Episode 08 of the Fight Fraud Series with Dana Randazzo, COO, Auto Hauler Exchange
Key takeaways
- Fraud prevention that depends on one careful person fails the day that person is out.
- The release checklist is a required step, not a courtesy reminder.
- The buyer communicating the delivery address directly to the releasing location closes one of the most consistent points of failure.
- For dealer groups, the weakest store sets your real exposure.
- Any staff member at any release location has the authority to stop a release.
Vigilance takes days off. It calls in sick. It leaves for another job. The most common reason vehicle transport fraud succeeds at dealerships isn't that they lacked a careful person. It's that fraud prevention depended on that person rather than on a process that runs the same way regardless of who's there.
29% of shippers hit vehicle transport fraud in the past three years, according to AHX's State of Transparency in Vehicle Transportation research. Shippers using brokers and unmonitored load boards were 72% more likely to report fraud. Those numbers don't reflect bad luck. They reflect the absence of structural controls.
What a fraud control checklist actually includes
“A fraud control checklist should include things like verifying the DOT number of the truck at pickup, taking pictures of the driver's license number, ensuring they have the correct information on the gate pass or paperwork, knowing the correct delivery location. All of this should happen before handing over the keys." Dana Randazzo, COO, Auto Hauler Exchange
The checklist isn't a courtesy reminder. It's a required step in vehicle release. Every item gets completed and verified before keys leave the building. Not most of the time. Every time.
Download the free AHX Vehicle Release Checklist and post it at every release location.
The communication gap that creates the most risk
"A lot of times what happens is the dealership purchases the vehicle, the releasing dealership is like, 'Great, vehicle sold,' and you're missing that communication. You want to make sure that the dealership that you purchased your vehicles from understands where the delivery location is. This is such a crucial piece that is just not communicated or shared properly." Dana Randazzo
The fix is procedural. The buyer communicates the delivery address directly to the releasing location before transport begins, rather than assuming the carrier passed it along. Directly, in writing, with confirmation. This single step eliminates one of the most consistent points of failure in vehicle transport fraud: a fraudulent driver shows up with a convincing delivery address because no one at the releasing lot knows what the real one is.
For dealer groups: the weakest store is your real exposure
Fraud controls are only as strong as the weakest location's process. One store without a process, one lot that hands over the keys without verifying the carrier at delivery, one manager who skips steps because the driver seems in a hurry. Any of those is enough. A group-level standard closes the gap.
That means one approved-carrier standard applied uniformly across every rooftop, not left to individual store managers to figure out. A named transport fraud owner at the group level who maintains the standard, trains location staff, and handles incidents. A standardized key-release procedure at every lot, the same checklist, posted physically, enforced the same way regardless of who's working that day. And consistent payment controls, so no store sends direct payments to carriers outside the group's transport process.
The stores that get hit usually aren't the ones that don't care. They're the ones where the process lives in one person's head.
The insurance gap most dealers don't know about
When a vehicle is hauled by a carrier operating under stolen or impersonated credentials, the resulting claim doesn't always land cleanly under standard cargo insurance. Jamie Cannon, SVP at Reliance Partners, made the point directly in a FreightWaves interview: a certificate of insurance is a snapshot suggesting a policy may exist on a given day, and it doesn't guarantee that policy is active, adequate, or built to respond to the specific loss.
If the carrier at pickup turns out to have no legitimate connection to the carrier who booked the load, the coverage picture gets complicated fast. Fraud exclusions, sublimits, and restrictive policy warranties are often only discovered after the loss.
Structural prevention is the answer, not better paperwork. When the carrier who books the load is the same vetted carrier who shows up at your lot, continuously monitored with real insurance verification, the coverage question gets simpler. The fraud that creates the gap doesn't happen in the first place.
How visibility changes the fraud equation
"On a carrier-vetted marketplace like Auto Hauler Exchange, we give visibility to our shippers on exactly who's moving their load. You see the carrier. You see the DOT number. You can see a copy of their COI. You see the driver's name, the driver's phone number." Dana Randazzo
Fraud needs an information gap to work. When neither the shipper nor the releasing location knows who's coming to pick up the vehicle, bad actors have room to operate. A dealer who can see the carrier name, DOT number, driver name, and COI before a vehicle is released has already closed most of the gaps this series has covered.
Your right to say no
"If you feel uncomfortable releasing a vehicle, you can always deny that carrier. You can always decline it. You do not have to release those vehicles. You have a hand in there and you can really stop the fraud before it happens." Dana Randazzo
Fraud operates through pressure. Urgency. Rushed timelines. A carrier who's already nearby. That pressure is designed to override careful verification. The reminder that any staff member at any release location has the authority to stop a transaction is itself a fraud control. No driver, dispatcher, or deadline overrides a staff member's right to say: something doesn't match, and this vehicle isn't leaving.
For a dealer's overview of the platform, read What Is Auto Hauler Exchange?
Watch the complete Fight Fraud Series free at autohaulerexchange.com/fight-fraud. Earn your Fraud Prevention certificate and download the Vehicle Release Checklist.
FAQ
What should a dealership fraud prevention process include?
A posted release checklist covering DOT verification at the truck, a photo of the driver's license, paperwork confirmation, and the confirmed delivery location, all completed before keys change hands.
Who is responsible for confirming the delivery address?
The buyer confirms it with the releasing location before transport begins. Assuming the carrier passed it along is where this most often breaks.
How should a dealer group standardize fraud controls?
One approved-carrier standard across all rooftops, a named transport fraud owner at group level, the same posted release checklist at every lot, and payment controls that keep stores from paying carriers outside the group process.
Can a staff member refuse to release a vehicle?
Yes, and that authority is a control worth stating out loud. No deadline or dispatcher overrides it.
For the full picture on what a vetted marketplace provides, read Auto Hauler Exchange Isn't a Broker, and Why That Matters.
Sources: FreightWaves, "Freight Fraud Has Gone Corporate," May 2026; AHX State of Transparency in Vehicle Transportation.
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