Auto Brokering Yourself Vs. Using an Auto Brokering Advisor (Podcast)
Jake Klouse from Preowned Auto Logistics talks with John Maher about the benefits of working with a professional auto shipping broker compared to setting up shipping on your own. He explains how the professional broker’s connections and experience save time for dealerships, and he talks about how professional brokers streamline the damage claims process.
John Maher: Hi, I’m John Maher and I’m here today with Jake Klose, logistics advisor at Preowned Auto Logistics, a car shipping and auto transport and logistics company in Massachusetts. And our topic today is auto brokering yourself versus using an auto brokering advisor. Welcome Jake.
Jake Klose: Hey John, thank you for having me.
Benefits of Using a Professional Auto Shipping Broker
John: Sure. Jake, in your day-to-day work, you work a lot with dealerships and auto groups and one of the things that comes up as you’ve told me before is that a lot of the people that you talk to are handling auto shipping and brokering by themselves. But you feel like you can really bring a lot to their company and help them in a lot of different ways over just them dealing with all of that stuff themselves. What are some of the benefits that they might see by using a professional auto brokering advisor like Preowned Auto Logistics?
Jake: Yeah. Like you said I’m reaching out to dealer groups and dealerships throughout the day. And I would say some benefits opposed to yourself dispatching it as opposed to a logistics advisor would be the resources available to us. We have an untapped network. We’ve been in the industry for 20 plus years. That really gives us the advantage in the industry. We can definitely save time and money.
As you know, there’s a bunch of headaches that go along with shipping, whether it’s following up with drivers, making sure things are on time, making sure they’re picked up, making sure the customers are happy. And that can take a lot of time out of the dealership of what they’re good at, which is selling cars. And then unfortunately the inevitable, which is damage claims. In this industry, stuff’s going to happen, whether it’s weather, human error, traffic and damage claims can be a consuming part of your day. That’s where we separate ourselves as opposed to brokering yourself.
Resources of Professional Auto Shipping Brokers
John: Okay. Let’s talk about each one of those things in a little bit more depth. Let’s talk about the resources that you guys bring to the table and that maybe you have available to you that the average person at a dealership or auto group has.
Jake: Yeah. We’ve been in the business for 20 plus years. We have a mix of our own trucks, as well as a network that we built over the past 20 years that we deal with. Usually 90% of the time when I do get a car to get moved, we barely get it on central just because of the network we have.
We have a Rolodex of carriers that we’ve been working with so posting, we know our guys, we know which guys are in which lane and when they’re moving and how many cars are on their trucks. We just move a lot quicker. And just having that relationship, knowing that it’s just not a random guy just picking up your vehicle, it makes it a lot easier and it makes you feel better about it as well.
Connections of Professional Auto Shipping Brokers
John: Right. You know that, oh, okay, this driver is in your area and they have a couple of extra spaces on their trucks. They’re able to be there quickly, that kind of thing that the average person at a dealership might not understand or have that available to them, that information?
Jake: Yeah. And sometimes I even like to tell my dealers a story, in certain situations come the end of the month or the end of the week, they need a car on their lot ASAP, or they need to get a car to a customer ASAP. Since we do have those resources and we have those relationships with carriers, sometimes we’ll be able to say, “Hey, do you have any room?” And if they don’t, they can bump a spot off, take care of us, do it for less money, all of that stuff. It really benefits us and we love to move quick and fast so that really helps a lot.
How Professional Brokers Save Dealerships Time
John: The other thing that you mentioned was that you can really save a dealership time and what are some of the ways that you do that?
Jake: Yeah. As I stated before, there’s a lot of things that go into this. You got to make sure first off you get the correct carrier and you have to follow up with pickup, follow up with delivery, make sure it’s en route and make sure there’s no delays. Now, God forbid something does happen that’s a whole nother story, which we’ll get into. But I like to think of it as if we ship cars for a living, dealers sell cars for a living.
They’re amazing at selling cars and we’re amazing at shipping. Instead of them dealing with the headaches of all that comes with shipping, we like to take it off their hands. We move efficiently, we move quickly and we take extreme pride in customer service. That’s where we save you time and money, instead of focusing on where’s this car, where’s this car? They can just focus on selling cars. In the back of their mind they have peace of mind that their transport is going to be taken care of.
John: Right. They can concentrate on their business like you said, they’re really good at selling cars so they can get back to work doing that, which is what they’re good at. And then they’re saving money by maybe not necessarily by the actual cost of the shipment itself, but just because they’re saving so much time that’s money in their pockets. Is that what you mean?
Jake: Instead of putting that time and energy into, like I said, following up and seeing where their cars are, they could spend all that time on new prospects and getting their next sale.
How Professional Auto Brokers Help With Damage Claims
John: Right. The last thing that you mentioned was dealing with damage claims. Like you said, nobody wants to see that happen, but things do happen. Cars are shipped on open car carriers and there might be damage from the road or things like that.
Or there could be a human error involved and things, but what does the average person at a dealership or auto group have to deal with when a car that they’re shipping does get damaged and what do you bring to the table that really helps with that?
Jake: Yeah. Damages are going to happen. And unfortunately it’s the worst part of shipping, I think for anyone. Where we really separate ourselves with damage claims is a lot of the times when you do broker it out, if you deal with it yourself, you’re building a relationship with the carrier that you’ve just spoken to, you just met. Picking up the phone for them is going to be difficult and they don’t really get back to you. They’re not communicating what’s going on.
Claims process does take a while. Right when we have a damage claim, we ask our dealers to fill out a form and the day, or the minute they fill out the form, we send it right over to our claims department and we get working on it right away. We contact the carrier, we get the insurance and we have claims meetings every week because like I said, obviously it does happen, but that’s where we separate ourselves. A lot of these dealers, the last thing they want to do is get a damage claim of course, because it just consumes so much time and energy out of their day.
John: Right. Having to call the insurance company and deal with all of that and then-
Jake: Calling the driver, making sure you get the pictures, making sure the bill of lading matches with the person who signed off on the delivery. It’s a bit of a process.
Professional Versus DIY Auto Brokering
John: Right. Sum this up for me in terms of using an auto broker brokering advisor like yourselves, what do you guys bring to the table versus somebody at the dealership or auto group having to deal with the brokering themselves? What’s the overall picture?
Jake: Yeah. I like to think of it as like we’re a machine. All day we’re making calls to drivers, to carriers, trying to get things picked up as quickly as possible, trying to get things delivered as quickly as possible. That’s our main goal and our main focus. We’ve been in the business for 20 plus years. Having us, I would say is more of a mindset, peace of mind knowing that their transport’s going to be taken care of. It’s just another resource. We like to think of ourselves more than just a car shipper. We’re a full service logistics company, we have supply chain management, we have a [20] person dispatch team and we move cars and we move cars quickly.
Call Preowned Auto Logistics for a Quote Today
John: All right. Well that’s really great information, Jake. Thanks again for speaking with me today.
Jake: Thank you, John. Thank you for having me.
John: And for more information or to request a quote for your auto shipping needs, visit the website at Preownedautologistics.com or call 877 542 1955.
