Load Boards for Car Haulers: Central Dispatch and the Alternatives
Central Dispatch starts at $139.95 a month for carriers. Its alternatives charge per load, per seat, or nothing at all to the carrier, so the cheaper board depends on how many cars you book. We read five auto transport boards' own pages on 12 October 2026.
Most car haulers who search for a load board already know the answer they're expected to give: Central Dispatch. It calls itself America's largest auto transportation marketplace, and the search usually stops at whether it's worth the subscription.
That's no longer the only question. The boards built for auto transport now charge in three different ways: a flat monthly fee, a price per load or per seat, or nothing at all to the carrier because the shipper pays. Which one costs you less depends less on the board than on how many cars you move in a month.
Quick answer: Central Dispatch starts at $139.95 a month plus tax for carriers. Ship.Cars is free for up to 3 loads a month, $39 for up to 20 and $49 per driver for unlimited loads. Super Dispatch's free Lite plan includes its Super Loadboard, and its Pro plan is $55 a month for the first seat. Auto Hauler Exchange says it charges shippers, not carriers. uShip is free to join and doesn't publish its carrier fee on its carrier page.
Prices read on each board's own pages and help centers on 12 October 2026.
The Question Behind the Central Dispatch Search
Dry van and reefer carriers pick from the general freight boards covered in our load board comparison. Car haulers work a separate set of boards built around vehicles, with filters for vehicle type, trailer type and number of vehicles.
That makes the choice look like a single brand decision. It's really a pricing decision. The boards below differ in features, but the bigger difference is when, and whether, you pay for the privilege of seeing the load.
Path One: Pay a Flat Fee to See the Market
Central Dispatch's carrier Core plan starts at $139.95 a month, plus applicable tax. For that, the plan page lists Multipoint Route Search for loads along a route, Advanced Search that filters by vehicle type, trailer type, number of vehicles and minimum payment, saved searches, the carrier app, and Price Check, which shows prices from similar moves. Price Check Plus and text or email alerts for saved searches are sold as add-ons, with no price shown on the page.
The plan page also says carriers get ratings of every shipper and every job. On a board where you are hauling someone else's car on their word that they'll pay, that history is part of what you're buying.
On volume, Central Dispatch makes the claims you would expect from the incumbent: more than 10,000,000 vehicles posted each year and more than 20,000 carriers in its network over the last year, per its home page. We couldn't check either number from outside.
A flat fee is good if you book cars every week, because each extra load makes it cheaper. It's wrong if you run a single truck that mostly hauls for one dealer and only goes to a board to fill a backhaul.
Path Two: Pay Per Load, Per Seat, or Not at All
The alternatives move the cost closer to the work.
Ship.Cars charges by loads and drivers. Its carrier pricing page has a free plan with load board access for up to 3 loads a month. Starter is $39 a month for up to 20 booked loads, plus $2 for each load above that. Growth is $49 a month per utilized driver with unlimited loads and its full TMS. A Driver Chat add-on is $49 a month.
Super Dispatch puts its board inside a free plan. Its help center says the Lite plan is completely free and includes the Super Loadboard. The paid Pro plan adds advanced reporting, automated invoicing and GPS tracking, at $55 a month for the first seat and $50 for each extra driver or dispatcher. To request or book a load, your account must be verified. On cash on delivery (COD) loads, the booking dialog shows the broker fee and what the carrier gets before you confirm.
Auto Hauler Exchange charges the shipper. Its carrier page says it is free to join with no subscription and no monthly fee, and that its platform fee is charged to shippers, not carriers. You need a valid DOT number and operating authority, a current certificate of insurance and a background check. It posts loads from dealers, OEMs, auction houses and fleets in the contiguous US, open and enclosed.
uShip is free to join. Its carrier page says that whether you haul vehicles or other large freight, it's free to join, and that you will always know what you're taking home before you submit a quote. uShip is a general marketplace rather than a car-only board, and the carrier page we read doesn't state the fee as a number.
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See directory scores and listing details for all 24 load boards in the category.
The Math at Your Volume
Put the prices against your own month. These figures are board fees only, before fuel, insurance or anything a broker takes out of the rate.
At $139.95, Central Dispatch costs $1,679.40 a year. Spread over 4 booked loads a month, that's about $35 a load. At 20 loads a month, it's about $7. The fee doesn't move, so every load you add lowers it.
Ship.Cars has a crossover at 25 loads per driver. On Starter, 25 loads cost $39 plus 5 × $2, which is $49, the same as Growth for one driver. At 30 loads, Starter is $59 and Growth is still $49. Below 4 loads a month, the free plan covers you. The page doesn't say whether Starter's 20 loads count per account or per driver, so confirm it if you run more than one truck.
Super Dispatch costs nothing until you want the TMS. Lite gets you the board. One driver on Pro is $55 a month. Super Dispatch's own example, one driver plus one dispatcher, comes to $100.
Two trucks show how the models split. Two drivers on Ship.Cars Growth are $98 a month. Two seats on Super Dispatch Pro are $105. Central Dispatch's plan page shows a starting price, not a per-truck one, so ask what a second truck adds to the bill.
Then set the fee against what one car pays you on a slot that would otherwise run empty. A free board with no loads in your lanes still costs you the empty miles.
What None of These Prices Tell You
How many cars are posted in your lanes. None of the five boards publishes load counts by lane, and their volume claims are national. The only way to measure this is to look. Super Dispatch's board is free on Lite and Ship.Cars has a free plan, so you can count what appears on your usual routes before paying anyone.
When you get paid, and what it costs. Auto Hauler Exchange's carrier page says its 48-hour ACH Quick Pay has no fee. On 12 October 2026, its home page said Quick Pay pays within 48 hours "for a small fee". The two pages disagree, so get the answer in writing.
What uShip keeps. uShip says you see your take-home before you quote, but its carrier page doesn't publish the rate. Read it on the quote screen each time.
Who the shipper is. Central Dispatch rates shippers by transaction. Super Dispatch shows the broker fee on COD loads before you book. Auto Hauler Exchange vets carriers and names its shipper types. Each covers a different part of the risk of hauling for a stranger.
How I'd Decide
If I ran one truck mostly for a single dealer, I wouldn't pay a flat fee for backhauls. I'd open Super Dispatch's free Lite plan and Ship.Cars' free tier, count what posts on my lanes for a month, and only then decide.
If I ran several trucks and needed a board every day, I'd price Central Dispatch against Ship.Cars Growth at my real driver count, then compare the extra loads I could book, not the subscriptions. I'd keep Auto Hauler Exchange as a second source, because it costs the carrier nothing, and confirm its Quick Pay terms in writing.
The cheapest board is the one with cars on your route.
Browse all 24 load boards
TruckMyApps lists 24 load boards, including Central Dispatch, Ship.Cars and Auto Haulers Exchange, with listing details for each.