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Summary

Auto Rate builds a proposed starting linehaul rate (fuel excluded) for every lane you’ve marked interest on. It works the way a good pricing analyst works: anchor on what you already charge, sanity-check that anchor against the market, adjust for profitability and how badly you want the lane, then show the reasoning, lane by lane.
Auto Rate proposes. You decide. Every rate it sets is a starting point for your review, not a final answer. Nothing is decided black-box: every lane comes with its reasoning attached.

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When to use this

After Interest

You’ve finished the Interest stage on a bid and want a fast, defensible first pass at rates.

Large bids

You’re staring at hundreds or thousands of lanes and need a starting point on all of them.

Understanding a rate

You want to understand why Auto Rate landed on a particular number.

Before you run

You’re deciding what to put in the Pricing note or Market Temperature before running it.

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Before you run Auto Rate

Three things shape the result before you ever click the button. Get these right and Auto Rate does far better work.
1

Mark interest on your lanes

Auto Rate only prices lanes with interest marked. Lanes without interest are skipped entirely.Interest also tunes aggressiveness. High-interest lanes are priced slightly more competitively to improve your odds of winning. Low-interest lanes are priced firmer, accepting a higher chance of losing the lane. Medium is neutral.
2

Set your Market Temperature

Market Temperature lives in Pricing Defaults. It’s your read on the freight market right now: On Fire, Hot, Neutral, Cold, or Very Cold. Auto Rate weights it heavily when judging how aggressive rates can be. Full breakdown in the Market Temperature section below.
3

Write your Pricing note on the bid

The Pricing note on a bid (marked Guides Auto Rate) is read as your strategy for this customer. A sentence or two is plenty:
  • “Protect this incumbent volume. Don’t rock the boat.” → tightens how closely Auto Rate holds your existing rates
  • “We’re willing to lose freight here. Get paid.” → leans rates higher
  • “Want to grow this network. Let’s win it.” → leans rates more competitive
  • “These rates are stale and need a reset.” → allows more movement off your historical rate
Strategy tunes the stance. It never overrides the data. Auto Rate won’t invent numbers or ignore a floor because the note sounds urgent.

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Running Auto Rate

From the bid’s rate grid, choose Auto Rate. A confirmation dialog tells you how many lanes will be priced and what Market Temperature is currently set.
Auto Rate overwrites existing rates on lanes with interest marked, and this can’t be undone. If you’ve hand-priced lanes you want to protect, run Auto Rate first and do your manual work on top of its output, not the other way around.
Click Auto Rate Lanes to run. Rates populate in the New Rates columns, and each auto-rated lane gets a rate logic indicator you can open to see the reasoning.

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What Auto Rate looks at

Auto Rate works strictly from the data on the lane. It does not invent market data, volumes, or operating ratios that aren’t there. When data is thin, that uncertainty shows up in the confidence level instead of a guessed number.

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How Auto Rate decides

1

Anchor

Start from the most trustworthy rate available. Freight you already haul for this customer anchors on your historical rate. New lanes anchor on market rates.
2

Sanity-check against the market

Compare the anchor against Carrier First, market, and custom rates. Market sitting well above your incumbent rate is real opportunity: lean up. Market at or below the anchor: hold the incumbent. On new lanes, the rate stays inside the band those references define.
3

Adjust, in order

Market Temperature first, then your bid strategy, then lane profitability, then interest level, then any customer target rate.
4

Commit and explain

Auto Rate sets the rate, assigns a confidence level, and writes out its reasoning across Anchor, Historical, and Market Data.

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Market Temperature

Your read on the market, set in Pricing Defaults. This is the single biggest lever you control.

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Reading the results

Open the rate logic indicator on any auto-rated lane to see how Auto Rate got there.
  • Why this rate: plain-language bottom line: the anchor, and what moved the rate off it if anything did.
  • Anchor: which value Auto Rate anchored on (Historical RPM, Carrier First Rate, or Market RPM), why, and how tightly it held.
  • Historical: what your load history contributed: volume, incumbent rate, match quality, and profitability signals.
  • Market Data: the sanity check: how the anchor compared to Carrier First, market, and custom rates, and how Market Temperature shaped that read.
Every rate also carries a confidence level: Auto Rate’s own read on how realistic the proposal is given the data it had. Thin data means lower confidence, and lower confidence means the lane deserves a closer look from you.

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What to watch for

  • Review every rate. Auto Rate is a strong first pass, not a submit button. Spend your attention on high-volume incumbent lanes and anything with low confidence.
  • Write a real Pricing note. One simple honest sentence of intent measurably changes the output. “Win this network” and “hold firm, we’re full” produce very different bids.
  • Set Market Temperature honestly. Auto Rate trusts your read. If you’re not sure, Neutral lets the data speak for itself.
  • Thin data still gets a rate. Auto Rate will default to pricing at a 90 OR if there is no data to help begin a starting rate.
  • Similar lanes can get different rates. That’s usually correct. Different load history, match quality, profitability, or interest all move the number. Open the rate logic on each to see what diverged.

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