BreakThru Realty

Sell a Logistics or Trucking Company in Florida

Florida's ports, airports and distribution corridors support a large market of trucking companies, freight brokers, couriers, final-mile operators and third-party logistics providers. They are bought by operators consolidating lanes and by investors buying contracted revenue, and they are valued on shippers, drivers, equipment and compliance, in that order.

Find Out What My Business Is Worth · (786) 914-1017

Your first step: Confidential Business Exit Review

Start With a Confidential Business Exit Review

Your business represents years of decisions, relationships and work. Before anyone hears it might be for sale, know what it would sell for, what a buyer's lender will accept, and what you would take home. A licensed business broker prepares it and walks you through it privately.

What you receive

  • A recast of your earnings into seller's discretionary earnings, with the add-backs documented
  • A price range from closed sales of comparable Florida businesses, with the reasoning
  • The lease, staffing and financing issues that would move the price, and what to fix first
  • What a buyer's SBA lender is likely to accept
  • An estimate of what you would take home after the fee and any payoff

What happens next

  1. Answer a few questions about the business. Revenue and what you take home are enough to start.
  2. A business broker prepares the review from comparable sales.
  3. We call within one business day to walk through it, privately.
  4. Nothing is listed, and nobody is contacted, unless you decide to sell.

Free and confidential. The details you give us are seen only by the broker preparing the review. We do not contact your landlord, staff or customers.

Find Out What My Business Is Worth · How a business sale works

Shippers and Contracts

Buyers pay for revenue that will still be there after you leave: dedicated contracts with shippers, recurring lanes, final-mile agreements with retailers, warehousing contracts with a term. Spot-market revenue is valued lower. Customer concentration is the usual problem, so the customer list is presented with each account's share, tenure and contract status, and the largest customers are introduced to the buyer before closing.

Drivers, Dispatch and Owner-Operators

Company drivers with clean records, owner-operators under lease and the dispatch team are the operation. A buyer wants to know who stays, how they are paid and how turnover compares with the industry. A trucking company that runs with a dispatcher and a safety manager sells for more than one where the owner dispatches from a cell phone.

Equipment and Debt

Tractors, trailers, vans, forklifts and racking are listed with age, mileage, ownership, loans and leases. Equipment debt is usually paid off at closing from the price, so the asset value and the debt are both part of the valuation. Buyers using SBA or equipment financing can finance owned equipment with the business.

Authority, Safety and Compliance

Operating authority, the safety rating, insurance history, driver qualification files, drug-and-alcohol testing records and hours-of-service compliance are reviewed by every buyer and every insurer. A clean compliance record supports the price; open violations or a conditional rating come off it. Freight brokers add their bond and their carrier agreements. Confirm how authority and registrations transfer in your structure with your transportation attorney before the business is marketed.

Warehousing and 3PL

A company with warehouse space adds the lease (its term, options and assignment clause) or the real estate, racking and systems, and customer contracts with storage and handling fees. The lease is read before listing: a warehouse with two years left is worth less than the same operation with ten. If you own the building, a sale-leaseback or a combined sale is planned with the commercial team.

Questions you may be asking

Will my employees, customers or landlord find out?
Not from us. The review itself involves nobody but you and the broker. If you later sell, the business is marketed without its name or address, buyers sign a non-disclosure agreement and prove their funds before they learn who you are, and the landlord is approached only once there is an accepted offer.
What does a business broker charge?
A success fee paid from the proceeds at closing, set out in writing in the listing agreement before you sign anything. The review costs nothing.
My books are not perfect.
Few are. The review shows which add-backs a lender will accept and which records to tidy before a buyer looks, so the price holds through due diligence.
I only know my revenue.
Tell us the revenue and what you take home, even roughly. We work out the rest with you and ask for tax returns later, only if you want a firm range.

Find Out What My Business Is Worth

Tell us the type of business, the city, how long it has operated, annual revenue, owner benefit or seller's discretionary earnings, EBITDA if you track it, monthly rent and lease expiry, number of employees, how involved you are, why you are selling, your timeline and whether you would consider seller financing. A licensed BreakThru business broker prepares a confidential valuation from comparable sales and replies within one business day. Everything you tell us is confidential, the valuation is free, and nothing is listed or announced unless you decide to sell. Prefer to talk now? Call (786) 914-1017.

Questions Owners Ask

What is my trucking or logistics company worth?
A multiple of seller's discretionary earnings or EBITDA, higher for contracted and dedicated revenue with a management team, lower for spot revenue and owner-run operations, plus the value of owned equipment net of debt. A confidential valuation gives you a range from comparable transportation company sales.
Can a buyer keep my operating authority?
In a stock sale the entity and its authority continue; in an asset sale the buyer generally operates under its own authority. The structure affects taxes and liabilities too, so your attorney and CPA decide it with you early.
What about the equipment loans?
They are paid off at closing from the sale proceeds unless the buyer assumes them with the lender's consent. The valuation shows the equity in the equipment after the debt.
What does a business broker charge?
Brokers selling small businesses usually charge a success fee paid from the proceeds at closing, commonly quoted in the market at around ten percent of the price, often with a minimum fee; larger sales are usually priced on a sliding scale. BreakThru's fee is set out in writing in the listing agreement before you sign anything, and the valuation costs nothing.

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