Why OEMs Go Dedicated
Dedicated trucking reserves assets and drivers by lane so OEMs get predictable delivery windows, stable costs, and VIN-level visibility.
When vehicle production is tight and launch calendars are unforgiving, the difference between a smooth model roll-out and a fire drill is often the trucking model behind it. Dedicated trucking in car hauling gives OEM planners reserved capacity, stable costs, and VIN-level visibility—without betting daily production on the spot market. In this piece, we define what “dedicated” means for outbound finished vehicles, where it outperforms spot, and how our team structures lane-based, minimum-volume programs that protect flow.
Dedicated is a structured capacity program in which we reserve specific assets (tractors, trailers, and trained drivers) to run agreed lanes and delivery windows for a defined period. It’s governed by service levels and a review rhythm, not by day-to-day load board dynamics. The scope typically includes origin plants or railheads, dealer endpoints, volume floors and ceilings, surge language, and reporting cadence.
What it’s not: ad-hoc coverage. The spot market remains useful for overflow, unusual endpoints, or one-off movements. But when the yard needs to move vehicles predictably every day, dedicated turns variability into a managed plan.
Lane-based pricing with minimum volumes smooths budgets and secures capacity. Instead of competing each day for trucks, planners schedule against a reserved fleet that understands the lane and the yard.
Control and repetition compound performance. The same drivers, equipment, and yard routines reduce touches, shorten dwell, and prevent handling errors. We reference the same metrics we’ve published in other posts—99% on-time delivery and 0 claims over the last 12 months—because repeating a good process on the same lanes works.
Launches compress timelines; quarter-end and summer peaks amplify demand. With dedicated programs, exceptions become visible early, not after a missed delivery window. Dealers see reliable ETAs, and planners spend less time firefighting and more time executing the schedule.
Seasonality isn’t a surprise; it’s a scheduled reality. We plan ahead twice: first during contracting—by defining peak rules—and again as peaks approach with staging and pre-assignment. That often means earmarking extra units to the heaviest corridors and aligning crews to the shift patterns that best match plant release times. The result is less yard buildup and faster conversion from VIN release to dealer delivery.
We align capacity to the rhythm of your network. With lane-based pricing and minimum monthly volumes, we can commit assets by lane, keep your budget predictable, and ensure we’re never guessing which trucks go where.
Most OEMs have a preferred fuel or cost index approach. We follow your standard rather than inserting complexity; the point is to keep total landed cost transparent across the term so planners can model impacts without a spreadsheet detour.
Quarterly reviews validate volumes, exceptions, and changes in routing guides. When something shifts—new dealer groups, launch waves—those changes roll into updated lane playbooks and driver briefs. Fewer surprises, faster adoption.
We’re an asset-based carrier and operate open transport equipment only. Our mix includes stingers, 8-car, and 7-car units. Matching equipment to lane density and dealer access is a daily optimization: stingers for maximum throughput on standard profiles; 7–8 car sets where access constraints, dock geometry, or local ordinances require smaller footprints.
Electric vehicles (EVs) are heavier than comparable internal-combustion models, so we plan load counts to stay within legal weight. There are no special handling “rules” beyond the law and physics—we treat EVs like any other vehicle with the added attention to total weight. When a mixed load includes EVs, we may carry fewer units; safety and compliance come first.
Repetition builds speed. We standardize spotting, sequencing, strap placement, and pre-release checks. The same driver on the same lane learns the yard’s quirks—gate codes, traffic flow, busy windows—so dispatch can plan around constraints instead of discovering them.
Safety and quality aren’t slogans—they’re repeatable tasks. Here’s what “process discipline” looks like day to day:
These routines are audit-friendly. OEM quality and risk teams can review artifacts and spot-check compliance.
Definitions at first mention (for clarity):
FMCSA (Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration — U.S. regulator for trucking safety and compliance)
ELD (Electronic Logging Device — records driver hours for compliance)
POD (Proof of Delivery — documentation confirming delivery)
Portal access with live tracking per VIN is standard in our dedicated programs. OEM planners and dealer stakeholders can see where units are, view status milestones, and confirm delivery with photo PODs when applicable. Geofenced alerts at plants, yards, or dealer lots reduce “where’s my unit?” tickets and keep escalations focused on true exceptions.
We start light—portal-only if that’s the fastest path—then scale to simple data feeds as needed. Clean VIN-level events create clean downstream operations: fewer billing queries, fewer dealer disputes, and quicker closeout each cycle.
We operate open transport only under dedicated agreements. We do not take enclosed requests within dedicated programs. When an OEM requires enclosed transport for specific units, we can suggest trusted partners upon request so your program remains consistent across open and enclosed without fragmenting communications.
Asset control. We own the fleet, and we run it with a single operating standard. That control translates directly into reliability for planners.
Experience and equipment. We’ve been focused on car hauling for more than 10 years, operate our own repair shop, and keep a new fleet—with two years being the oldest equipment in rotation at the time of writing.
Proven performance. We rely on the same published metrics we’ve used across our insights: 99% on-time delivery and 0 claims over the last 12 months. Consistency comes from lane repetition and process adherence.
VIN-level visibility. Our portal gives OEM planners and dealers live tracking per VIN, so status checks don’t slow the day down.
What minimum volume justifies a dedicated program?
We scope by lanes with minimum monthly volumes so we can reserve exact assets and crews. If the volume is highly variable or too low, we’ll recommend a hybrid approach that pairs core dedicated lanes with managed spot for overflow.
How do you handle EVs on mixed loads?
We plan per-load weight so the total legal weight isn’t exceeded. Otherwise, the process mirrors ICE vehicles, with standard securement and the same yard discipline.
Can we start small and scale once KPIs hold?
Yes. We recommend launching with 1–2 priority lanes, validating timing against actual plant release patterns, then expanding once OTIF and dwell targets stabilize.
Do you provide enclosed transport within dedicated agreements?
Not within our dedicated program. If enclosed is needed for certain units, we can recommend vetted partners and maintain a single escalation path.
Dedicated trucking isn’t about having more trucks—it’s about committing the right trucks to the right lanes under a process that compounds performance. For OEMs, it turns variability into a schedule, aligns cost to the network you actually run, and gives planners VIN-level control without constant triage. In our experience, when the requirements are lane-repeatable and the stakes are high (launches, quarter-ends, summer peaks), dedicated beats spot on the only metrics that matter: predictable delivery and low risk.
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