Dealing with brokers

[dave7245]

I'd love to know what it is that makes carriers decide to use or not use certain brokers. I am a broker and I'm always looking for ways to do this job better. Any advice would be helpful.

[pballer]

Good pay and paying us right away. Cod means cod. I have a few good brokers that I have used because what they list is exactly how it goes, no surprises.

[h2oskibumz]

Well Dave, generally for us it comes down to the same sort of things that you use to decide whether you are going to give a load to a carrier: feedback and terms.

If you have 100% or close feedback and you honor your delivery commitments and/or COMMUNICATE when and why you can't meet them promptly and truthfully (a breakdown or weather or a car supposed to be ready Tuesday isn't getting PAID for until Wednesday's FedEx run...) then brokers are happy to assign the load to you..

The flipside of delivery terms is PAYMENT terms. We won't book ANYTHING on ANY "terms" any more with a broker who is not 98% or higher on Central. Period. No exceptions. If the unit is COD, then we will go down to 95%. Our feeling is that you can't keep other carriers happy, what are the odds you are going to keep ME happy?

I've seen your feedback. I know your reputation. IF the money is right and the car is on my route, I would NEVER hesitate to move one of your cars.

Now, once we have USED a broker, there are other things besides overall feedback that factor in for us.

Did they communicate with us effectively, efficiently, and ACURATELY?

Did they communicate with the customer the same?

Did they treat us with respect or like tools? That’s a pet peeve of mine. Let me tell you, we do what we say, when we say. If we have a problem we communicate it immediately. If you dispatch through Central, we MARK at pickup and delivery. You don’t need to call me 3 times a day and babysit the move. I’m running 2 trucks, 3-4 spots each. If every one of those brokers is checking up and babysitting, we are spending all our time updating... how can we get anything else done? Seriously. I don’t mind if it’s a hot move, check in with me a day or so before scheduled delivery. If we’re on track… don’t bug me. ESPECIALLY if it’s a flippin’ 2003 Taurus!

Last but CERTAINLY not least. Payment terms. We no longer extend credit to dealers. Dealers are strictly COD. Carriers (no bond) are like dealers for us. If they have near perfect feedback, we will occasionally make an exception for other carriers. Brokers (with bonds) we will do some terms with, but they need to meet those or they get a black mark. I should NOT have to call and insure my payment is on track (any more than you should have to babysit the move!) I certainly should not have to make DOZENS of phone calls to collect my Comcheck. Again, efficient, effective, and timely communication. And, since we are on the subject. Equal paying cars, similar pickup/drop zones the COD or Quick Pay car is going to win (even if its $25 less) than 10, 15 or 30 day terms. EVERY time. You never know when someone isn’t going to pay. If its COD, no car, no keys until I get paid. I don’t loose much sleep over those accounts!

We've used a couple of brokers (a HUGE one in the Midwest in fact) that, while they ALWAYS pay good, they pay on the 10th of the month anything they get in by the 1st. So if you bill on the 29th, it pays quick. Unfortunately if you end up billing on the 2nd, you wait 40 days (plus the obligatory 3 or 4 mailing days that everyone paying bills uses for float!) That's fine, we know their terms and when we book their cars its what we expect. UNFORTUNATELY, this broker NEVER gets their communication down.

Countless times we show up at an action to move an assigned unit and its gone. Most often on one of their trucks... but sometimes simply double booked. Show up to pick up 2 BMWs and find from the dealer they DROVE one down and are driving one back because the broker promised them Tues and the cars had not been picked up by Thursday... We could have helped with ALL 3 of those units, but instead we have to go with an empty spot because they "JAMBED" us up (yes, that's a hint!) We hardly EVER haul for them because 1 out of 3 you book with them are jacked up. Occasionally we'll use one of their cars as a filler, but never build anything around them...

If you do your best and screw up, it happens, we understand. Make a habit of it... Our working relationship ends.

[h2oskibumz]

Rude. If a broker just flat out has no telephone ediquete and/or is rude to myself or crew... They'll be on the shortlist of Do Not Use in a hurry. We had a guy once tell us HE was "taking all the risk" having us move his customer's car. Excuse me? Are YOU offering to pay my insurance premiums? Who is loading/unloading/hauling it 1/2 way across the country? It is MY insurance, crew, and equipment that's on the hook. We have excellent feedback on Central. Explain to me how its the broker taking all the risk.

Rip off artists. I have a couple of South Florida brokers who are on my list for "stealing" from customers and from me. If I book a car that pays fair... Let's say $500 TTT as a starting point... It covers my cost of operation and provides a proper amount of profit for the spot, and then at delivery the customer pays me and I found out (purely accidentally) that they had paid a $200 or $300 "deposit" I would hesitate to use that broker again. 25% to 30% for simply listing the car seems excessive and unreasonable to me. Maybe I'm just not realistic...

[ccoop769]

Well. That book above sounds right but with the things they are beggers cant be choosey. I myself have taken quite a few loads from and still will from all the types of people as explained above. And worse.

Its all about the benjamins. That's how I see it. If its fair price im ur friend.

Unfortunately being a broker is so cutthroat these days everybody has crappy prices. Including sharp, fisher, and many others.

So in terms I don't think any broker can get or have a better relationships with carriers unless u brokers actually stop paying paying us just fuel money and let us make a liitle profit.

Not being rude just truthful.

But we all know if u bid fair price u would be out of biz.



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[Dorsey]

Mcnutt and Rat are the best brokers out there. Mcnutt more so than RAT. The biggest reason is they always pay on time. My wife's never had to call them for late payment. Their rates are usually up to par. You see rat being greedy sometimes more than they should. South Florida Brokers are stupid as fock and the trash of the industry. They don't comunicate and they never pay on time and 99% of their cars pay like crap and there's always a new one poping up in biz. As far as brokers making 2,3,400 bucks off a car I could care less as long as they are paying a fair rate. If they are paying crappy f'em. It all boils down to money for the most part then relationship and feedback. If your posting cheap cars I'm not going to move them. I've hauled for you before and wouldn't hesitate to haul your cars as long as they were paying fair but if your cars paying $.20 a mile and the other car posted by a different company going the same route paying $.75 a mile I'm taking the 75 cent one all day.

[Dorsey]

With Central there isn't any loyalty or respect. Everyones a whore. Carriers, brokers, dealers,......everyones a whore. Oh yeah and another thing that's on my mind. This is something daisy dukes did to me the other day and and I thought of you and Tom since you are all neighbors. They had a car posted up so I call and she said let me call the customer and make sure it's ready. Ok, 30 minutes to an hour go by I call back because no one called me back and some guy answers(he must get paid good) and tells me the trucks not paid for. There's 2 things wrong with that in my mind. First they weren't polite enough to call me back and second why's it even posted. As long as there ratings are good and they are paying fair I'll be a whore and haul that car though.

[haulin rv]

I would like to see brokers earn some of the money the take from us.

A few simple thoughts...

You call the auction and make sure the gate pass and car are there and ready to go.

Actually completely fill out the CD dispatch so I can do a proper BOL. Oh and maybe get the VIN and buyers #.

Get P/U and delivery dates correct with YOUR customer.

And my BIGGEST complaint is also having cars on CD without them being ready to dispatch! If I call you should be able to give me the load if we are able to come to terms on it. This BS of I have to call the customer is crap, I know when I get that I do my best to find another car so IF they call back I can turn them down!

[LBZ]

Tried to book two vehicles out today to get out of the area before the ice rolled in. There is a broker in my area who seems pretty cool, but at least 4 out of 6 of their cars I have called on they say it is ready to roll or they will fax the order. Within 15 minutes receive a call back saying the car is a no go for various reasons. I realize customers are not always truthful & alot can happen, but losing interest in putting crap together to watch it continually fall apart.

Consequently, the other car that cancelled was a completely different brokerage that was in a dealers back lot that needed either a tow truck or something small to get it out to the road as it would not run.

[DaizyDukes2]

I am a broker and I completely understand all of the frustration listed here. However the whole thing on orders being posted without them being ready...let me explain. This is also VERY frustrating to us as well. When we work with a new dealership they ask us to move their car yet if they dont get a call back from us within an hr saying its booked they call everyone they know to move it. Sometimes they find someone else and there ya go we lost the deal. Another problem we face is dealers are eager to have us schedule a shipment for a customer and the guess what the customer doesnt buy it and do you think the dealer calls us to let us know this... absolutely NOT. I got an order last Thursday for a snowbird. He needed his car picked up on Friday (yes the next day) it was apparently the only day his gate keeper would be there. So Thursday afternoon I schedule it in for Friday..."Oh wait he says sorry I changed plans no one will be there" So I had to cancel that driver. Now the customer swears it will be ready next Thursday!..Fine. The following day (the Friday before New yrs eve) he wants a define on a driver picking up Thursday! When I explained he had to wait until Monday he then went and booked with another company! Who lied and promised him a Thursday pick up. Of course that fell through and we shipped the car again a week later. These dealers/customer want answers from us brokers right then and there and when we are honest they go elsewhere looking for someone to just tell them what they want to hear. So my point in all of this is WE TOTALLY understand your frustration but honestly we are trying to prevent booking you guys and order on a car that has been already moved/cancelled.

[ccoop769]

That's why u get a deposit and pay the driver a dry run like some good brokers do. This just shows most brokers don't care about carriers, brokers just want there cut..

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[FSC]

Why Coop? Do you really care about brokers? It's not about whether or not someone cares. It's about doing your job right and making sure you don't look like an asshole. If there's a mistake, it's not done because we don't give a shit about carriers or "just care about our cut". We pay dry runs if we screw up.

On the other side of the coin, how about all the carriers that book cars with us, then get there and say they can't fit all the cars? We've disclosed everything about the vehicles, but they didn't do their job right and we get screwed. It's not like they give us a break and send us back the extra money we have to spend to move that last unit as a single.

I get a kick out of all the carriers just shitting on brokers non stop. If you worked on our side of the business for a minute, you might realize it's not as easy as you think it is. And there are just as many shitty carriers as there are shitty brokers.

Please don't interpret this is me sticking up for Daizy Dukes. I have no idea how they do business. I just get sick of hearing how all us brokers don't give a shit about anyone but ourselves and that we are all idiots.

[BRANTLEYTRANSPORT]

Most of the brokers I call always say "let me call my customer"....3 hrs later I still havnt heard back from them. Im building loads and waiting for one last car. COMMUNICATION IS THE KEY IN THIS BUSINESS. Dont get pissed at me when I ask you what cab setup a truck is, or if its a shortbed or longbed. Most brokers have never hauled anything and dont seem to ask their customers anything other than make and model. I get dispatch sheets on central all the time with hardley any info. How is this in any way professional? There are crappy carriers too. Not saying there arent. But when I run a clean and legal opperation (DOT Inspected trucks and trailers, legal log books, Clean trucks and trailers, good clean straps, and Professionally dressed) I expect something in return. Most of my customers have been impressed with our delivery times and communication thru out the trip. They seem to have no issuse handing over the $$ when you do a professional job.


The typical customer thinks the brokers company is handling the load. We represent YOU. I make sure to inform those that do not know that you all broker this out. Most of the time they ask for my business card and call me the next time they need something moved.

What makes me HOT is when the customer informs me their deposit was 30-50% of what they are giving me. FOR WHAT?! Taking 30 mins to take the info, write it up and then wait for the phone to ring. We take the risk, we pay the insurance, we sleep in trucks away from our familys. That is exactly why we should be making as much as possible. The brokers that understand that are the ones I use on a consitant basis.

I'll be there the exact day I tell you when we book the car, dont ask me to rush or make an exception. We agreed on a date an thats when it will get there.

15 day to 30 day pay...Why? you got paid with a credit card over the phone and now I have to pester you for the payment on the correct day.

Simplify this and just switch to 100% COD....It will make everyones life easier

[Dorsey]

Coop and Dave are both right. As for Daisy Dukes...........not so much if at all. TAKE A DEPOSIT!!!!!!!! Done deal! Broker and carrier are both happy and customer learned a valuable lesson. Maybe that's why I've had no luck hauling for DAisy Dukes. You call them and thier cars are never ready. It's happened to me two or three times with them and they never, never call back..... Ever! As for Dave and Tom, I won't hesitate to haul for them , and apparently I couldn't haul for daisy if I wanted to because thier cars are never ready the few I do see from them. I do use a filter so maybe the cars that are ready aren't paying shit.

[cosgo]

I'd love to know what it is that makes carriers decide to use or not use certain brokers. I am a broker and I'm always looking for ways to do this job better. Any advice would be helpful.

I work with everyone (minus the really badly rated ones).

Its always a pleasure when you answer the phone, and we actually can talk about a load. I like when you know the specifics of a vehicle ie: crew cab, short bed truck. I like when you already have the customers info, and you include it all on a workorder ie: i dont have the guess the customers name because its missing, or his phone number is missing from the workorder. Its also nice to be paid on time. will i float 30 days? sure, i do it all the time (cod is always a plus, but billing is doable) just pay in 30 days. dont make me wait 45 days, then i call, and then 14 more days go by before i see a check. Thats all. Easy to work with. I dont car how much you got paid, as long as my cut was fair.

[haulin rv]

As for Daisy Dukes...........not so much if at all. TAKE A DEPOSIT!!!!!!!! Done deal! Broker and carrier are both happy and customer learned a valuable lesson. Maybe that's why I've had no luck hauling for DAisy Dukes. You call them and thier cars are never ready. It's happened to me two or three times with them and they never, never call back..... Ever!

Yep me too. Went round and round with them on a car. To be honest they were clueless about how an inop worked, had no information about it at all. Messed with it for a couple days and finally bailed.

Brokers can make the carriers happy very easily. Just PAY AS AGREED!

[LBZ]

On the other side of the coin, how about all the carriers that book cars with us, then get there and say they can't fit all the cars? We've disclosed everything about the vehicles, but they didn't do their job right and we get screwed. It's not like they give us a break and send us back the extra money we have to spend to move that last unit as a single. Ask them where their trailer stretcher is? I always take mine with in the tool box, doesn't everyone else?
The issue you are getting is probably the carrier loading another brokers mistake, then going after your cars. Your cars should have fit previous to the other units that grew in size from quote to loading. There are also those who constantly over book their trailers, in that case place them under your do not dispatch to list. Odds are though, they will be out of business in a few months


I get a kick out of all the carriers just shitting on brokers non stop. If you worked on our side of the business for a minute, you might realize it's not as easy as you think it is. And there are just as many shitty carriers as there are shitty brokers. You guys run a respectable business from what I have seen via Central. But then again when has a broker came on here & said "carriers rock"? What is the difference?

You guys are competing with the same a**wipes that got their brokerage MC out of a gum wrapper get rich quick stamp credit card scheme as us.

A vast majority of broker complaints are covered in two areas. Trying to say they have a unit(off of Ucrap) when they do not, or others who do not pay their bills even though they were paid in full for the move.

[FSC]

LBZ.....I'm not looking for anyone to come sing my praises. Maybe it shouldn't, but always hearing its the brokers that are ruining the business. IMO, it's a combination of shitty brokers and shitty carriers. That and the fact that the economy is trash. It's a grind these days. We have 5 times as many clients as we did 2 years ago and move the same amount of vehicles. Dealerships that moved 30-40 cars a month now move 3.

We understand your job isn't easy. I want to shoot myself if I'm in my car for more than an hour. I don't know how you guys do it. I've seen how other brokers work. I see their postings all the time. They don't post cab sizes, bed sizes, they lie about vehicle running, they dont confirm orders. There's a reason us broker's are often looked upon as fools. I just don't think it's a "broker" thing. It's an "idiot" thing. There just happen to be a lot of idiots running brokerages. IMO, the biggest reason is the bond. $10000 is a joke. If I stopped paying trucks today and kept invoicing clients, my bond wouldn't cover even 5% of what I owe truckers. Bond should be at least $250,000. That would stop all these fucks from screwing everyone on the planet, then giving their buddy 2 grand to just open one in his name and do it all again. The last thing I want is to have to worry that every guy that works for me is going to walk away and just start their own because they think it's like breaking sticks.

I have a couple people that have left my employ in the last year that have started their own brokerages. There seems to be about a half dozen in Worcester County now. We were the only one 5 years ago when we opened our doors. We now make all our reps sign non solicitation agreements that prevent them from contacting our clients or employing any of our staff. More companies need to start doing this so every idiot with a couple grand in their pocket doesnt go open their own without any knowledge of how to run a successful brokerage.

I'm off my soapbox

[FSC]

And we've read enough about Ushit from you guys. We've never been on there and never will. No need to fight over shit freight

[ETS]

I just don't think it's a "broker" thing. It's an "idiot" thing.

Completely agree with this! I can't believe some of the drivers I see on the road.

Maybe I missed it, but what brokerage are you with? Also who is "Dave" with?

[Mrs Coop]

FSC is Dave Fisher with Fisher Shipping Company in Mass. He's an alright guy :) He has always paid fair and proved to me that he is a honest man( as honest as a broker can be.... jk :) ) in ways that I can not disclose cause he would have to kill me... Keep your dirty minds out of the gutter :)

We all need to realize that people are MORONS. Whether it's brokers, carriers or any other person. Too bad for us, they will never go away. We just have to do our best to avoid them at all cost.

[SHO-TYME]

I've had good luck with Fisher, RAT, McNutt. THere are a few that I will only COD with anymore. I just wish they would all learn that enclosed transport should pay way more than open. $.60 a mile out of Florida, or anywhere else for that matter, is a joke.

[Dorsey]

Very, very seldom do I see a car or load on central that I wish I had an enclosed trailer. Who the hell keeps moving that crap?

[cosgo]

Very, very seldom do I see a car or load on central that I wish I had an enclosed trailer. Who the hell keeps moving that crap?

Any guy with a half ton pickup truck and a 20' enclosed trailer. No DOT, no insurance. That's who....

[LBZ]

LBZ.....I'm not looking for anyone to come sing my praises. Maybe it shouldn't, but always hearing its the brokers that are ruining the business. IMO, it's a combination of shitty brokers and shitty carriers. That and the fact that the economy is trash. It's a grind these days. We have 5 times as many clients as we did 2 years ago and move the same amount of vehicles. Dealerships that moved 30-40 cars a month now move 3.

We understand your job isn't easy. I want to shoot myself if I'm in my car for more than an hour. I don't know how you guys do it. I've seen how other brokers work. I see their postings all the time. They don't post cab sizes, bed sizes, they lie about vehicle running, they dont confirm orders. There's a reason us broker's are often looked upon as fools. I just don't think it's a "broker" thing. It's an "idiot" thing. There just happen to be a lot of idiots running brokerages. IMO, the biggest reason is the bond. $10000 is a joke. If I stopped paying trucks today and kept invoicing clients, my bond wouldn't cover even 5% of what I owe truckers. Bond should be at least $250,000. That would stop all these fucks from screwing everyone on the planet, then giving their buddy 2 grand to just open one in his name and do it all again. The last thing I want is to have to worry that every guy that works for me is going to walk away and just start their own because they think it's like breaking sticks.

I have a couple people that have left my employ in the last year that have started their own brokerages. There seems to be about a half dozen in Worcester County now. We were the only one 5 years ago when we opened our doors. We now make all our reps sign non solicitation agreements that prevent them from contacting our clients or employing any of our staff. More companies need to start doing this so every idiot with a couple grand in their pocket doesnt go open their own without any knowledge of how to run a successful brokerage.

I'm off my soapbox

Agree with this 100%. With the rates you guys offer, I would NOT dispatch to just the first idiot that calls. Which I am sure you do not. Let the crappy carriers have all the $.20 cpm south FL trash they can handle. ;)

As for the cars fitting issue. I just booked two 3/4 ton trucks a couple weeks ago. They had utility boxes on them, but I did not know much else about them. Sent the broker a photo of my truck/trailer, they thought the units would BOTH fit. Length wise of course they did, but they were also 8'8 tall when I arrived at the location. That won't go on top of a 7 car trailer. Was only able to grab one, offered the brokerage that I would leave both if it would help them move them faster as a pair vs one. That was the only right thing I knew to do. They let me have one, but obviously both of us were a little disappointed in the deal.

[LBZ]

Fwiw, there is something else dealers & the general customer needs to know. Many of the better carriers are LEAVING the auto transport industry for other avenues in trucking. More money to found elsewhere w/o the multi pick/stop/delay/deliver deal & MUCH cheaper insurance.

[haulin rv]

Fwiw, there is something else dealers & the general customer needs to know. Many of the better carriers are LEAVING the auto transport industry for other avenues in trucking. More money to found elsewhere w/o the multi pick/stop/delay/deliver deal.

So true, one pick, one drop, 99% COD, minimal headaches is dream or goal, right? . And many more would simply quit if they could unload there equipment and find a decent job.

[SHO-TYME]

Any guy with a half ton pickup truck and a 20' enclosed trailer. No DOT, no insurance. That's who....

Exactly, or the ones with a trailer that couldn't pass a DOT inspection if you had $100 bills laying around it.

Oh and don't forget, if they do have insurance, it's not enough to cover the car they are hauling, they don't have DOT #s or their name on the truck because they don't want anyone to know what they haul. It's pretty easy to know what you haul Mr. Obvious.

My company name throws alot of people off, that's ok by me.