Letter from the President of Enterprise Auto Transport

A job I love has become incredibly difficult

Most of our cars are picked up within our 1-4 business-day window. About 99 percent of the time, that is exactly what happens. This letter is about the 1 percent that are not.

I am having a particularly hard time doing a job I genuinely love. And after nearly 15 years in the auto transport industry, I can honestly say I have never felt this burned out.

This past month has been one of the most frustrating periods of my career.

On the morning I wrote this letter, more than 30 carriers called about our available loads. In my screening of those callers, every one received a grade of D or worse from the independent safety-screening system we use. Not one met our carrier-selection standards.

That is my account of one morning's calls, not an industry-wide statistic. A third-party screening grade is not an official FMCSA safety rating, and a low grade alone does not establish fraud, violations, or unsafe operation. We examine the underlying records and use multiple verification methods rather than treating a single grade as the whole answer.

And somehow, from the customer's perspective, it looks like we're the ones not doing our job. That's the part that is becoming emotionally exhausting.

What customers do not see behind a pickup delay

Customers don't see what happens behind the scenes. They don't see the carriers we're declining, the insurance we're verifying, the roadside inspection histories we're reviewing, or the concerns we're investigating. They see that their vehicle hasn't been picked up.

Then another brokerage comes along promising immediate pickup, sometimes for less money, and suddenly we're the company that looks incompetent.

In my own work, I have seen carriers we turned down, including carriers with F grades, being used all the time by other big nationwide brokerages. That does not tell me what checks another brokerage performed or prove that its decision was improper. But it illustrates why finding an available carrier and approving that carrier are two different things.

Enterprise Auto Transport LLC is a brokerage. We arrange transportation with motor carriers; we do not physically haul customers' vehicles ourselves. Choosing the carrier is a responsibility I take seriously.

Customer-service reviews and safety screening measure different things

A carrier can have a 4.9 or 5.0 customer-service rating on a load board and still receive a D or F grade from an independent screening provider. Those ratings measure completely different things.

Being polite, delivering a vehicle, and communicating well do not automatically establish a strong safety record. Equally, a screening grade needs context: the underlying records, their dates, and the provider's methodology matter.

We review operating authority, roadside inspections, safety performance, insurance, and other risk indicators before assigning a carrier. We also recheck companies we've worked with before because conditions can change.

I'm not suggesting that other companies don't perform safety checks. I cannot establish how consistently or thoroughly every brokerage screens carriers. My concern is the pressure to approve an available truck before the questions in front of us have been answered.

• Our real carrier-screening example: why good reviews are not enough
• How to verify an auto transport carrier

Do we lower our standards just to be faster?

We're expected to be fast, affordable, and safety-conscious. But what happens when the available carriers repeatedly fail our screening standards? Do we lower our standards? Do we knowingly accept a risk just to get a vehicle picked up? Do we deserve a negative review because we refuse to assign a carrier we have serious concerns about? I don't believe we do.

I have worked hard to build a business with excellent customer reviews. I'm not writing this because we're receiving bad reviews. I'm writing because I can see how easily a customer could misunderstand a delay and hold us responsible for something we're trying to prevent.

I would rather explain why a vehicle hasn't been picked up than someday sit on a witness stand explaining why I knowingly assigned a carrier whose safety history raised serious concerns.

Brand recognition and advertising budgets do not, by themselves, tell a customer how carefully a brokerage screens its carriers. A smaller brokerage may look less capable simply because it takes longer to find a carrier it can approve. That is the pressure I am describing, not a claim that larger companies do not screen their carriers.

These concerns follow me onto the highway

My concerns don't stop when I close my computer. I drive on the same highways these trucks travel.

When I see shredded tires, pieces of equipment, and debris scattered along the interstate, I think about the maintenance problems and equipment failures that can create hazards. Not every piece of road debris comes from an unsafe commercial truck, and debris alone tells us nothing about a particular carrier.

Inspection records can include brake and tire defects, maintenance violations, hours-of-service issues, and drivers or vehicles placed out of service. Reviewing a record requires attention to its details and dates, not an assumption that every entry describes current conditions.

These are not just numbers on a computer screen. Commercial vehicles share the road with families, elderly drivers, teenagers, and people traveling across the country. When something goes wrong with a heavy truck, the consequences can be devastating.

I believe we need strong oversight of commercial driver qualifications, licensing, training, applicable English-language proficiency requirements, and enforcement. Every driver, regardless of nationality or background, should be held to the same rigorous standards.

My concern is not where someone was born. My concern is whether that person is legally qualified, properly trained, medically fit, and operating safe equipment.

As a mother, it is scary to drive down the road knowing just how unsafe so many of these carriers are. It makes me go out of the house less and stay clear of trucks when I see them.

As a mother, I want to thank all the dedicated people working at the FMCSA who are working tirelessly to keep our roads safe for our families.

Fraud prevention adds another layer of responsibility

Then there are the risks of identity theft, double brokering, stolen vehicles, and questionable insurance documents. We need to verify that the person contacting us is actually authorized to haul the load. These are risks we work to guard against, not allegations against a named carrier or a claim that each caller is involved in fraud.

It feels like every time we develop another safeguard, another problem emerges. No screening process can guarantee that a shipment will be free of risk, but that is not a reason to stop asking questions.

• Safety & Fraud Center
• What customers should know about pickup PIN protection

I am exhausted, but I still love this work

I am exhausted. Not because I don't love my job. I genuinely do.

I love helping customers. I love the relationships I've built with good carriers. I love solving complicated transportation problems. And I know there are many hardworking, responsible trucking companies and drivers who take tremendous pride in their work.

But lately, finding companies we can approve among the carriers calling on our loads has become increasingly difficult. What hurts most is knowing how much effort goes into protecting a customer who may never understand why their shipment is taking longer.

I'm not looking for sympathy, and this letter is not an advertisement. This is someone who has spent nearly 15 years in this industry admitting that the stress is becoming overwhelming.

I don't want to lower my standards. I don't want to become someone who simply assigns the first available truck and hopes everything works out. But I worry about how small, safety-conscious brokerages can keep competing when speed and price seem to matter more than the qualifications of the person transporting the vehicle.

A question for other safety-conscious brokerages

To other auto transport brokerages that genuinely screen their carriers: How are you handling this? How do you explain delays to impatient customers without frightening them or sounding like you're making excuses? How do you compete with immediate-pickup promises while still completing your own checks? And how do you keep yourself from becoming burned out when doing what you believe is right makes it look like you're failing?

I don't have all the answers anymore. I just know that finding someone willing to haul a vehicle and finding someone you can responsibly trust to haul it are two very different things. Lately, that difference has made a job I love incredibly difficult.

The safety of our customers, their vehicles, and everyone sharing the highway should never be the price we pay for faster service.

Sincerely, Rena. President, Enterprise Auto Transport LLC.