Platform · Route Optimizer
Empty miles cost everyone money. Stop having them.
Route Optimizer scans your active loads against every carrier's current location and next destination. When a return-load match exists, you see it before the carrier hits the deadhead leg. Green-yellow-red scoring on detour distance keeps the math honest.
- Real-time matching of in-transit carriers to your other active loads
- Deadhead score: green (under 25mi detour), yellow (under 100mi), red (over 100mi)
- Triangle routing — outbound + return loaded = both legs paid
- One-click reassign with rate confirmation auto-generated
- Carrier retention improves: full-revenue trips beat half-revenue every time
01 · The deadhead problem
Half your trucks are running empty. Right now.
Industry average deadhead percentage for auto transport sits between 28% and 35% — meaning roughly a third of every fleet's trips are unpaid. That's lost revenue for carriers, lost capacity for brokers, and rising rates for dealers. Most TMS platforms surface deadhead AFTER the fact, in a monthly report. Prevayl surfaces it BEFORE the empty leg starts.
- →28-35% industry average deadhead percentage (FMCSA data)
- →Empty miles still burn fuel, driver hours, and tire wear
- →Carrier reputation tracks revenue-per-mile — empty legs damage it
- →Brokers carry the cost indirectly via lower carrier loyalty
02 · How the matcher works
Three-way join: in-transit carriers × active loads × geography.
When a carrier is mid-trip on Load A, Route Optimizer queries every active load in your dispatch board. It calculates the detour cost from the carrier's current destination to each candidate load's pickup, then to the candidate's delivery, then back to the carrier's home base. That total detour gets scored against the load's revenue. Best fits surface as ranked candidates.
- →Pickup detour: how far off-route to grab the next load
- →Delivery detour: how far past the original endpoint
- →Total deadhead: sum of both, scored green/yellow/red
- →Revenue-to-detour ratio drives the final ranking
- →Hard filter: vehicle type compatibility, COI status, capacity available
03 · Triangle routing
Detroit → Atlanta → Indianapolis → Detroit. All paid.
The most common pattern Route Optimizer surfaces is the triangle: outbound load, return load with a small detour, then the natural empty leg back home. Done right, the triangle converts a 1,500-mile round trip with 700 deadhead miles into a 1,800-mile round trip with 50 deadhead miles. Carrier earns 40-60% more revenue on the same days of capacity.
- →Outbound: original load (always anchors the triangle)
- →Return leg 1: matched candidate (small detour, paid)
- →Final leg: short empty miles back to origin (unavoidable, but minimal)
- →Total revenue capture: typically 1.4-1.7x vs. simple out-and-back
04 · Why carriers stay
Carrier retention is a routing problem, not a relationship problem.
Carriers don't leave because of dispatch personality. They leave because their revenue-per-mile is better somewhere else. When Prevayl consistently fills their return legs, your weekly revenue/mile beats your competitors. Carriers notice. They stop accepting loads from brokers who run them empty 30% of the time.
- →Higher revenue-per-mile = first-call carrier loyalty
- →Better fleet utilization = carrier can take MORE of your loads
- →Reduced no-show rate: carriers protect a high-revenue dispatcher relationship
- →Compounding: better lanes attract better carriers, which improves your service to dealers
EVERY CAPABILITY,
OUT OF THE BOX.
Real-time matching
Scans every 60 seconds against carriers in last_known position
Detour scoring
Green ≤25mi · Yellow ≤100mi · Red >100mi
One-click reassign
Rate confirmation auto-generates, carrier accepts in their app
Audit trail
Every suggestion + outcome logged for retention analytics
READY TO MOVE?
Get started in under 10 minutes. Founding-50 customers lock 50% off — for life.