When it comes to auto transportation, dealerships, auto auctions, and online car platforms are forced to make a lot of tough choices that may make the difference between success and failure.
Decisions like one’s marketing strategy, budgeting, and other factors are all important things to consider, however, one of the biggest has got to be deciding whether your company wishes to use in-house resources or choose to outsource to carriers outside of your own business. There are positives and negatives to both of these options, so you should choose the one that best suits your own business.
In-House
In-House refers to the process of personally managing all of the transportation processes yourself, from finding and using a carrier network, managing orders, and overseeing drivers, which is usually done through an online load board and TMS solution. You may prefer using in-house resources if you want to have tighter control of your auto transportation by forming relationships with individual transport drivers and having closer management and monitoring of resources and their costs.
You can more easily manage drivers and shipping operations through a load board; load boards are used to manage drivers, simplify shipping operations, handle payments, and more. In-house transport may be the preferred method for those who want to have a bit tighter control over their drivers, however, it is a less hands-off method compared to outsourcing.
With load boards, you can pick and choose which carriers outside of your network you want to work with and can even communicate with them directly at any time. All carriers on popular load boards such as Super Dispatch’s Super Loadboard are appropriately vetted and have up-to-date paperwork, which gives you less to worry about. Super Loadboard even allows you to see the exact location of your drivers in real-time via GPS tracking.
Outsourcing
While hiring in-house talent is great, outsourcing is certainly not without its perks. Some of these include allowing dealers to focus on other aspects of their business, reducing risks associated with auto transport, and allowing others to handle all of the often strenuous processes associated with auto transportation.
Dealers outsource by hiring brokers who will do most of the work for them. Auto transport brokers essentially act as middlemen between sellers and carriers, and help to eliminate most of the work involved with finding, vetting, and directly dealing with car haulers or carriers. If you’d rather not deal with carriers or auto transport tools and have transportation dealt with entirely by another party, then outsourcing with an auto transport broker may be the superior option for you.
There are also some disadvantages tied to outsourcing, of course. The biggest is the costs associated with transaction fees, as well as the fact that you’d have less control and visibility of your inventory, which may be undesirable for some.
Which is Better?
When it comes down to it, both in-house and outsourcing are valid options for car hauling. While in-house auto transport allows for more control over carriers, outsourcing will allow you to focus more of your own time on other parts of your business. The best option entirely depends on your preferences, needs, and goals, so the choice is up to you! Overall, we hope that this guide has been helpful to you.
If you’re currently in need of a load board and Shipper TMS solution in order to manage your transport in-house, then consider trying out Super Dispatch! Our Shipper TMS allows for advanced management of your car haulers, as well as streamlining various processes related to auto transport. Request a demo today!
