Request quotes from carriers

Last updated: October 23, 2026

The Carrier Quote tab emails a lane to the carriers you pick and collects their rates in one place. Use it when you need real carrier pricing, for example on lanes your rate sources don't cover well. Kit reads each carrier's reply, so you can compare quotes, add your margin and draft the answer to your customer.

Your team may have renamed this tab. If you don't see it at all, it isn't turned on for you. Ask your Drumkit admin.

From: maria@acmefoods.com
Subject: Rate request: Chicago, IL to Dallas, TX

Hi, can you quote a 53' dry van from Chicago, IL to Dallas, TX picking up Thursday? 38,000 lbs, palletized. Thanks, Maria

1. Email carriers

Open the customer's email and click Carrier Quote in the New view. You start on Email Carriers, with the lane and load details filled in from the email.

Find carriers by group

  1. Under Search Carrier Groups, pick a group, for example your preferred carriers for the region.
  2. Click Draft Email for Selected Group.
A carrier group picked under Search Carrier Groups, with its group email and contacts

Or find carriers near the pickup

  1. Check Pickup and Dropoff, set a Search Radius (miles) and, if you like, pickup and delivery time windows.
  2. Click Find Carriers. Drumkit lists carriers from your TMS near the pickup, with their Approx. distance from pickup.
  3. Tick the carriers you want, or Select All Available Carriers.

Send

  1. Check the message. Pick an Email Template if your team has more than one, and edit the subject and body as you like.
  2. To send the customer's paperwork along, tick Include attachments from customer email or click Upload new files.
  3. Click Email Selected Carriers. Each carrier gets their own email (Sending as separate emails to each carrier.).
The carrier email, ready to send to the selected carriers

Sent. You'll see Successfully emailed carriers. Carriers reply to you as normal, in your inbox.

2. Review responses

  1. When replies come in, open the customer's email again and go to Review Responses.
  2. Each carrier has a card with their rate, or a status: No quote (no reply yet, or a reply without a rate), Not available or Email bounced. Click View email thread to read the reply.
  3. Pick the quote you want to use. Under Calculate Final Price:, add your Markup as a flat amount or a percentage, and Drumkit works out the Sell price.
  4. Check the Draft Response to Customer and click Create draft reply. If you already have a reply open, the button reads Add reply to current draft and drops the text into it.
Carrier responses with a quote selected and the final price calculated

When a carrier's reply includes a rate, Kit preloads it for you and says open the Carrier Quote tab to review AI-filled pricing.

FAQs

I see "No Carrier Quote configuration found."

The tab is on, but your team's carrier settings aren't set up yet. Email support@drumkit.ai.

Why do I see "No carriers found" near my pickup?

Make the Search Radius (miles) bigger or check the pickup location. Drumkit searches the carriers in your TMS, so carriers without a location on file won't show. If you just updated carrier locations in your TMS, use the refresh button to pull them in again.

How are carrier groups set up?

Drumkit sets them up for your team. Email support@drumkit.ai with the group name and the carriers in it.

A carrier replied but there's no rate on their card.

Kit couldn't find a clear rate in the reply, for example when the carrier asked a question instead. Read the thread with View email thread and use their number yourself if they gave one.

Does this replace my TMS carrier list?

No. Drumkit uses the carriers already in your TMS. Deleting a location in Drumkit doesn't delete anything in your TMS.

How is this different from Quick Quote?

Quick Quote prices a lane in seconds from your rate sources, such as DAT. Carrier Quote asks real carriers for a rate by email, so it takes longer but gives you actual capacity. See Quote a single lane.

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