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posted by admin on May 8

I think that’s how a broker should answer their phones, don’t you think? As with anything in the transportation business, you will have two sides to the story when it comes to dealing with brokers.

There is the drivers view: I’m being ripped off! And then there’s the broker’s view: I have to make a profit to keep the boss happy!!

When I first started out brokering, I thought it was a breeze. I had been a telemarketer before and my greatest accomplishment was a million dollar sale I had made at the age of 18. So I knew I had the drive to get the money. Ok, I should say the greed was there. Think of the profit checks and the money in my pocket for me and my family!

The first few transportation loads I brokered I have to be honest, I had no clue what I was doing. Then I sat down with my husband and started talking to him about what he would expect out of a load. At that time he was a company driver. I did my own research and educated myself on what I thought was “fair.” The first company I brokered for had no preset expectations for profit just simply that I make one and get the load moved. At times it was just that I get the load moved. So I never had any problems or complaints. If I had complaints, it was the general complaint a driver would have like sitting to long, not getting loaded, etc. The stuff you EXPECT to happen.

Then I went to a larger company. There were preset expectations in place. Depending on how great of profit certain people wanted in the company/office I worked in, would reflect in the profit margin that was requested of us. I made some pretty awesome money, but I would come home feeling like crap because I knew I was taking money out of driver’s hands. And trust me, they were not happy when I had one of those “Say No To Cheap Freight!” stickers in my cubicle. Yeah, that did NOT go over well at all!

Working Power Only was a different story too. That’s where the money was. Think about it, they are using company trailers so that is an excellent negotiating tool for being paid so much per mile (which is common practice in Power Only) because you can tell the person “Well you are using our trailers, at our expense, that we have to keep maintenance on so this is all I am going to pay you.” And sit back and watch the profit roll in.

But if you have any type of a conscious when you are a broker, you get to thinking about things like I did. When you see your own husband making a living for his family and what it takes to run a truck or talk to a few good friends that you deal with on a day to day basis who actually take your loads, you get the full picture and you do actually feel guilty for not being able to give them what they rightfully deserve. I had the great chance to meet three of the owner ops that I brokered to. And I have a confession, I always maxed out with them. Because I liked them and they knew what was going on. We had great working relationship and they never failed on a load for me, if they did it was because of some freak circumstance. And I would go to bat for them in heartbeat.

As for double brokering loads. That is highly unethical and I do not like people who do it as I had that actually happen to me. Although, I really do not see the difference between the smaller carriers getting a load from someone, brokering it out, and getting paid – as opposed to a large carrier getting a load from another large carrier and putting it on their “board” for drivers to chose from – wouldn’t that be considered to be a double brokered load as well? I would think so.

At any rate, I hope I shed some light onto the wonderful world of brokering. As I am sure there will be a ton of brokers screaming “NO!” at the tops of their lungs when they read this and wanting to get a hold of me.

3 Comments

• At May 9, 2008, Brandy wrote:

  I work for a large brokerage myself, Trinity Transport, Inc. (#19 in the country)and our operations folks do everything in our power to ensure that when a carrier books a load, they are not double brokering it. Too many times I have seen those deals go bad, in addition to being unethical, there are times when the carrier that booked the load will get a fuel advance (we give 40%) after the true carrier loads it and next comes the final payment…then skips out without paying the true driver–never to be heard of again, and then what? Very sticky indeed.

  We are in the process of spreading the word to our carriers on some quick pay programs we’ve created to help get money in their pockets faster, your paragraph about feeling for the drivers touched a chord with me as well. I see rigs on the side of the road and in the paper for sale everyday. Trucking is the backbone of America, you are not alone in your empathy for the drivers out there. On the flip side of this, there are brokers like us that are working to provide a livelihood for ourselves as well. We want a FAIR profit, not a GREEDY one (in ref. to the margin statements) I have the rare combination of working for a broker and my husband being a truck driver-it’s fair to say my heart is in the right place as is my company’s (luckily)!!

  Very good topic you bring up, Donna. I’m a new reader to this site, but I like what I see so far.

• At May 9, 2008, Donna Snelling wrote:

  Thanks Brandy, I was wooed by TTI a few years ago but passed on the job. And sadly the margin statements are indeed factual for some of the large companies and I find that sad. I am sure it seems unbelievable but trust me, it is very true.

  I hope you continue to keep reading!

• At May 11, 2008, william s janoch wrote:

  I wish more people knew how to deal with brokers an more brokers knew how to deal with drivers.I haven’t had to use many brokers lately but seams to me that you need to know more to get a fair rate lately. I know how much I need to run my truck but have heard too many taking loads that will drive them out of trucking. I know brokers need to pay bills just like me but wonder if some of them understand they might be cutting their own throat by getting some body to carry a load that makes no money for a driver.I also think the term backhaul should leave trucking if you want to pay me a backhaul you need to get me a outbound rate first. [outbound rate :enough to get there an back an make a little more for me after I pay my truck]

posted by admin on May 8

Before I start the article I would like to quickly introduce myself since this is the first article I am posting to this site. My name is Clark Schoeder and I am the President/CEO of Cerberus Subrogation Professionals, LLC. We are a company that helps commercial trucking companies, owner/operators, and commercial auto insurance companies recover money that is owed to them by other insurance companies. I am going to be writing articles on trucking insurance, the issues truckers face in the insurance industry, and how you can protect your recovery interests. I hope you find these articles helpful and come back to check out future posts. Let’s get to the article.

I suppose we will start at the beginning. What should a driver do when they are involved in an accident to protect themselves and their company?

1.) Do not admit fault to anyone other than your safety department or your insurance company. This includes saying something as simple as “I’m sorry”. I have seen cases lost because the other party has a witness saying that the truck driver admitted fault at the scene even though they were not at-fault for the accident. I cannot stress this enough. Let the insurance company determine which party is at-fault.

2.) Do not talk to the other driver about the accident. You should only ask them if they are hurt and if they need medical assistance. If they say “yes” to either of those questions call 911 and request medical assistance. Beyond that, exchange your insurance information and say nothing else.

3.) Call the police. This is important for a number of reasons.

A.) The police officer is going to write a police report detailing what happened in the accident. The police report is one of the most important pieces of evidence used to determine liability. If you plan on having the other party’s insurance pay for your damages, you are going to need a police report. There is no way around it.

B.) It is going to create a record of the other party’s account of the accident. This will protect you from the other party changing their story down the line. More often than not, people will admit fault to the police officer and then change their story when they talk to their insurance company. It is human nature to avoid blame. The police report will create a record of their initial description of the accident to ensure that they cannot change it later.

C.) The police officer is going to collect the other party’s contact information and insurance information. People are much less willing to give a police officer fake information. This will ensure that you and the insurance company have a party to pursue for recovery of your damages. If you don’t know who owns the other vehicle, you are going to have a very difficult time recovering your damages.

4.) Contact your insurance company ASAP. If you are driving for a company, call your safety department so they can contact the insurance company for you. This is important because it allows the insurance company to get out to the accident scene right away and collect evidence that is going to protect you and your company. It also ensures that any evidence that would help you is not destroyed. I know some drivers are concerned about reporting accidents to the safety department because they are concerned with losing their job or being punished in some way. That is an ungrounded concern. Safety directors understand that accidents happen. That is why they have the job they do. Their goal is to fix the situation. When they don’t find out about an accident you remove their ability to do their job. There is a much higher probability of being fired if you don’t tell the safety department and they get blindsided by an accident 3 months down the road. Nothing makes a safety director madder than finding out about an accident late when there is no chance to investigate and defend their driver.

5.) Get the contact information for any witnesses to the accident. Witnesses are the most powerful evidence in determining liability. If you have a witness on your side and the other party does not, you are going to recover your damages.

6.) Take pictures of your damages and the other party’s damages. Every truck driver out there on the road should have some sort of camera in their truck. If you don’t, get one. If you are a safety director, set up a program to give your drivers disposable cameras to keep in their trucks. Photos are great evidence.

If you follow these steps, you will put yourself, your company, and your insurance company in a great position to defend you and to pursue your damages against the other party.

Be sure to check back for our next article “What does an insurance company owe you for an accident?”
Clark Schoeder is the President and CEO of Cerberus Subrogation Professionals, LLC. Cerberus Subrogation Professionals, LLC is a subrogation firm that specializes in the commercial trucking sector. They have helped their clients recover millions of dollars in insurance claims and have developed several innovative strategies specifically designed for commercial auto subrogation and arbitration. Those strategies have achieved unparalleled results. Visit their website www.cerberussubro.com to learn more about the Cerberus Advantage.

2 Comments

• At May 9, 2008, Connie Wilson wrote:

  Wow, I loved this article. It was loaded with great information. Even if one drives a 4 wheeler they can use this info.

• At May 11, 2008, Agency Saper wrote:

  Very basic and good information. Thank you

  Its best to have this information explained before the fact

  Although events can take charge in an accident situation – as with most events in life , if planning and preparation are in force , the groundwork that is laid is money and time well spent

  The information is there, it can only be of help. as opposed to leaving events in the whole car insurance debacle to chance.