Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/661456
April 2016 | Overdrive | 47 Cuomo says building a reputation is key for a broker. "We get a mix of both dealerships and private shippers, a lot of athletes, snowbirds and people that buy cars on eBay," he says. Because car haulers occasionally get high-value loads, they also have to stay on top of their cargo insurance. Lepke and Dean Zervas, who hauls high-end cars, get a rider from their insurance companies when a load's value is too high. Most carriers and owner-operators carry $1 million in liability insurance and $250,000 in cargo insurance to protect the cars. Auto hAuling LOADED HAULING , . HITCHED AND IF IT AIN'T TURNING, IT AIN'T EARNING. Find a dealer at DaytonTruckTires.com ©2016 Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 16-DAYTON-0006 M1mp Overdrive 4.5x7.375.indd 1 3/21/16 4:44 PM Untitled-21 1 3/23/16 8:31 AM all," he says. "Every inch means the world, but when a car pays $700 to $800, you've got to do what you've got to do." Phillips says pricing and service quality can complicate the business. "Our competition isn't really carrier versus carrier, but our problem runs with some, not all, brokers," she says. "A lot of the Internet brokers out there will undercut pricing just to get the work and give the load to anybody with a car hauler." Phillips says a lot of brokers will claim to be bonded and insured, but often they aren't insured because they aren't a carrier. "Good brokers offer decent prices to carriers, and we work with them as much as we can," she says. "Those seem to be going by the wayside, though, because of the low- ball figures." Frank Cuomo, chief executive offi- cer of Bears Transport, a brokerage company in Lake Forest, Ill., says there are a lot of "unscrupulous brokers all vying for the same business." "We try to educate our customers as far as looking people up and finding a good broker or carrier," Cuomo says. "It's important to know who you're speaking to. People will think a price is from a trucking company to move their vehicle, but it's actually a broker in his living room." One constant in the niche is the value of repeat business. "A lot of what I haul is people going to Florida for the winter, who then come back in the spring," says Lepke. "I'm one of a few guys out there who makes home deliveries and pulls up with a tractor-trailer to unload. People tend to call you back the next year when you do a good job for them." Young's gets "repeat business because our company drivers and the owner-operators we use know what they're doing," Phillips says. "Most of our business comes from private own- ers because a dealership isn't going to pay what we're asking for a full load of cars."