Rant: 14 quotes and the cheapest broker won, not the one with the best reviews
I called 14 brokers to move my truck from Denver to Seattle and the $780 guy with 12 reviews beat the $1,450 one with 400 reviews, no damage either. Everyone says pay more for peace of mind but has anyone actually gotten burned by a small broker, or is that just something we repeat?
The 400 review broker is often just a call center that farms your load out to whoever bids lowest anyway, so the premium you pay doesn't even reach the guy touching your truck. I booked a $950 guy with 30 reviews from Phoenix to Portland last year and he texted me pics at every stop, meanwhile a "top rated" outfit with 600 reviews lost my buddy's car for two days in a rail yard. Reviews mostly measure how slick the sales pitch was, not how the haul goes. Small brokers live on word of mouth so they can't afford to screw you nearly as much as the big names can.