Auto transport broker

[2] The US Department of Transportation keeps statistics on cargo shipments, showing over $651 billion worth of motorized and other vehicles (including parts) moved by truck in 2007.

With the advent of the Internet, the auto transport industry has seen an influx of new brokers, attracted by the low cost of starting a brokerage business online.

The Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act,[7] signed by President Obama on July 6 of 2012, introduced a number of new regulations for auto transport brokers.

The founder & president of AIPBA, James Lamb, has called the law a lobbyist-driven attempt to "eliminate small brokers from the market" and establish an oligopoly that charges customers more and pays carriers less.

While the final rules in MAP-21 fell short of the OOIDA's wishes, Todd Spencer, executive vice president of the organization, praised them as a "win-win" for truckers and legitimate brokers.

[16] The Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA),[17] a major third-party logistics trade organization, has also advocated for the new FMCSA regulations through its lobbying arm TIAPAC as a way to protect motor carriers from both incompetent and unscrupulous brokers.

TIA board member Ken Lund acknowledged that the new bond may be difficult for smaller brokers to pay, but defended it as "reasonably priced" and useful to prevent fraud.