What information do I need for a freight quote?

The fastest way to a firm freight quote is walking in with the facts a carrier is going to ask for anyway. There are only a handful of them, and none require expertise — but each one directly changes the price, the vehicle, or both. Miss one, and the quote is a guess; get them all, and the quote you receive is the price you pay.

The four facts

Every freight quote is built on the same four facts:

1. Pickup and delivery addresses. Full addresses, not just cities — the specific locations set the distance and the routing, and they tell the carrier what kind of site the vehicle is walking into: industrial unit, storefront, job site, busy DC.
2. Dimensions. Length, width and height of the shipment as it will actually travel — the loaded pallet, not the product inside it. Dimensions decide which vehicle the freight physically fits in, and a small size difference can step the job between vehicle classes.
3. Weight. The loaded weight, as accurate as you can make it. Weight determines the vehicle’s suitability, the loading method, and whether the shipment is straight-truck freight at all — beyond a straight truck’s payload, freight moves by semi.
4. Loading at both ends. Is there a dock or forklift at pickup? At delivery? If either end has neither, the shipment needs a tailgate (lift-gate) truck, and that has to be known at booking because only some trucks carry one.

If those four look familiar, it’s because they’re the backbone of every freight conversation — our guide to shipping a skid across the GTA opens with the same list, and it applies to cartons and crates just as much as pallets.

Timing: the fact that picks your service

Alongside the four facts, the carrier needs to know when the freight must arrive — because timing is what selects the service, and service is one of the biggest levers on price. Freight needed today points to a same-day direct run; freight that can arrive tomorrow opens up next-business-day options where the shipment shares a vehicle and the cost with other freight heading the same way.

Be precise about the real deadline, not a padded one. “Today by end of day” and “tomorrow morning is fine” are different prices, and padding every shipment to “urgent” quietly buys speed the freight doesn’t need.

Why each fact moves the price

It helps to see what the carrier does with the information. Addresses set distance and route time. Dimensions and weight together select the vehicle — and the vehicle class is one of the largest single ingredients in a courier price, which is why choosing the right vehicle size is worth understanding even though the carrier makes the call. Loading needs add or remove equipment requirements. Timing sets how much planning flexibility the carrier has.

Change any input and the output changes — which is exactly why a quote built on wrong inputs doesn’t survive contact with the real shipment. The carrier either re-quotes when the truth emerges, or sends a vehicle that can’t do the job.

Worth mentioning up front

A few details aren’t always asked for but save trouble when volunteered:

• A contact name and number at each end — the single best insurance against a stalled stop.
• Piece count — three skids and one skid are different jobs even at similar total weight.
• Handling notes — fragile freight, no-stack loads, anything that must be secured for transport.
• Site quirks — a receiving dock with limited hours, a job site with restricted access, anywhere a 26-foot truck might struggle to position.
• Reference or PO numbers the receiver will expect on paperwork.

None of these is exotic; all of them are cheaper to say at booking than to discover at a dock.

For recurring shipments, add one more: say that it recurs. A shipment quoted as a one-off and a shipment quoted as the first of a weekly run are different conversations, and carriers can usually do more with a pattern than with a single job.

What happens when the information is wrong

Bad inputs surface at the worst possible moments. Understated weight means a vehicle arrives that can’t legally or safely take the freight. An unmentioned no-dock delivery means a truck without a tailgate can’t ground the skid. Both end the same way: a re-run on the right equipment, a lost day, and a revised price. Instant-quote tools are particularly vulnerable to this, since they price whatever they’re told without a human sanity check — see how accurate online instant quotes are.

The rule that prevents all of it: describe the shipment as it is, not as it’s remembered. Measure the loaded pallet, weigh what can be weighed, and flag the awkward parts. Carriers don’t punish awkward freight — they punish surprises, because surprises cost everyone a truck roll. With clean facts in hand, a quote can come back fast — see how quickly carriers respond to quote requests — and our fuller guide to getting an accurate freight quote covers the process end to end.

Sonic Transport quotes B2B freight across the GTA, Golden Horseshoe and Southern Ontario from exactly these facts — a real person reads them, prices the run, and puts the right vehicle on it. Have the four facts and your timing ready and request your quote; the more complete the details, the firmer the number.