Reading a freight quotation, and comparing two properly

A quotation prices the movement as it was described. Where the description was incomplete, the price carries assumptions — that the vehicle can get to the address, that the goods are stackable, that somebody will unload, that the weight is what was stated.

This is why a quotation is worth reading alongside the enquiry that produced it. If the enquiry did not say whether the delivery point has a forklift, the price assumed an answer to that question.

A road freight price generally covers the vehicle, the driver, the fuel and the road charges for the route. It generally does not cover waiting time beyond an agreed free period, a failed delivery caused at the destination, a second attempt, storage, or work the vehicle was not equipped for.

None of those is a hidden charge when it is stated. They become one when nobody asked, so the useful question about any quotation is what happens if the vehicle arrives and cannot be unloaded.

Road freight prices are usually quoted with a validity period, and it is often short. That is not a sales tactic: the price reflects capacity that is available now on a specific corridor, and capacity moves. A quotation held for three weeks and then accepted is a quotation for a market that no longer exists.

Where a decision will take longer than the validity, saying so at the enquiry stage produces a more useful answer than accepting a price that will have to be revisited.

The comparison is only meaningful if both were given the same description, and it is worth checking that they were — a difference of ten per cent between two prices is frequently a difference in what each was told rather than in what each will charge.

The other half of the comparison is what each includes: the same number against different exclusions is not the same number. Reading both against the same list of questions — waiting time, failed delivery, equipment, validity — is a five-minute exercise that resolves most apparent price gaps.

It is not a booking. Capacity is generally confirmed when the movement is accepted, not when the price is issued, which is another reason validity periods are short.

It is also not an insurance policy. A carrier's liability for an international road consignment is governed by the CMR convention and is limited; goods insurance is a separate arrangement that a shipper buys or does not. Whether the cover is adequate for a particular consignment is a question for an insurer rather than for a forwarder.