Auto transporters, unlike brokerages, are the actual trucks that move your vehicle. Unlike brokerages, auto transporters do not seek out customers – they go through various channels to find their loads, mainly utilizing brokerages to dispatch loads to them. Many people wonder as to the usefulness of brokerages, considering that the auto transporters move the vehicles and not the brokerages, but if you ask many auto transporters they will tell you that they are incredibly useful. Auto transporters do not have the time necessary to finding customers and keeping track of all the small details that go into auto shipping – auto transporters are too busy driving the cars on their truck to the various destinations. Therefore auto transporters leave it up to the brokerages to handle that side of the transportation and simply focus on moving the vehicles.Brokerages and auto transporters rely on a website called Central Dispatch to find each other cars to move. Brokerages may be on Central Dispatch, and auto transporters obviously are on Central Dispatch, but customers are not allowed, which is why it is such a useful tool for both parties. Auto transporters can search brokerage pages on Central Dispatch for vehicles in their particular area, and brokerages can call out to different auto transporters to see if they are in a particular area or will be running a given route at a specific time. It is incredibly powerful, and without it, the auto transport industry would be much different than it is today.
Most carriers have $250,000 worth of cargo insurance to cover the cost of damage to their vehicles – damage is rare, but it does occur, and auto transporters don’t like being embroiled in legal matters. Therefore, many auto transporters will insure their trucks for $1 million or more depending on the company. Unlike some other industries, auto transporters and brokerages tend to be relatively small – rarely do you see a brokerage with more than ten or twelve employees, and fleets of auto transporters are relatively uncommon. Most companies in the auto transport industry are small, one or two man operations. Brokerages typically have five to six people, but auto transporters are often just a dispatcher at the office and the driver on the road.
Auto transporters work mainly during the summer months. Summer is the time when most people are moving far enough away to require auto transport, and the reasons are many but the results are the same: more business during the summer months. There are some auto transporters who only work during the summer months and actually close shop for the winter. Those particular companies are usually very small companies working only a few routes, whereas auto transporters who are open year around tend to be operating in areas such as California or Florida, as those are major destinations for snow birds during the winter.
