The 400 mile door ding that cost more than the shipping itself

Last month I shipped a beater Corolla from Phoenix to Tucson, only 112 miles, but the quote came back at $285. I figured fine, short haul, whatever. Then the driver shows up with a flatbed and tells me he's got 3 other cars on the same run, and my car is the last drop. The surprise for me was finding out that roughly 60% of that cost is just the driver's deadhead miles back to their home base. I checked the FMCSA records after, and sure enough, the average empty return leg is 384 miles for these regional guys. So I basically paid for his fuel to go home after my car was already sitting in my driveway. Has anyone else looked into how much of their quote is just the return trip? Feels like the real cargo is the driver's commute.

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wesley8323d ago

Wait, 384 miles on average for the return? That's insane. So basically half the damn quote is paying for the guy to get back to wherever he actually lives.