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Dealer Trade Transport
Store-to-store transport for dealer trades, the swap that usually has a customer's name on it and a delivery date the sales desk already promised.
- $499
- per unit, from
- 2 stores
- one coordinated move
- 24–48h
- expedited pickup window
- $0
- due at booking
The short answer
Dealer trade transport moves a traded unit between two dealerships, on open carriers from $499 per unit. Both stores' releases are coordinated in one booking, expedited pickup puts a committed carrier on a sold unit within 24 to 48 hours for a flat $200, and $0 is due until dispatch.
Get my locked quoteor call (917) 594-5566
A dealer trade is usually a sold car, not inventory moving. A customer at your store wanted a build you didn't have, your desk found it at a store three hundred miles away, and now a specific unit has a specific person's name on it and an informal promise about the weekend. That makes the trade the most time-sensitive move a dealership makes: an ordinary inventory unit arriving a day late costs floor-plan interest, but a promised unit arriving late can cost the deal.
The traditional answer is a porter and a pair of dealer plates, and inside a hundred miles it is often the right one. Past that, the math turns: two staff drives or a one-way arrangement, a day of wages and fuel, demo miles on a unit the customer expects new, and the small but real risk of a stone chip or worse on the highway with your name on the retail deal. Transport turns that whole calculation into one booked move with both stores' releases coordinated and a Bill of Lading recording condition at each end.
What it costs
What dealer trade transport costs
Trades ship on standard open rates per unit. Working figures for a running sedan at the 1,000-mile benchmark. Most trades run shorter, so the typical trade lands under these:
Open carrier · per unit · typical 300–700 mile trade
A planning range, not a quote. Trades run shorter than most retail shipments, so the typical band sits lower. The number firms up with ZIPs and the unit, and holds 7 days in writing.
What moves the number
- Distance, longer = lower per-mile
- $0.75–1.00/mi
- Expedited pickup on a sold unit
- +$200 flat
- Sedan → XL truck or SUV
- up to +40%
- Open vs enclosed, high-line trade
- +30–50%
A two-way swap, your unit there and theirs here, can often ride as paired moves on the same lane, so price it as one conversation rather than two bookings.
Your exact number takes about 30 seconds and no payment details.
See my priceLocked 7 days · $0 until dispatch
Drive it or ship it
When does driving the trade stop making sense?
Somewhere past the hundred-mile mark, and the calculation is worth doing rather than deciding by habit. Driving a trade costs two drivers' time in both directions or a one-way plus a flight or rental back, fuel both ways, and a working day of payroll, before anything goes wrong. It also puts a few hundred miles on a unit the customer was told is new, and every one of those miles carries road risk on a car that is already sold.
Shipping replaces all of that with one per-unit rate and gives you a condition record at both ends, which matters on a trade because the receiving store and the selling customer both care exactly what state the unit arrived in. The counterweight is time. A truck is not faster than a porter on a short hop, and open transport averages about 500 miles a day once rolling. That is why the drive-it column wins inside about a hundred miles, and why past a day's round trip the truck usually wins on cost, risk, and everyone's Saturday.
Inside ~100 miles the drive usually wins. Past a day's round trip, it usually doesn't.
The promised unit
How fast can a sold unit move?
Book it the day the trade is agreed and a standard pickup fits most promises: pickup typically lands within the quote's stated window and the drive runs at about 500 miles a day, so a 400-mile trade booked Monday is realistically on your lot midweek. The failure mode is booking Thursday for a Saturday delivery promise; no carrier pace fixes a booking made after the promise. Book the transport in the same hour you agree the trade.
When the timeline is tight, expedited pickup commits a carrier within 24 to 48 hours for a flat $200, cheap insurance on a sold unit against a delivery date that was named out loud to a customer. What we will not do is sell you a guaranteed date: federal hours-of-service rules cap every driver's day, and anyone promising to beat physics for a fee is hoping you won't check. You get the honest window before you book, expedited when it earns its fee, and a coordinator who tells you where the truck actually is.
trade agreed → transport booked
the habit that keeps promises
open-carrier pace once rolling
hours-of-service, every carrier
expedited pickup, flat
carrier committed in 24–48h
Two releases
Two stores, two releases, one booking
A trade has paperwork at both ends, and the pickup only goes smoothly if both are arranged before the truck rolls. The sending store needs an authorized person to release the unit with the keys ready. The title is not required to ship domestically, but the right to release the car is. The receiving store needs a named contact to inspect and sign at delivery, ideally someone who knows a customer is attached to this particular unit. Trades stall at exactly these two moments, and almost never in between.
Broadway coordinates both releases in the one booking: we confirm who releases at their store, who receives at yours, and brief the driver on both before dispatch, so neither end involves a driver waiting while someone hunts down approval. Stores that trade regularly keep their authorized contacts on a dealer account, which turns the next trade into a two-minute booking. If the swap runs both directions, tell us, because paired units on the same lane are the cheapest kind of trade there is.
- Authorized release contact at the sending store
- Receiving contact at your store, briefed on the unit
- Keys and any dealer paperwork staged for pickup
- Inspection and BOL signature at both ends
- The return leg, if the swap runs both directions
On a dealer account these contacts stay on file, so a new trade is a VIN and two addresses.
Is it right for you
The honest version of this decision
Book it when
- The trade is past a comfortable day's round trip for a porter
- The unit is sold and a delivery date has been said out loud
- You'd rather zero demo miles land on a customer's new car
- The swap runs both directions and could pair on one lane
Don't bother when
- The other store is under an hour away and staff is free, so drive it
- The trade hasn't been agreed yet; book when the unit is confirmed
- It's your own inventory moving between your own lots weekly, which is an account conversation rather than a one-off
- The unit is a high-line car that should ride enclosed; book that instead
Moving inventory at volume rather than a single trade? See dealership auto transport.
How it runs
Trade agreed to trade delivered
Questions
Dealer Trade Transport: common questions
Still stuck? A coordinator answers the phone Mon–Sat, 9am–7pm ET.
How much does dealer trade transport cost?
Standard open rates per unit: from $499, with most trades landing between $550 and $850 since trade lanes run shorter than the 1,000-mile benchmark. Expedited pickup adds a flat $200. You pay $0 until a carrier is dispatched, and the quote holds 7 days in writing.
Isn't it cheaper to send a porter with dealer plates?
Inside about a hundred miles, usually yes. Past that, count both drivers' day, the return leg, fuel, and the demo miles landing on a sold unit. The 400-mile comparison on this page is the calculation to run.
How fast can a traded unit get here?
Booked the day the trade is agreed, pickup typically lands within the quoted window and the drive runs about 500 miles a day. Expedited commits a carrier within 24 to 48 hours for a flat $200. No honest broker sells a guaranteed date; driver hours are federally capped, for every carrier.
Who handles the release at the other store?
We do, as part of the booking: an authorized person at the sending store releases the unit with the keys, your named contact receives and signs at delivery, and the driver is briefed on both before dispatch. The title isn't needed to ship domestically, but the right to release the car is.
Can both halves of the swap ship together?
Often, and it's the cheapest version of a trade. Your unit and theirs pair on the same lane, sometimes the same truck. Tell us at booking that the swap runs both directions and we price it as one conversation instead of two bookings.
What about a high-line unit a customer ordered?
Ship it enclosed, at 30 to 50% over open, the same choice a collector would make for the same reason: the customer is buying the car's condition as much as the car. We'll book the trade on the equipment the unit deserves rather than default everything to open.
We trade every week. Do we have to do this per car?
No. That's the dealer account: authorized contacts, lanes, and billing preferences stay on file, pricing runs in the dealer portal without a phone call, and shipments bill to a consolidated invoice. The per-trade version of this page is for the store that hasn't set that up yet.
Ready to ship? See your dealer trades price now
- Price locked 7 days
- $0 until a carrier is assigned
- One coordinator, direct line
or call (917) 594-5566. A person answers.