How to Vet Power-Only Brokers

Who supplies the trailer is the first vetting question

Power-only freight exists because someone already has a trailer and needs a tractor. That someone is not always the broker. It may be a shipper that loads its own vans and needs a pull. It may be a private fleet dropping trailers in a yard. It may be a rental or lease company whose unit the broker reserved. It may be another motor carrier whose trailer you are recovering. The commercial consequences are different in each case, because the person who can authorize a repair, a tire, or a damage write-off is the person who controls the equipment, not necessarily the person who emailed the rate confirmation.

Ask the broker to write three nouns: the trailer provider, the hook location, and the drop location. A confirmation that says power only, trailer on site is not those three nouns. You can arrive to a yard that will not release the box, a box that is loaded and sealed with no one present, or a box that belongs to a third party who never agreed you could take it. The broker who has done the lane can name the yard contact and the equipment number. The broker who is guessing will tell you to head that way and call from the gate.

Also ask what you are allowed to do if the trailer is not roadworthy. A spare trailer, a tire vendor the owner will pay, or a written right to refuse are three different answers. No answer means you are about to donate a deadhead. Finding more of these loads is the job of how to find power-only loads. Accepting one is this page.

Condition is inspected at the hook, not at the scale

Walk the trailer before you couple, and walk it again after you couple, with the brakes and the lights live. Tires below a safe tread, a tire on a damaged wheel, an air leak you can hear, a cracked gladhand, a slider that will not lock, lights that do not answer, a door that will not seal, a floor you would not put a pallet on, a roof patch that is taped rather than repaired. Those are reasons to stop. They are not details to mention after an inspector writes them up in your name.

49 CFR 396.3 requires every motor carrier to systematically inspect, repair, and maintain, or to cause to be systematically inspected, repaired, and maintained, all motor vehicles subject to its control. A trailer you are pulling is under your control for that trip even if the title is in another company's file. 49 CFR 396.11 is the driver vehicle inspection report. The report identifies the vehicle and lists any defect or deficiency discovered by or reported to the driver which would affect the safety of operation of the vehicle or result in its mechanical breakdown. The same paragraph says drivers are not required to prepare a report if no defect or deficiency is discovered. There is also an exception for a motor carrier operating only one commercial motor vehicle. Neither sentence means a power-only trailer is someone else's problem once you move it. If you saw a safety defect at the hook, document it before you leave, whether or not you are the carrier who must keep the form for three months.

The practical version at the yard is a condition report you can show a claims person. Time-stamped photos of each side, both tires on each axle, the kingpin and apron, the landing gear, the doors and seals, and any existing gouge or torn panel. A short note on the interchange, the bill, or the broker's form: pre-existing damage as photographed, unit number, date, and your name. Send it before you leave the yard, not when someone invoices you. A broker who refuses to accept the note is telling you the damage bill is already drafted.

Damage is a before-and-after argument

Trailer damage claims on power only are usually a comparison. What did the box look like when you hooked, and what did it look like when you dropped. Without the first set of photos, the second set is just evidence that the trailer is hurt, and you were the last person holding the key. With both sets, the new damage is visible and the old damage is not your invoice.

The contract decides the commercial rule. Some confirmations say the carrier is responsible for all damage discovered at destination. That sentence is harsh, and it is also why the hook report exists. If you signed it, you still want the photos, because all damage discovered is not the same as all damage that occurred while you had it, and a picture from the hook is how you narrow the sentence. Some confirmations are silent. Silence is not a gift. Silence means a later email will invent the rule. Ask, before you roll, who pays for a tire that fails in a way that is not a road hazard you caused, who pays for a forklift spear that happened at the receiver, and who you call before you authorize a repair over a small threshold. Do not fill those blanks with a dollar figure you heard from another carrier. The threshold, if there is one, is in this contract or it is not.

Drop-yard damage is the version people lose. You unhook at midnight, nobody signs, and a day later the trailer has a new hole. Your protection is the drop photo set, sent to the broker at the time of drop, with the location. If the broker's process has no one on site, the process still has an email. Use it. A phone call to a closed office is not a condition report.

• Hook photos and a written exception before the wheels turn.
• Drop photos sent when you unhook, not the next morning.
• No repair authorized on their trailer unless they have approved it in writing, except what you must do to get the combination off the road safely.
• Do not let a lumper or a guard refuse the exception and then claim you agreed the box was clean.

On the road, their trailer is your inspection

An inspector does not sort the citation by who holds the title. Lights out, brakes out of adjustment, a tire below the minimum, a coupling that is not locked: those are defects on a vehicle in operation. If you knew at the yard and left anyway, you chose the violation. If a defect appears in transit, you still have to stop being in that condition before you continue. The broker's after-hours number is part of vetting because the call happens on the shoulder, not during business hours.

Cargo on someone else's trailer is still cargo you accepted if you signed the bill. A hole in the roof that was there at the hook, and that you did not note, becomes a water claim with your name on the receiver's photos. Power only does not split you off from the freight. It only splits you off from ownership of the box. Seal numbers, count, and condition of the freight, when you can see the freight, still belong on the bill. If the trailer is sealed and you cannot see inside, note that you could not inspect the contents and that the seal was intact, and photograph the seal.

Insurance has to match the operation. Physical damage on a trailer you do not own is a different question from liability while you pull it. Ask your agent whether a non-owned trailer in your control is covered, and for what. Do not ask the broker to explain your policy, and do not accept their certificate as yours. This page will not invent a coverage limit. The limit is on your form or it is absent.

Questions that vet the broker on this trailer

1. Who owns or controls the trailer, and what unit number am I hooking?
2. Is it empty or loaded, sealed or open, and who is at the yard if I refuse it?
3. What is the written damage rule, and do you accept time-stamped hook photos as the baseline?
4. Who approves a tire or a roadside repair, and what do I do if they do not answer?
5. Where exactly do I drop, and who signs, or do I send the drop set to a named address?
6. Are there pool rules, a per-diem, or a trailer-use charge? If there are, they belong on the confirmation, not in a yard sign you cannot photograph clearly.
7. Is my authority expected to show as the carrier of record, and is the broker's authority active? A power-only load is still a for-hire move.

You are not scoring these brokers against each other for a directory. You are scoring this confirmation. A broker can be fine on Tuesday and hand you a rotten trailer on Thursday. The Thursday trailer is the one you are allowed to refuse.

When the right move is not to hook

Refuse the hook when the brakes, tires, coupling, or lights are not safe, when the broker will not put the trailer provider in writing, or when you are told to leave a condition report unsigned. Refuse when the yard will not let you photograph. A rule against photos is a rule that the later invoice will be whatever they say. Call it that and leave.

A refusal costs the deadhead you already drove if you went without the facts. That cost is the tuition for asking the questions before the truck moves. The next load is easier to find than a damage claim is to unwind. Power only is a good operation when the trailer is decent and the paper is honest. It is a bad operation when you are renting someone else's neglect by the mile.

O Trucking does not publish a ranking of power-only brokers, and this URL will not become one. Bring the confirmation. If the trailer is named, the condition is documented, and the damage rule is readable, the load can be dispatched. If those three are missing, the answer is no.

Frequently Asked Questions