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How to Get Loads for a Cargo Van
Cargo van freight is expedited freight, and it does not post on the same boards as dry van. Here are the three ways to get it, what each one costs, and what you need for each.
The short answer
There are three ways to get loads for a cargo van: get your own MC authority and book directly from expedite networks and load boards, run under an established carrier's authority and take dispatched freight, or keep your own authority and pay a dispatch service 5–10% to find the loads. Cargo van freight is expedited — small, urgent, and time-critical — so most of the volume moves through expedite networks and direct broker relationships rather than the general load boards.
What cargo van freight looks like
- Time-critical parts runs — automotive line-down, aerospace AOG, manufacturing spares
- Medical and laboratory couriers on scheduled routes
- Final-mile and same-day for 3PLs and retailers
- Small palletized freight: typically 1–3 pallets, up to roughly 3,000–4,000 lbs
Your Equipment
Each equipment page carries its own freight profile, regulatory line, board guidance, and booked-rate figures.
The three ways to get loads
Every route to freight is one of these three, or a combination of them. They differ on three things: how long before you can haul, how much of the linehaul you keep, and how much of the office work is yours.
| Path 1Own authority | Path 2Under a carrier | Path 3Own authority + dispatch | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whose MC authority | Yours | The carrier's | Yours |
| Until you can legally haul | 4–8 weeks from filing | Days, once onboarding clears | 4–8 weeks, then a day or two to onboard |
| Until most brokers will set you up | 6–12 months of authority age | Immediately — you run on the carrier's age | 6–12 months of authority age |
| Who buys the insurance | You | The carrier, usually deducted from settlements | You |
| Who finds and negotiates the load | You | Their dispatch | The service, on lanes you set |
| What it costs | $300 FMCSA filing, then $9k–$17k/yr insurance for a new authority | 8–20% of linehaul, plus settlement deductions | 5–10% of linehaul, on top of your own insurance |
| Control over lanes and rates | Full | Accept or decline only | High — you set the lanes, you approve the rate |
| Back office (invoicing, collections, IFTA) | Yours | Theirs | Usually shared — confirm before signing |
| If a broker doesn't pay | Your loss | The carrier's loss | Your loss |
| Whose safety record the miles build | Yours | Theirs | Yours |
Run under someone else's authority
You lease on to an established carrier, run under their MC number and their insurance, and take the loads their dispatch assigns you.
Best for: Drivers who want to start hauling in days instead of months, or who can't get a workable insurance quote on their own yet.
What you get
- No authority to file, no FMCSA waiting period, no $9k–$17k insurance policy to buy in year one.
- You can be moving freight within days of onboarding rather than in two months.
- Somebody else owns the compliance, the invoicing, and the collections risk when a broker doesn't pay.
What it costs you
- The carrier takes a percentage of every load — commonly 8–20% of linehaul, before deductions for insurance, plates, ELD, or trailer rent.
- You accept or decline what dispatch offers. You do not see the broker's rate confirmation, so you cannot verify the split.
- Miles run under their MC build their safety record, not yours. Leaving means starting the authority clock from zero.
- Escrow and settlement deductions vary enormously between carriers. Read the lease agreement line by line before you sign it.
Two versions of this, depending on whether you own a vehicle
You own the vehicle, leased on
Your van or truck runs under their MC number. You are still an owner-operator; what you are renting is the authority, the insurance, and the back office.
- You bring
- The vehicle, its registration, and usually physical damage coverage · Fuel, maintenance, tires, and tolls · Occupational accident coverage, in most lease agreements
- They cover
- MC authority, the liability and cargo filings, and the safety program · Invoicing, collections, and the risk when a broker doesn't pay · Broker setup — you inherit their authority age from day one
- How you're paid
- A percentage of linehaul, commonly 70–88% depending on how much the carrier absorbs, minus settlement deductions. Read what those deductions are before signing — escrow, plates, ELD, and insurance chargebacks vary enormously.
You don't own a vehicle
You drive the carrier's equipment. You have no capital at risk and no operating costs, and correspondingly no equity in the operation.
- You bring
- A clean MVR · The driver credentials your equipment class requires · Your time
- They cover
- The vehicle, fuel, maintenance, and insurance · Everything on the compliance and back-office side · All of the downside when freight is soft — and all of the upside when it isn't
- How you're paid
- Percentage of linehaul, per mile, or hourly depending on the carrier and the freight. Percentage is the most common arrangement in expedite.
Keep your authority, pay someone to dispatch you
What Truxx.AI doesYou hold your own MC number and insurance, and a dispatch service finds, negotiates, and books the freight for a percentage of the load.
Best for: Drivers who already have authority (or are willing to get it) and would rather drive than spend the evening refreshing a load board.
What you get
- You keep your MC number, your safety record, and your broker relationships. The service works for you, not the other way round.
- You see the rate confirmation on every load, so the percentage is verifiable rather than a claim.
- Percentage-of-load pricing means the service earns nothing when you don't haul.
What it costs you
- You still buy your own insurance and still carry the collections risk if a broker doesn't pay.
- You still need the authority first, so this does not solve the 4–8 week startup gap.
- Rates run 5–10% of linehaul. At 10% on thin freight, a dispatch service can cost more than it earns you.
- Quality varies wildly. A dispatcher juggling 40 trucks is a load-board proxy, not a negotiator.
Which path cargo van operators actually take
Cargo van operators run under someone else's authority more often than any other class, and insurance is usually why. Brokers contract for $1M combined single limit on freight a statute would not require it for, and a new van authority with no operating history gets quoted accordingly. Running under a carrier for the first year to build a record, then filing your own authority, is a common and rational sequence — not a failure to launch.
What you need for each path
Paths 1 and 3 both start with your own authority, so they share a checklist. Path 2 skips all of it and replaces it with a lease or driver agreement.
You do not need a CDL for this
The commercial driver's licence threshold is 26,001 lbs GVWR, and a cargo van, a sprinter, and a box truck spec'd at 26,000 lbs all sit below it — only Class 8 crosses it. What you do need depends on which side of the 10,001 lb line your vehicle falls.
| Credential | Cargo Van | Sprinter | Box Truck | Semi / Dry Van |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CDL | Not required — far below the 26,001 lb threshold | Not required — far below the 26,001 lb threshold | Not required at 26,000 lbs GVWR or below; the threshold is 26,001 | Class A required — above 26,001 lbs |
| DOT medical card | Not required under 10,001 lbs GVWR | Required — most builds exceed 10,001 lbs | Required | Required |
| Federal drug & alcohol testing program | Not required | Not required — the program is CDL-keyed | Not required without a CDL | Required — consortium enrolment comes with the CDL |
| Hours of service / DVIRs / ELD | Not required under 10,001 lbs GVWR | HOS and DVIRs required over 10,001 lbs; no ELD mandate | HOS and DVIRs required; ELD varies | All three required |
| IFTA / IRP / heavy vehicle use tax | None — all three key to over 26,000 lbs | None — all three key to over 26,000 lbs | None at 26,000 lbs GVWR or below | All three apply |
| Clean MVR | Every carrier and insurer will pull it | Every carrier and insurer will pull it | Every carrier and insurer will pull it | Every carrier and insurer will pull it |
| Requirement | Path 1 | Path 2 | Path 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| USDOT numberFree from FMCSA. Issued as part of registration. Brokers will not set you up without one. | Required | — | Required |
| MC (operating) authority$300 one-time FMCSA filing, then a 21-day protest period before it goes active. Required to haul regulated property for hire across state lines. | Required | — | Required |
| BOC-3 process agent filing$25–$50 through a filing service. Must be on file before authority activates. | Required | — | Required |
| Liability + cargo insuranceFMCSA requires a $750k liability filing on regulated freight. Brokers routinely contract for $1M liability and $100k cargo — that higher number is a contract term, not a statute. | Required | — | Required |
| Unified Carrier Registration (UCR)Annual, roughly $46 in the smallest fleet bracket. Renews every year in the fall. | Required | — | Required |
| A signed lease or driver agreementThe whole deal lives here: the percentage, the escrow, the deductions, and how you get out. Read it before you sign it. | — | Required | — |
| A vehicleYours on paths 1 and 3 — owned or financed, with registration and physical damage coverage. On path 2 you either bring your own and lease it on, or drive the carrier's. | Required | Required | Required |
| Driver credentials for your equipment classNo CDL on any of the three equipment types here. Medical card, hours-of-service, and DVIRs depend on whether your vehicle crosses 10,001 lbs GVWR — see the table above. Every carrier and insurer will also pull your MVR. | Required | Required | Required |
The cargo van line that catches people out
Under 10,001 lbs GVWR you sit outside most of the federal safety regulations — no DOT medical card, no hours-of-service, no ELD, no DVIRs, and no federal drug and alcohol testing program. What that does not automatically exempt you from is FMCSA registration: the operating authority requirement is keyed to hauling property for hire across state lines, not to what the vehicle weighs. Enforcement here is uneven and plenty of van operators run intrastate or under someone else's MC for exactly that reason. If you intend to book your own interstate freight, plan on an MC number, a BOC-3, and an insurance filing, and confirm your specific setup against FMCSA before you file.
Where the loads actually are
Expedited freight and full-truckload freight are two different markets that share a vocabulary. Signing up for the wrong venue is the single most common reason a new operator concludes there is no freight for their equipment.
For cargo vans: If you signed up for a general load board, filtered to cargo van, and found almost nothing, the board is not broken. Van freight concentrates in expedite networks that a general board does not index. Budget for one expedite network membership before you budget for a second general board.
Expedite networks
Closed networks where expedite carriers post available capacity and trade freight with each other. This is where most cargo van and sprinter volume actually moves, and it is invisible from a general load board. Membership usually requires authority and a monthly fee.
Examples: Sylectus, Expediters Online, Expedite All
General load boards
The big subscription boards carry every equipment type, but their reputation is built on dry van — which makes them the primary market for Class 8 and a much thinner side aisle for vans and straight trucks. For expedited equipment they are best used as a rate-check and a backhaul tool rather than a main venue.
Examples: DAT, Truckstop, 123Loadboard
Partial and LTL marketplaces
Thin for cargo vansVolume LTL and partial-truckload freight that never fills a 53-foot trailer. Straight trucks are the natural fit here, especially on retail, trade show, and appliance freight where a liftgate and a pallet jack are the whole reason you get the load.
Examples: Broker partial boards, 3PL capacity portals
Contract and dedicated freight
Thin for cargo vansLanes awarded for a year rather than booked for a day, through shipper RFPs, dedicated programs, and drop-and-hook trailer pools. It pays less per mile than a hot spot load and holds its rate when the spot market falls, which is the trade. Awards go to carriers with a track record, so this is what board freight earns you rather than where you start.
Examples: Shipper RFPs, 3PL dedicated programs, Drop-and-hook trailer pools
Direct broker and shipper relationships
The freight that never gets posted. A broker with a lane you have run cleanly three times will call you before they post it. This is slow to build and the single highest-margin source of loads on any equipment.
Examples: Broker carrier portals, Shipper vendor programs
Getting your first load
The sequence below is the same on any of the three paths. Only the worked examples change with your equipment.
- 1
Calculate the rate you cannot go below
Before you look at a single load, work out your operating cost per loaded mile — total cost per mile divided by your loaded-mile share. Every rate you see afterwards gets measured against that one number instead of against how the load feels.
Cargo Van
At $0.45/mi operating cost and 28% deadhead, your break-even is roughly $0.63 per loaded mile before you pay yourself anything.
- 2
Assemble the carrier packet before you need it
Every broker asks for the same documents: W-9, certificate of insurance naming them, signed carrier packet, MC authority letter, and voided check or factoring notice of assignment. Have them in one folder as PDFs. Setup is where first loads are lost, because the freight goes to whoever is ready first.
Cargo Van
Ask your agent for a COI showing $1M combined single limit — most van brokers will not process setup below it, whatever the statute says.
- 3
Sign up where your equipment's freight actually posts
Pick the venue that matches your equipment rather than the board with the best-known name. Expedited freight and full-truckload freight are two different markets that happen to share a vocabulary.
Cargo Van
An expedite network will out-produce a general dry-van board for a cargo van by a wide margin — the general board's van section is a side aisle, not the store.
- 4
Call on the load, and call fast
Posted loads are seen by everyone at once. The carrier who calls within the first minutes with the MC number, the equipment, and a specific pickup time usually wins it. Have your pitch to fifteen seconds.
Cargo Van
Expedite freight is time-critical by definition. 'I'm 40 minutes out and empty' beats a lower rate more often than new operators expect.
- 5
Vet the broker before you accept
Check days-to-pay and credit score on the board, confirm the MC is active and bonded, and get the rate confirmation in writing with detention and TONU terms on it before you roll. A great rate from a broker who pays in 90 days is not a great rate.
Cargo Van
Van operators run thin cash reserves. A 60-day payer can end an operation that was profitable on paper.
- 6
Turn the first load into a lane
Deliver clean, send the paperwork the same day, and call the broker back when you're empty in their area. One completed load with a broker is worth more than a hundred board searches, because the second load from them never gets posted.
Cargo Van
Expedite dispatchers keep a short list of vans that answer the phone at 2am. Getting onto it is the whole game.
Where Truxx.AI fits on each path
Whichever of the three you're on, there's a version of this we can do. Each one is listed with what it doesn't cover.
Path 3 · Own authority + dispatch
You already have your own MC or DOT number
This is the main product. You keep your authority, your insurance, and your safety record; we find, negotiate, and book freight on the lanes you set, and you see the rate confirmation on every load. 5% of linehaul, deducted at settlement — if we don't book you, we don't get paid.
What it doesn't do: It does not take the collections risk off your books, and it does not change your authority age.
Path 1 · Own authority
You want your own authority but haven't filed yet
We can help you get set up with your own MC number, then dispatch you on it once it's active. That puts you on path 1 and path 3 at the same time rather than filing alone and waiting.
What it doesn't do: It does not shorten the FMCSA protest period, and it does not skip the months where brokers are still filtering you on authority age.
Path 2 · Under a carrier
You want to start driving now, without your own authority
We can connect you with a carrier who can hire you. You run under their authority and their insurance, so you can be moving freight in days rather than months.
What it doesn't do: The carrier sets the terms, not us — the pay structure, the deductions, and the agreement are theirs. Everything in path 2 above is what to read that agreement for.
Full detail on the 5% dispatch rate is on the pricing page.
Frequently asked questions
Three ways: get your own MC authority and book from expedite networks and load boards, lease on to a carrier and run under their authority, or keep your authority and pay a dispatch service 5–10% of linehaul to find the freight. Cargo van loads are expedited freight, so expedite networks and direct broker relationships produce far more volume than general load boards.
Under 10,001 lbs GVWR you are outside most federal safety rules — no medical card, hours-of-service, ELD, or DVIRs. But FMCSA operating authority is tied to hauling property for hire in interstate commerce rather than to vehicle weight, so if you are booking your own interstate freight you should plan on an MC number, a BOC-3 filing, and an insurance filing. Running under an established carrier's authority avoids all of it.
For cargo vans, expedite networks such as Sylectus and Expediters Online carry far more relevant volume than the general subscription boards, whose van sections are thin next to their dry-van inventory. General boards are still useful for rate-checking and backhauls. The highest-margin loads come from direct broker relationships and are never posted at all.
Brokers routinely require $1M combined single limit plus $100k cargo before they will set you up. That is a contract requirement, not a statutory one — under 10,001 lbs the federal minimums are lower or do not apply. Expect $333–$935 per month, and expect the high end in your first year with a new authority.
Cargo vans have the lowest operating cost of any class, roughly $0.33–$0.62 per mile, and the lowest capital and compliance overhead. The constraint is utilization and deadhead, not the rate: at 25–30% empty miles you are paying to move the van more than a quarter of the time. Operators who make it work run consistent lanes with repeat brokers rather than chasing the board.
How to get loads by equipment
These tools are provided for informational purposes and should not be treated as legal, tax, or financial advice.
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We find, negotiate, and book loads on your lanes — you drive. Carriers on the network average $2.49/mi across 47,000+ loads dispatched.
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