Dealer and auction transport

Dealer transport is a volume business with a clock attached. An auction purchase starts accruing storage almost immediately, and a vehicle sitting on a lot in another state is capital doing nothing. The measure that matters is not the per-unit rate on a single car; it is how reliably vehicles move within the free storage window, week after week.

That makes this a different service from retail car shipping. What a dealer needs is standing rates on known lanes, dispatch that happens without a phone call, and an invoice at the end of the month rather than a card payment per vehicle.

Auction collection

Most of what goes wrong at auction pickup is paperwork, not trucks:

• The gate release must be in place before the carrier arrives. A driver cannot resolve a hold at the gate, and a dry run is billable.
• Storage clocks start quickly. Tell us the free-storage deadline at booking and we will dispatch against it rather than against a vague date.
• Buyer number and lot or VIN on the booking, so the driver can locate the vehicle without calling you.
• Condition matters. Auction vehicles are frequently non-running or have flat tires. Flag anything that will not roll, so a winch-equipped carrier is assigned first time.
• Auction yard hours and gate procedures vary and change. We work to the yard's schedule, and knowing it in advance saves a day.

Standing rates on repeat lanes

Once we know your lanes, pricing them individually every time stops making sense:

• Agreed per-unit rates on lanes you run regularly, reviewed rather than requoted each time.
• Priority on capacity during peak weeks, because a carrier who runs your lane every week values the volume.
• Multi-unit dispatch, which is where the per-vehicle cost actually falls — a full trailer is the cheapest way to move a car.
• Net terms for established accounts, agreed in advance.
• Consolidated invoicing per week or per month, matched to your accounting cycle rather than to individual vehicles.

Dealer trades and inventory moves

The lower-volume half of the same account:

• Single-unit dealer trades, often at short notice, where speed matters more than the rate.
• Inventory repositioning between rooftops, usually multi-unit and schedulable in advance.
• Wholesale disposal moves out to auction, which are the same job in reverse.
• Customer deliveries, where the vehicle arrives at a retail buyer's home and the presentation of the delivery reflects on you, not on us. Enclosed is worth considering on higher-value units.
• Off-lease and fleet returns, which are volume moves on predictable timetables.

What keeps a dealer account running smoothly

Four things, and they are all on the booking side:

• Accurate VIN and vehicle details, because the trailer assignment depends on size and weight.
• Honest condition reporting. A vehicle described as running that will not roll is a refused load and a repositioning fee.
• Release authorization in place at the origin, whether that is an auction gate, another dealer or a storage lot.
• A named receiving contact at the destination who can inspect and sign. On a dealer-to-dealer move that is often a lot attendant, and they should know to expect the vehicle.

Questions about dealer and auction transport

Related services

Where we ship

This service runs on every lane we cover. These are the states and routes people ask about most:

Before you book