How to get car hauling contracts: auctions, dealers and retailers, and what each asks of you.

What a "contract" usually means in car hauling

Few car haulers sign a long contract on day one. Direct work usually starts as approval into a carrier network: an auction group or retailer checks your authority, insurance and references, then offers you loads through its own portal or board. Volume follows performance. The contract, when it comes, is the result of months of on-time deliveries with clean paperwork.

Auction and remarketing networks

ACV Transportation

ACV's carrier page lists: an MC certificate, state permit, DOT number, photos of your equipment, an ACH form for payment, at least two business references, $1 million liability and $100,000 cargo.

Ready Logistics (Cox Automotive)

Ready Logistics asks for at least $1 million in auto liability, with cargo cover depending on how many cars your trailer carries. You apply through a pre-qualification form on its carrier page, and the qualification process can take up to 21 days.

IAA Tow Network

IAA recruits light-duty equipment, 2-car, 3-car and 4-car rollbacks, for its tow network, with insurance that meets IAA's and state and DOT rules. It suits smaller setups that a stinger-only program would not.

Networks check your paperwork first and your record forever after.

Online retailers

Online car retailers run their own carrier portals. Carvana's, for example, is by invitation: carriers wait for an invitation by email rather than applying. Retailers do not publish how carriers are chosen, so build a record with the auction networks and brokers in the meantime.

Dealerships

Dealers do not publish carrier programs; this work is won in person. What tends to work:

• Start with dealer trades and auction runs for one store. Ask the used-car manager or the inventory manager, not the front desk.
• Bring the packet below, ready to email the same day.
• Price for the round trip. A dealer who sends you to the auction and back is worth more than a higher one-way rate.
• Send proof without being asked. Pickup and delivery photos and a signed BOL on every car are what make a dealer call you first next time.

The carrier packet to have ready

• MC and USDOT numbers, and a copy of your operating authority.
• A certificate of insurance naming the liability and cargo limits, with the network or dealer as certificate holder when asked.
• A W-9 and ACH details for payment.
• Photos of the truck and trailer.
• Two or three business references: brokers or shippers you have delivered for.

Insurance is usually the gating item: what car haulers carry and what it costs.

Filling the gaps between contracts

Even with direct work, trucks come home empty unless someone plans the return. Keep using the boards for backhauls and the days the contracts are quiet, and judge every load by what it nets, not by its rate. Where car hauling loads come from.

On loadez, contract loads and board loads sit in the same dispatch: paste a rate confirmation and the load joins the same record as a load claimed on the loadez board, with the same photos, BOL, invoice and driver pay. On Growth, every board load is ranked by its net for your truck, so the backhaul that fits your week shows up first. Pricing.

Common questions

How do you get car hauling contracts?

Most direct work starts as approval into a carrier network run by an auction group or retailer, then grows with your record. Have your MC and DOT numbers, insurance certificate, W-9, ACH details, equipment photos and references ready. ACV, for example, asks for $1 million liability, $100,000 cargo and at least two business references; Ready Logistics asks for at least $1 million liability and can take up to 21 days to qualify a carrier.

How do I get car hauling contracts with dealerships?

Dealers do not publish carrier programs, so the work is won in person: offer one store dealer trades and auction runs, speak to the used-car or inventory manager, bring your carrier packet, and send pickup and delivery photos with a signed BOL on every car so they call you first next time.

How do you become a carrier for Carvana?

Carvana's carrier portal is by invitation: carriers wait for an email invitation rather than applying, and Carvana does not publish how carriers are chosen. In the meantime, build a record of on-time, well-documented deliveries with auction networks and brokers.