I get asked by so many people what the difference between an auto transport broker and a dispatcher. So many confuse the two and use them interchangeably. Well, that hopefully ends today. We are covering what the difference is and which one does what and for who. You’re not going to want to miss this. Check out the video below:
Links mentioned:
Auto transport broker training
Free auto transport broker training
Here’s the transcript to the video:
Hey, what’s up car shipping rockstars. Today, I’m going to talk about the difference between a broker versus dispatcher. I don’t know what’s in the water lately, but I have gotten so many emails and messages on Facebook about car haulers that say:
“I need a broker” and “I need a broker to keep me loaded” and “I need a broker so I can build my business”.
Or this one: “can you put me in contact with brokers that I can make relationships with? Because I need loads.”
I get it. You need loads, but you’ve got it all wrong.
What’s the difference between a broker and a dispatcher?
A broker is the intermediary between the car holler and the customer. They’re the middleman. And in my course, I talk about this a lot, but I like to use football terms because most people can relate to football terms. So a broker is similar to the agent, right?
The same way you rose in house was the big time agent for football players is the same way you as a broker would be the intermediate media area between the player, which in this case is the customer or the person shipping their car or the lead. Whichever word you want to use.
And the team, which is the car hauler. Now, everybody wants to have the greatest player on their team, right? Everybody wants to have that amazing customer on their team. The teams want that customer and brokers want that customer.
Most of the time, brokers get that customer. You know why?
Because the teams are not in direct contact, generally speaking with said players, right? So you have to go through the agent and that’s the way the typical auto transport industry has rent. Now they’re called hollers out there.
They’re making their own money. So what that means is they’re eliminating the agents of the industry and they’re going directly after the players, the unrepresented players, the players that don’t have an agent in their corner yet.
They’re getting in front of them before the agent has a chance to snatch them up. That’s where the broker carrier customer dynamic lies. If you’re a smart car hauler, you want to get those customers or those players yourself.
However, when you’re just starting out, you’re going to have to depend on the agents to do the work for you. The agents get the client. Now the agent seeks you out and says, “Hey, I have this client going on your route. This is how much we’re asking for. Can you do it?”
Will you sign this person? And then you, as a car hauler says, yes, I’ll take that load.
I’ll sign that player.
I hope that’s kind of clear and not messing up the whole idea of it even more by using the football scenario.
When you’re just starting out, like I said, obviously you’re going to want to depend solely on the agent to do the work for you.
Now that you’ve got that, what’s the difference between a broker and a dispatcher?
A dispatcher works on behalf of the carrier. So in the example, let’s use football analogies, the agent, or the broker is working for the customer and they don’t care about what you want, Their best interest lies in doing what’s best for their player or the customer or the person shipping their car, not you as the carrier. Whereas on the other hand, when you hire a dispatcher, the dispatcher would be equivalent to your general manager.
Your dispatcher is going to look at the players. They have Scouts obviously, but you know, in football, let’s just use general manager because it’s much better. So they’re going to be the ones that say, yeah, this is the guy we want to get.
This is what we need to do. And then they make it happen for you.
In your case, a dispatcher is going to find you the loads. They’re going to talk to the agents or the brokers for you and make sure that they plan your loads, everything that you need. That way you, as the car hauler can do your job.
There are great dispatchers and there are poor dispatchers. You have to find one that works for you. One that you gel with and that you trust, because this is the person that’s going to negotiate prices for you. So you’re going to want them to make sure that they’re doing everything in your best interest.
They’re working hard for you. They’re booking the loads that you, that you would want to haul. They’re making sure that you’re staying loaded, things like that. So, and the price you pay, it varies. Some dispatchers charge a percentage per load, and other dispatchers charge a flat fee. You just gotta find a dispatcher. Like I said, that works for you.
That is the difference between a broker and a dispatcher. The broker works for the customer. The dispatcher works for the carrier.
So when you guys say to me, Hey, Ashley, I need a broker to keep me loaded. Well, no… What you need is a dispatcher. Yes. They’re going to talk to the brokers and the brokers are going to give them the loads.
But what you guys need to understand is that brokers have various clients in various places. And I’ve talked about this in numerous videos before, but I keep on getting people that are asking the same exact questions over and over again. So I felt like it was time for me to put out new content that reiterates this point.
For instance, when I was a broker, I might have a client going from New Jersey to California. And then I have another client that same day that’s trying to move their car from Florida to Michigan. Then I have another client going from Chicago to Idaho and another client from Montana to Alabama.
You’re going to have clients as a broker all over the place. So as a car hauler, you’re usually on one route, maybe two or three routes where you go consistently. But you have to return back to where you originated from. So yes, it makes sense to make relationships with brokers, but brokers are not going to be the ones to keep you loaded.
You get your loads from brokers when you’re using a load board and dispatch. If you’re using a dispatcher, your dispatcher will get your loads from brokers. But the chances are, you’re not going to have that same broker repeatedly.
That same broker is not going to be the one that’s keeping you loaded, unless that broker happens to do their marketing that caters to that specific location. So let me give you an example. Back when I was a car hauler and I had my car hauling business, I got a lot of loads from ready auto transport. Back then Ready Auto Transport was solely a brokerage, but they did a lot of loads from Florida to Texas. So a lot of my loads when I was doing that specific route were coming from them because they were doing a lot of auction loads. And so I was hauling cars from the Manheim auction in Orlando straight out to the Texas auction and vice versa. And they paid handsomely.
A lot of times I would intentionally look for loads specifically from Ready Auto Transport because their loads were paying me $800, a car, $750 a car when everybody else was trying to pay like $5-600. And if you’re lucky, $650. So they were paying a good price.
They were always really good at pricing their loads. So I would intentionally get up extra early every morning and look for loads from them. And I talk a lot about this in Haul and Hustle, my car, hauling business course, because a lot of you guys don’t know how to run a call hauling business, which is not your fault.
So if you are interested in that, you can click here to learn how to run your car hauling business. I’ve helped guys go from a one truck, three car trailer to having three, four or five trucks. So I know what I’m talking about. I know what I’m doing.
So if you really want to learn how to run a car hauling business, then check it out. I’m not going to teach you how to load cars. I’m not gonna teach you any of that stuff. What I’m gonna teach you is how to grow a business. Because like I said, it’s sad, but a lot of truck drivers, that’s where they fall short. They do one thing and do it great.
And that’s haul cars.
But as I said, relationships are always important. I believe that relationships are the foundation to any successful business. So don’t ignore that fact. I want you to reframe your thinking. You don’t need a broker to keep you loaded.
You need a dispatcher.
If you’re looking for somebody to do the work for you. And if not, I teach you how to look for your own loads in my course. I tell you exactly what to do, what time you should be looking for loads. The best time to look for loads, negotiating with brokers for more money.
All of that stuff is covered in there. I hope this is hitting home for you guys. Because as I said, I hear it a lot.
You don’t need brokers to keep you loaded. You need a dispatcher, or you just need to know how to pick your loads and you need to make relationships.
That’s it for this article…
Now get out there and make moves happen. I will talk to you in the next one.