The right questions to ask a truck dispatcher before signing turn a 30-minute sales call into the cleanest vetting tool in trucking. Most dispatch problems start because the carrier never asked the questions in the first place.
This list is the actual vetting script we recommend. Twenty questions, broken into five categories. Each one is followed by what a good answer looks like and what a bad answer signals. Spend an hour on the call, take notes, and compare answers across two or three services side by side.
If you want background context on what to look for, our 10-point dispatch checklist covers the full vetting framework, and our dispatch red flags guide covers the specific scams to watch for.
Category 1: Operational Specialization (5 questions)
These questions establish whether the service actually has expertise in your equipment and lanes, or whether they are a general dispatcher claiming to do everything.
Question 1: How many trucks do you currently dispatch in [my equipment type]?
Good answer: A specific number. "We dispatch 28 reefer trucks." Or "We have 14 flatbed carriers." A real service knows their book.
Bad answer: "Many" or "We work with all equipment types." Vagueness signals they do not have specialization or volume in your category.
Why it matters: A dispatcher with 28 reefer trucks has rate leverage with brokers and knows the seasonal patterns. A dispatcher with two reefer trucks is learning on your account.
Question 2: What lanes do most of your carriers run?
Good answer: Specific corridors. "Our reefer carriers run mostly Midwest to Southeast and Texas to California, with some Pacific Northwest produce season volume." Real services know where their freight is.
Bad answer: "We can find loads anywhere." That is technically true of any service with load board access, but it does not mean they will be good at your lanes specifically.
Why it matters: If you live in Tampa and the dispatcher's freight is concentrated in Iowa, your home time and lane preferences are going to fight their freight network constantly.
Question 3: What is the typical rate per loaded mile your carriers in my equipment cleared last quarter?
Good answer: A range with specific numbers. "Our flatbed carriers averaged $2.85 per loaded mile in Q1, ranging from $2.40 on slow weeks to $3.20 on tighter capacity weeks." Tied to a real time period.
Bad answer: A single inflated number with no range, no time period, and no acknowledgment of variance. "We get our carriers $3.00 a mile" is meaningless without lane and quarter context.
Why it matters: Your goal is realistic expectations, not best-case spin. Real dispatchers quote ranges because freight rates vary. Run any quoted rate against current market data on the Lane Profitability Calculator before you accept it as plausible.
Question 4: What percentage of your carriers' miles are deadhead?
Good answer: A specific percentage, ideally with context. "We aim for 8 percent deadhead or less, though it varies. Reefer typically runs 6 to 10 percent. Flatbed regional can be tighter, around 4 percent."
Bad answer: "Very low" or "as low as possible." No real number means they are not measuring it, which means they are not optimizing it.
Why it matters: Deadhead miles cost money with no revenue. Two percent more deadhead on 10,000 miles per month at $1.85 per mile cost is $370 of pure margin loss every month.
Question 5: Walk me through a recent rate negotiation you handled. What was posted, what did you book at, what were the steps?
Good answer: A real story with specifics. "Last week a Tampa to Charlotte flatbed posted at $1,950. The broker initially offered $2,050. We pushed back citing the recent reefer rate trend on that lane and a current load shortage, and booked it at $2,400." Real numbers, real reasoning, real outcome.
Bad answer: Vague stories without specifics, or unwillingness to walk through any real negotiation.
Why it matters: Rate negotiation is the value the dispatcher brings beyond what you can do on a load board. If they cannot describe a real negotiation in detail, they are not actually negotiating; they are passing through what brokers post.
Category 2: Pricing and Compensation (4 questions)
These questions force the dispatcher to be specific about what you will pay and when.
Question 6: What is the exact percentage you charge, and is it calculated on linehaul or on gross including accessorials?
Good answer: A clean percentage on linehaul only. "8 percent of linehaul. Detention, layover, lumper, and any other accessorials pass through 100 percent to you with no fee."
Bad answer: Hesitation about the fee structure, or a fee calculated on gross revenue including accessorials. The latter means you pay them a percentage of detention you earned, which is unfair.
Why it matters: This single question shifts the effective fee meaningfully. An 8 percent fee on $2,500 linehaul is $200. An 8 percent fee on $2,500 linehaul plus $400 accessorials is $232. Over a year that adds up.
Question 7: Are there any other fees beyond the percentage? Setup, monthly, software, anything else?
Good answer: "One-time setup fee of $99 covering carrier packet generation and initial broker onboarding. After that, just the percentage on booked loads."
Bad answer: A list of additional fees. "5 percent plus $35 admin fee plus $50 monthly software access plus a $200 setup." This is fee layering, and the effective cost is much higher than the headline percentage suggests.
Why it matters: Hidden fees are the most common reason carriers feel cheated by dispatch services. Get every fee disclosed before signing. We cover specific fee patterns in why you should never pay a dispatcher upfront.
Question 8: When do I pay you? Before or after the broker pays me?
Good answer: "After. Our fee is contingent on you receiving payment for the load. If a broker stiffs you, you do not owe us for that load."
Bad answer: "We invoice weekly regardless of broker payment." Or "fees are deducted from factoring proceeds." If non-payment by the broker is your risk alone, the dispatcher has zero incentive to vet brokers carefully.
Why it matters: This aligns incentives. A dispatcher whose fee depends on broker payment will check broker credit and stay away from problem brokers. A dispatcher who gets paid regardless will book any load that pays them, even if the broker has bankruptcy risk.
Question 9: What is your cancellation policy and contract term?
Good answer: "30 days written notice, no fee, no minimum term. Email notice is fine."
Bad answer: Anything involving cancellation fees, 60+ day notice requirements, auto-renewal that requires opt-out timing, or "liquidated damages" language. These all indicate a service designed to retain you contractually rather than operationally.
Why it matters: This is the single most important contract question. Read contract clauses to negotiate for the specific language to push back on.
Category 3: Operations and Communication (4 questions)
How they actually run the business day-to-day.
Question 10: Who is my primary point of contact, and what are their hours?
Good answer: A named person and clear hours. "Your primary dispatcher would be Mike. He is in our Atlanta office, reachable by phone or text from 7 am to 7 pm Eastern Monday through Friday and on call weekends through our team Slack."
Bad answer: "You will work with whoever is available" or rotating dispatchers with no consistent contact. Inconsistent staffing means broker relationships are weaker because no one is the consistent face on your account.
Why it matters: Brokers prefer working with the same dispatcher across loads because it builds rate-trust. Rotating dispatchers means rate negotiation starts from zero every load.
Question 11: When will I receive the rate confirmation after a load is booked?
Good answer: "Within 30 minutes to 2 hours of booking. Always before pickup. We send a copy to your email and our portal."
Bad answer: "By the time of pickup." Or worse, "after pickup, since we have to coordinate with the broker." Rate cons received after pickup is the rate-shaving setup we cover in dispatch red flags.
Why it matters: Pre-pickup rate cons let you verify the booked rate matches what was quoted to you verbally.
Question 12: How do you handle problems mid-load? Like a missed appointment, detention disputes, or a refused load?
Good answer: A clear process. "Call the dispatcher line first. We will reach the broker on your behalf. For detention, we have a documented process: we file detention claims for you with photos and timestamps from your messages. Most claims pay within 30 to 60 days."
Bad answer: Vagueness. "We will help you out." That is not a process; it is a hope.
Why it matters: When something goes wrong on a load (and something will, eventually), the dispatcher's process for handling it is the actual product.
Question 13: What software do you use? Your TMS, load boards, broker contact?
Good answer: Specific names. "DAT One Premier and Truckstop Pro for load boards, Sylectus for broker network, and we use AscendTMS internally for tracking your loads and our financials."
Bad answer: "We have proprietary software" with no industry-standard tools mentioned, or "we just use Excel."
Why it matters: Industry-standard software means industry-standard data quality. Excel-only operations cannot reliably track loads, rates, or your financials.
Category 4: Trust and Verification (4 questions)
These questions test transparency.
Question 14: Can you send me five rate confirmations from loads booked in the last two weeks?
Good answer: "Sure, I will email them within an hour. We can redact the carrier name and load numbers for confidentiality, but you will see the broker, lane, posted rate, booked rate, and date."
Bad answer: "We cannot share that, it is confidential." Real services share real numbers; the carrier whose rate con it is has already seen it.
Why it matters: This is the strongest single signal of legitimacy. A dispatcher who has been booking loads has a stack of recent rate cons. Refusal almost always means the rates are not what they claim.
Question 15: Can I speak to three of your current carriers? Specifically, ones running my equipment in lanes near mine.
Good answer: "Absolutely. I will email you three references within the day. Call any of them. They will tell you what we are like to work with."
Bad answer: "We protect our carriers' privacy and cannot share contact info." That is not how references work in any industry. References are people who agreed in advance to be referenced.
Why it matters: Calling references catches what carrier websites and testimonials cannot show: what happens when something goes wrong, how disputes get handled, whether the rates match what was promised.
Question 16: What is your business address, your DOT or MC if you broker, and your state of incorporation?
Good answer: A real address, an EIN or registered business entity, and a state of incorporation you can verify. Some dispatch services also hold a broker authority for occasional brokering activity (less common but legal).
Bad answer: "We work remote" without a registered business address, or "we are setting up the LLC right now."
Why it matters: Run the address through Google Maps. Run the business name through the state's corporate filings. Verify they exist as a legal entity. This takes 10 minutes and prevents the "fly-by-night dispatch service" pattern.
Question 17: How long have you been in business, and how many carriers have you dispatched in that time?
Good answer: A clear timeline. "We launched in early 2022. We have dispatched 110 carriers since then. Currently active book is 67 trucks."
Bad answer: Vagueness about timeline, or claiming a long history that does not match the business registration date you can verify.
Why it matters: Newer services are not automatically bad, but you want them to acknowledge they are newer rather than overstate their history. Match what they tell you against state corporate filing dates.
Category 5: The Walk-Away Questions (3 questions)
These are the questions where any wrong answer ends the conversation.
Question 18: Will you ever ask for my insurance portal login or want to be added as named insured on my COI?
Good answer: "No. We do not need login access to your insurance and we are not added to your policy in any role. Your insurance certificates are issued by your agent directly to brokers."
Bad answer: Anything other than a clear no. Any "sometimes" or "for certain situations" answer is a walk-away. Read why dispatchers asking for COI is a red flag for the full mechanic of this scam.
Question 19: Will you ever route my factoring payments through your account or hold my factoring login?
Good answer: "No. Your factoring payments go directly to your bank account from your factor. We bill you our percentage separately, after the load pays."
Bad answer: "We can manage your factoring submissions for you" with any flow that involves your factoring login or money flowing through their account first. This is the #1 dispatch fraud mechanism by dollar volume.
Question 20: Are there any loads I would be required to take, or can I decline any load you offer?
Good answer: "You can decline any load for any reason. We will not penalize you. We may stop offering loads in lanes you keep declining, but that is operational reality, not a contract penalty."
Bad answer: "We expect you to take 80 percent of loads we offer or there are penalties." Or any contractual obligation to accept loads. Carriers run their own businesses. They decide what to haul.
How to Run the Vetting Call
Treat the call like an interview. You are deciding whether to pay this service 5 to 10 percent of your gross. That is real money. Behave accordingly.
Before the call:
- Have a notepad ready
- Know your equipment, your home base, your typical lanes, and your rate goals
- Have the question list in front of you, in order
- Plan for 45 to 60 minutes
- Have alternative services lined up to compare
During the call:
- Ask each question in order. Do not skip.
- Take notes on the actual answers, not your interpretation
- If they dodge or change the subject, ask the same question again
- If they push to "just sign and try us out," that is itself a red flag
After the call:
- Compare your notes against this guide
- Score each question good/neutral/bad
- Compare two or three services side by side
- Read the contract before signing anything
Try TruckLeap Dispatch with No Surprise Answers
If You Want a Service That Answers These Questions Cleanly
TruckLeap's dispatch service was built around exactly the questions in this guide. The answers are clean by design: percentage-only pricing on linehaul, fee paid after broker pays you, 30-day exit with no fee, US-based dispatchers in business hours, no insurance access, no factoring access, full rate confirmation transparency. See how it works, check pricing, or read why owner-operators choose dispatch over solo load-board hunting before you decide.
Run your numbers through the Cost Per Mile Calculator and the Profit Calculator so you know what dispatch needs to deliver in net rate to clear its own fee. For most carriers running 9,000-plus miles per month, the math works decisively in dispatch's favor. For very low-mile operations, the math sometimes does not.
When you are ready to start a real conversation, our apply page gets you to a dispatcher within one business day, with the answers above already verifiable.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long should the vetting call take?
Plan on 45 to 60 minutes for a thorough call. Some services try to keep calls short (15 to 20 minutes) to push toward a sale. Push back. You are buying a service that will affect your monthly net for as long as you stay; an hour to vet it is not unreasonable.
Should I record the call?
Some carriers do. Most states allow one-party consent recording, meaning you can record your own calls without notifying the other party. This protects you if the dispatcher makes promises that do not appear in the contract. If you do record, retain the file for the duration of the relationship.
What if the dispatcher has good answers but is much more expensive than competitors?
Cost is one input. If a 10 percent service consistently delivers 25 percent more revenue than an 8 percent service in your equipment and lanes, the 10 percent service is cheaper in absolute dollars. Compare net per mile after fee, not the fee in isolation.
Should I ask the same questions to multiple dispatchers?
Yes. Vetting two or three services with the same script lets you compare answers directly. The answers will differ, and the differences are usually instructive.
What if a question gets a bad answer but I already like the service otherwise?
One bad answer is sometimes context. Two bad answers is a pattern. The walk-away questions (18, 19, 20) are non-negotiable; any wrong answer there ends the conversation regardless of how the rest went.
Sources: OOIDA dispatch vetting guidance, ATBS owner-operator interview frameworks, conversations with active dispatch services across reefer, flatbed, dry van, and hotshot segments 2024-2026.