Auto Transport Broker?When looking for an auto transport company to ship your vehicle, you need to find the best car shipping company to fit your needs.
There are three types of auto transport companies:
1. Auto Transport Carrier: This is the company that owns trucks and in most cases is going to ship your car.
2. Auto Transport Broker: This is a company that doesn't own trucks and will use a network of auto transport carriers to move your vehicle.
3. Auto Transport Carrier/Broker: This is the company that owns trucks and in some cases will ship your car, BUT they also may use their network for carriers to transport your car.
Like any industry, there are good auto transport brokers and there are good auto transport carriers. Sad to say there are also bad auto transport brokers and bad auto transport carriers. Our goal is to help arm you with the best information and give you the tools to understand the ins and outs of that car shipping industry, so that you can make and educated auto transport choice.
Let's look at auto transport brokers. The plus side of brokers is easy to find, they aren't tied down with their own fleet and can use their network of auto shipping carries to move your car in a timely manner. Many carriers have a fleet of trucks, but the problem is that their trucks may be in another part of the country and you may have to wait until they are in the area. In most cases, your pickup deadline wont be an issue with auto shipping brokers unless the price they are listing it for is extremely low (which means they took a huge cut for themselves).
There are some things that you need to be aware of when using a broker:
1. Paying more: A broker is a middle man and not the person that will move your car. You are paying them for their expertise and ability to use their network to find the person that will actually move your car, so you will be paying more to utilize that expertise and their network.
2. Liability: Brokers have no liability of your vehicle and DO NOT carry insurance on your vehicle. They are "bonded" and the liability is handed off to the auto shipping carrier that they set you up with. In most cases, if the car gets damaged during shipment, you will have to deal with the car transporter directly and not the car transport broker. The problem arises when auto shipping brokers arrange your car to be moved by a less than "qualified" car transporter that charges them less money to mover your car. In our experience, this is an ethics issue and not an experience issue, so if you do choose to use a broker, make sure you trust them AND request to see the insurance and paperwork of the auto transport company BEFORE they set you up with them. The sad thing about this is that in most cases, you won't know that there is a problem with the car shipping company until your car gets damaged.
3. Paying the Broker: In most cases, the broker will have you pay a deposit up front. Typically, this is their cut for shipping the vehicle and will probably be non-refundable. The remainder of your payment will probably be to the transporter(on delivery) and that is usually the auto transport carriers cut. The problem arises when the broker can't move your car (for various reasons) and your deposit is lost PLUS your car is not moved.
4. Who is going to move your vehicle: When using an auto transport broker to move your car, you will never know who is moving your car until they pick it up. Auto transport brokers and car shipping carriers use a load board. This is an online database used by both auto transporter carriers (for over flow and logistics) and car shipping brokers. The industry has one dominant load board that everyone uses and is not policed very well. You need to be aware that the bad brokers may charge you top dollar and they may try to move the car as cheap as possible (so they make more money).
Auto transport is no different than any other industry, there are good companies that are dependable, trustworthy and ethical and there are ones that are not. You can use a site like gotruckgo.com to compare prices and research potential companies that may move your car. Your car may be one of your most prized possessions and the choice of who to use when shipping your car is not one to be taken lightly. You can be assured that with some time and research, you will find the right fit and your move will be smooth.