The Best Trucking Companies Near Me

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Finding the best trucking company in your local area--whether you need local, regional, or long distance transport--can be a real challenge if you've never done it before. For one, many of the larger freight carriers tend to be national trucking companies or regional operations, which means they may not have offices or truck drivers in your area, or be as accessible as you might hope.

Thankfully, there's a fairly clear series of steps you can take to make sure that you not only find a trucking company near you, but that you also find the one that's the best fit for your needs. When you're hiring a transport service or truck drivers to help you with moving, it's best to take a slow and steady approach, which will require a minor time investment on your part.

Even if you're just looking for available jobs in the trucking industry, this same approach can still be beneficial. For example, you probably wouldn't seek out truck driving jobs with a carrier that you didn't feel offered great service and benefits. Regardless of whether you're looking for help hauling something, or are seeking one of the many available jobs, doing your research first is an important step.

The best approach is to take your time and find an operation with trucks in your area that is able to provide the exact services you need, while still being close enough that you can contact them without any issue. Here are some of the things you can do to increase your chances of finding the best company and truck drivers in your local area.

If you're looking for a local or long distance trucking company near you, don't hesitate to contact us today! We offer FREE price quotes to all interested parties and there is absolutely no obligation to buy or payment required! Call us today at 1-888-230-9493!

Local Trucking Companies Near Me | Finding Trucking Companies In Your Local Area

There are a variety of resources, both online and in daily life, that you can use to help you find local and national trucking companies near you. While there's no magic formula for finding trucking companies, there are some simple things you can do to drastically increase your chances of finding the one that makes sense for you.

Google Maps

Google Maps is one of the simplest and easiest ways to find any kind of local business, and that goes for the trucking industry as well. Just like any other service, the transportation industry has countless professional drivers and a fleet of trucks at their disposal in just about every major city or metro area across the United States. In order to find the options available in your area, all you have to do is go to Google Maps and type in the service you're seeking (trucking companies, truck drivers, trucking company, transport carriers, trucking companies near me, movers, etc.) and you'll be presented with a variety of local and regional options. One benefit of this approach is that you're more likely to find the more established trucking companies in your proximity since they tend to have a higher profile in search results.

Online Reviews

Reviews that you find online can be another useful resource when you're assessing the quality, professionalism, and expertise of any establishment. As with other online reviews; however, you should approach online reviews for truck drivers and their companies with a healthy dose of skepticism. It's not difficult for truck driving companies or even one individual to create an account and post a review--either negative or positive--about a specific trucking company. With that said, online reviews can still be a valuable tool to use if you're trying to gauge the overall quality and performance of a company that you're considering hiring. Just make sure that you supplement this research with the other tips mentioned here to make sure you don't get bamboozled by a flood of suspect reviews that may or may not be reliable.

Previous Customer Testimonials

Customers who have previously used a trucking company are another good option to look to if you're researching your options. Testimonials are basically another type of online review that you'll mainly find on the website of trucking companies. Since this is the case, it's again best to temper the results you find with some healthy skepticism as most companies put up reviews of their services at their own discretion. Just like with online reviews, it's best to supplement any testimonials you find with other information about a company before making a decision about which one to go with.

People You Know

If you're lucky enough to know someone who has used a national trucking company before, they can be a very valuable point of input. Unlike testimonials and online reviews from relatively anonymous customers, someone that you know personally is more likely to give you honest feedback regarding their experience with a company and the company drivers.

If you find yourself in a position where you need some input regarding a trucking company, you can post something on social media asking if anyone has used a similar service before, whether it's moving, car shipping, or simply delivering an item using a transport company.

Choosing The Right Freight Carrier Or Transport Company

Finding the best company to work with is no easy task, especially with the number of options you'll have in the transportation industry. A lot of how your search unfolds (and the ultimate results you'll get) depend on the type of service you're looking for. If you need a couple items transported across town, you'll probably want to look for a local option in your area.

On the other hand, if you need a household full of items moved from Fort Smith, Arkansas to Des Moines, Iowa, you'll want to seek out truck drivers that operate as nationwide or regional carriers. Here are the things you should look for in a reliable transport company.

Proper Licensing

There are laws and regulations that govern the transport industry just like any other type of consumer service. Professional drivers that work for a regional or national trucking company must be properly licensed in order to operate. This means that all commercial drivers and OTR drivers (over the road drivers) must have a valid CDL driver license (commercial driver license) in order to legally carry out transport services.

Insurance Coverage

Insurance coverage is mandatory for anyone operating a commercial transport vehicle and any company you contact should be able to provide evidence of their insurance coverage. Trucking companies have different levels of insurance coverage so it's something you'll want to be familiar with before agreeing to work with a specific company, especially if you're having them transport any items of high value.

Their Own Trucks

Ideally, you want to work with trucking companies that have their own fleet of transport trucks, as well as their own company drivers. While this may seem like a no brainer to many, the fact of the matter is that many of the companies in the industry (especially online) are brokers rather than freight carriers. What this means is that they are not the ones that actually owner operators of the equipment that will be used, but instead act as a go-between from the customer to the truck driving services you need. While this is not necessarily a sign that you should avoid a company altogether, the vast majority of customers prefer to deal directly with the people that will be doing the work they're contracted for, which means finding a company with their own fleet of trucks and quality team drivers.

Getting An Estimate

Once you've narrowed your search down to a few options that fit your criteria, it's time to contact the best trucking companies you've found to get a price quote. Every company you contact should offer you a free cost estimate, regardless of where you're going and what you need hauled. If you encounter a company that is unwilling to provide a free quote, then it's time to move on to your other options. Free estimates are an industrywide standard and those companies that don't adhere to these norms are typically a sign of a company that's not being as transparent or honest as they should be.

When you do contact a company to get an estimate, be sure to come prepared with as much information as possible so that you can get the most accurate price quote. The more information you can provide, the more likely you are to get a proper estimate that reflects the cost of the job you need done. On the flip side, if you cannot or don't provide all the necessary information, you may find yourself in a position in which the final cost of the job will exceed your estimate due to the truck driver having to determine cost parameters as they do the job, which tends to raise the price due to unexpected aspects of the job that you may not have communicated.

Truck Drivers Looking For Truck Driving Jobs Near You

If you are looking for trucking companies near you because you're looking for a truck driving job, you'll no doubt have some different criteria than someone on the consumer side looking to transport goods. As with all truck driving jobs, you want to do the appropriate research to make sure they're a good fit for you. That typically means they offer things like fair driver pay, paid vacation or paid time off, dedicated freight hauling, CDL training, compensation plans, and good job benefits. If you have other requirements such as weekly pay, working for a private carrier, new equipment great benefits, or daily home time, be sure to keep that in mind as you search.

Local Trucking Jobs

Local truck driving jobs can be somewhat difficult to find at times due to the simple fact that most of the opportunities available are for national or regional truck drivers. As a matter of course, the majority of truck driving jobs within the transportation industry involve driving long distance to haul goods from one place to another, but that doesn't mean there are no opportunities available for a truck driving career, even those that offer CDL training.

If you're searching job boards for local truck driving jobs, use the tools filter to limit your search to the areas you're looking to work. Also be sure to keep in mind that the scope of the routes you'll need to run may, at times, take you out of your local area. There are other factors to keep in mind as well, but if you want to work in a specific area, you'll want to focus your search there.

Regional Driving Jobs

If you're a truck driver searching for regional truck driving jobs, you want to take a similar approach to the local search mentioned above, but with a larger scope. While there are not a ton of local truck driving jobs out there, there should be plenty of job openings if you're looking for regional or nationwide trucking jobs. As most truckers know, the best trucking companies offer truck driving jobs fall that under this category, which means you should have ample opportunity to find an OTR driving job or CDL training program that will fit with your skill set and the area in which you wish to work.

Finding A Truck Driving Job In the Trucking Industry

We've mentioned a few of the important things to look for when you're looking for a local or regional trucking job, but there are some things that apply to both types of jobs. One of the most important aspects of any potential truck driver jobs is the driver pay, especially if you want to enjoy your driving career. As with any other professional, how much you get paid for trucking jobs is one of the most enticing incentives to become one of their company drivers. Weigh your offers carefully before making a decision and be sure that any business you consider uses certified CDL drivers and allows solo drivers.

Qualities of The Best Trucking Companies

Whether you're looking for a company to haul heavy equipment for you, or you're looking for a trucking job, there a few markers of the companies that will serve you best. In this section, we'll go over some of the qualities that indicate a company has the best fleet, best service, and best available trucking jobs.

How Long Have They Been In Business?

While it may seem like a trivial question on the surface, how long a company has been in business is a good indicator of their success. What this essentially means is that you should choose a more established company such as ABF Freight or YRC Freight, rather than a relatively newer truck driving outfit, all else being equal. There are no doubt some good trucking companies, but the less established operations that offer OTR jobs are not only harder to find information about, but you may also run the risk of getting scammed.

An unfortunate reality of the trucking industry is that there are a handful of bad actors in the space, which means that the job or transport quote you received that sounds too good to be true probably is. If a company has been around for 10 or more years, that's usually a good indicator that you're dealing with a reputable company with great equipment and a strong team behind them, as opposed to some of the other companies out there.

Do They Allow Owner Operators?

This mainly applies if you're a licensed truck driver looking for truck driving jobs. When it comes to the consumer end of things, most people don't care if a company allows or uses owner operators. If, however, you have an eye towards establishing your own freight hauling business, you'll want to wait on an option that allows for owner operators. The reason for this is that you'll get the experience in all aspects of the business if you work as an owner operator, not to mention you'll be better positioned to branch out on your own should the time come.

Reputation

Reputation means everything in business, regardless of whether you're a truck driver looking for trucking jobs, or simply a consumer looking for a company to transport something. This piece of advice goes hand in hand with some of the other tips mentioned here—a company who's been in business for a while should have a recognizable name and a reputation that goes right along with it. If a web search doesn't bring up much information (or the reviews are all negative), that's usually a sign that a company doesn't have the greatest reputation.

Transparency

An important aspect of any business is trust. Trust is borne out of transparency, which means any freight carrier you contact should be completely open about how their business is run, and be able to answer any of the questions you may have during the process. If a company is hesitant to answer your questions, or worse, they are unable to, that's typically an indication that you should keep looking for an option that can.

A Verifiable Physical Address

Any trucking outfit that is truly transparent should have an easy to find and verifiable physical address. This may seem like an obvious thing to most readers as any freight hauler should have a base of operations. What may surprise you is that there are many out there that claim to haul freight, but truly only operate as a broker.

A broker is a company that operates as a conduit between the hauler and the customer—in other words, they don't do the actual work themselves. Instead, they take your request and farm out the job to another company that actually handles the transport end of things. While this isn't inherently a bad thing (many companies rely on brokers to get business), a lot of customers prefer to deal only with the company that will be doing the job, which is an understandable request.

If you're intent on finding a transporter that is handling every aspect of the business, you'll want to find one with a physical address that can be verified. Brokers don't always have a physical office location since much of the work they do can be accomplished remotely, or even with just a computer. Probably not the image you have in mind when you're looking for a company to haul something a long distance. Be sure to check for an office location if you want to deal with a carrier rather than a broker, and make sure you're dealing with a licensed trucking company if you happen to be looking for long distance, regional, or local truck driving jobs.

Whether you're a truck driver looking for CDL Driver trucking jobs, or a customer looking for an affordable, reliable trucking company, call us today at 1-888-230-9493! Our staff is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week and all cost estimates are 100% FREE of charge!