Carrier or broker? It decides whether your car gets to Key West.
Most auto transport companies don’t own a truck. In the Keys, that’s not a technicality — it’s the whole thing.
What a broker is
A broker takes your booking, then posts the job to a load board where carriers bid on it. They don’t own equipment and they don’t employ drivers. Their business is matching, and most of the industry works this way. That isn’t fraud, and plenty of brokers are decent.
The problem is what happens when nobody bids.
Why nobody bids on the Keys
Run the maths from a mainland carrier’s seat. Fort Lauderdale to Key West is roughly four hours each way on a two-lane road with limited turnaround space for a full-size transport truck. That’s a full day for one or two cars, when the same day on I-95 could move eight.
So the job sits. Then it gets re-listed at a higher rate. Then a carrier takes it and calls you with the line every Keys customer eventually hears: the truck has “broken down,” and could you drive up to Homestead and collect your own car.
You booked door-to-door delivery. You’re now doing a 200-mile round trip to collect a vehicle you paid to have delivered.
What we do instead
Inside Florida we are the carrier. We own the truck, we employ the driver, and the Keys run is the route we built the company around rather than the one we avoid. Nothing gets posted, nothing gets re-listed, and the price doesn’t move after you book.
When a move crosses a state line we’re straight about it: a partner carrier we’ve used before handles that leg, we tell you so before you book, and the Keys portion is still ours. We’d rather say that plainly than let you assume.
How to tell which one you’re calling
Four questions. The answers sort it out fast.
Do you own the truck that will carry my car?
A carrier answers yes without qualifying it. A broker says something about their network.
Who is the driver and can I speak to them?
If the answer is that they’ll be assigned later, the job hasn’t been taken by anyone yet.
Will you deliver to my address in the Keys, or meet me?
The honest ones say Homestead now. The rest say it on the day.
Can this price change?
A carrier quoting its own truck can hold a price. A broker is quoting a bid that hasn’t happened yet.
In-N-Out Keys, LLC (USDOT 4120018), doing business as Florida Keys Auto Transport, is a veteran-owned Florida motor carrier operating under Florida intrastate authority. Moves outside Florida are handled by trusted partner carriers.
Ask us those four questions.
We’ll answer all of them the same way every time.
Get your free quoteor call & text (754) 714-2439