Private fleets drive stability in a sluggish freight market

Private fleets—representing more than half of the $900 billion U.S. trucking market—are holding strong despite falling rates in the for-hire sector. In fact, many shippers are leaning in, expanding capacity, adding drivers, and reaffirming private transportation as a vital corporate competency.

Over the past decade, top brands like PepsiCo, Walmart, Sysco, US Foods, Halliburton, and Amazon have scaled up their private fleets. Others have launched new operations at a pace not seen since the post-deregulation surge of the 1990s. And even in today’s soft market, few are looking to offload their fleets to outside carriers.

Why? Advocates point to reliability, service quality, safety, and control as the primary drivers—not short-term cost savings. “Guaranteed premium service and on-demand capacity—not profit—are at the core of private fleet trucking,” says Gary Petty, president and CEO of the National Private Truck Council (NPTC).

Backed by cutting-edge safety technology and strong accident records, private fleets continue to deliver. Let’s take our annual look at what’s driving the sector in 2025—and what it may signal for the road ahead.

Going in-house

Today’s private fleets are directing more in-house capacity to hauling their own company freight—which is its overwhelming purpose. Today, there’s less emphasis on backhaul strategies to ship freight from other companies to reduce empty miles.

Some 75% of outbound shipments are now handled by the private fleet—an all-time high. Inbound shipments are up at 35%, but more of this freight is now handled by private fleets operated by vendors, less by for-hire carriers. The reasons for operating private fleets are greater control and predictability over cost and service variables and a hedge against for-hire capacity fluctuations.

“Decreases may be made for strategic reasons,” says Petty says. “Some runs that no longer justify a fully deployed in-house driver and truck are outsourced to outside carriers. Fleets which previously operated under separate companies may be decreased or eliminated altogether because of mergers and consolidations which produce redundancies in drivers and equipment.”

What about a move to sideline private fleets and go dedicated? NPTC officials said the majority of established private fleets are unlikely to be outsourced. Fleets most vulnerable to outsourcing are often those that don’t have professional-grade management and aren’t keeping up with best practices and state-of-art technology.

There’s less risk today, however, of a proven private fleet going fully dedicated than 10 years ago because they’re more likely to be run by professionally trained practitioners. They have expertise in benchmarking the fleet’s value against outside carriers by measuring how they stack up against the true cost and service versus other private fleets and outside alternatives.

Some fleets may be tempted to switch to dedicated in the mistaken belief that outsourcing transportation shields them from skyrocketing insurance costs and “nuclear verdicts.” In fact, there’s no such shield. Others go dedicated due to changes in their market or because their customer base no longer justifies a unique level of service which the private fleet provides.

Private fleet benefits

The primary reason companies operate private fleets is to guarantee exceptional customer service. Other factors are control over their supply chain; on-demand capacity; specialized delivery requirements; cost management; a hedge against fluctuations in for-hire carrier cost and available capacity; leverage to negotiate outside carrier rates; and a competitive edge in whatever industry they operate.

The advantages of starting a private fleet from scratch in 2025 are the availability of trucks with the most advanced alternative-energy fuel efficiency and safety technology in history.  Recent successful fleet start-ups by major corporations provide excellent models to follow.

Onboard technology is now more sophisticated than ever in helping new fleets achieve driver productivity and safety. Access to NPTC’s benchmarking and best practices services can also help new fleets come up to speed quickly on a path to world-class standard.  

Just like in the for-hire industry, truck driver-related issues are the top challenge of private fleets in 2025. The good news is the retention of private fleet drivers averages just under 10 years while annual turnover hovers around 20%. This compares very favorably to the over-the-road for-hire truckload carrier average at over 90% year over year.

The challenge is competition, as it’s tough to hire new or replace drivers—and the cost of fielding a team of premium-grade private fleet drivers has never been higher. The leading causes of turnover are retirement, discipline and drivers leaving for another job, and the average cost to replace each turnover is $11,800. On average, it takes 16 days to recruit; 13 candidates to screen for each new driver hired; and 10 days to hire.

Average driver compensation in private fleets is $89,900, with another 27% of the overall compensation package provided in generous benefits. Six-figure driver pay is common for many fleets, as 53% percent of private fleets pay a signing bonus which averages $8,000.

According to the NPTC’s findings, 69% of companies pay safety incentives, 48% pay for new hire referrals, and 29% pay incentives for clean inspections. The average age of a private fleet driver is 49.3 years. Their work week is 52 hours on average, and 65% of drivers get home every night.

How the GOAT private fleet operates

Private fleet officials are reluctant to get officials on the record due to competitive pressures, corporate edicts about talking with the press as well as other factors. So, we’ll call this company “GOAT,” which is a fictional name of a real company that runs a uniquely successful private fleet.

Drivers in the GOAT’s fleet are held to very strict safety standards, meet rigorous performance expectations, and must do their jobs in very demanding work environments. All drivers are company employees and trucks are leased under full-service contracts.

Driver turnover is under 25% per year. The fleet runs over multi-millions of miles annually and yet has one of the highest safety ratings in the country. In 2024, the safety rating for GOAT was 0.46 DOT Recordable Accidents per million miles, which is better than the private fleet national average of 0.61 based on the NPTC Benchmarking Survey Report.

Premium equipment, well-enforced policies and quality drivers make this score possible. GOAT trucks are equipped with advanced collision mitigation features and myriad advanced safety technologies, most notably cameras. Every driver is aided by forward and driver-facing cameras, as well as back-up and side-facing cameras.

Although many fleets are following this example, NPTC officials say currently less than 25% of the private fleet industry has this complete package of cameras on each truck.

Company policy on accidents is a zero-tolerance 24-hour reporting rule. Even the most minor accidents undergo the same thorough scrutiny. GOAT’s culture of safety is a high priority, and quality drivers are a key component of success. 

Driver compensation and benefits at GOAT are among the highest in the industry. Management has the authority to give top candidates a conditional offer of employment and put them on payroll. To help ensure these candidates meet the company’s high standards, a special provisional five-day hiring protocol has been established.  

During these five days, drivers are not behind the wheel. They go through comprehensive cargo security and safety training while the company conducts a detailed background check and driver qualification review. This trial period also allows both company and driver to make assessments of whether the driver and company are a mutually good fit. With the training complete and the background record passed, the driver may operate a company truck.

To ensure a steady flow of qualified driver candidates, GOAT deploys a wide range of resources and tools to attract the best drivers. These include internal social media conducted by staff experts on driver recruiting, use of monster.com, contractual arrangements with more than 25 driving sourcing companies across the country, temp-to-hire programs as well as military recruitment.

GOAT does not hire direct from truck driver training schools and instead concentrates on hiring candidates in their mid-30s to early 40s and candidates with OTR experience. Companies like GOAT use high pay and benefits, “home every night” as selling point, use “keep drivers off the trailer” selling points. Not only that, they often pay incentive referral fees to company drivers for successful new hires.