What to put in your request
A supplier can only price what they can see. Answer these and the quotes come back for the same job, which is the only way they can be compared.
- What you need: a once-off load, a regular route, distribution to several drops, warehousing, vehicle hire, or fleet maintenance and tracking.
- The load: what it is, its weight and volume, how many pallets and of what size, its value, and whether it needs temperature control.
- Whether any of it is dangerous goods. If so, give the UN number and class from the safety data sheet: they decide the vehicle, the driver and the paperwork.
- Collection and delivery addresses, dates and time windows, and how often the trip repeats. Say if a load crosses a border.
- Loading at each end: a dock, a forklift, or a truck with a tail-lift or crane, and any height or length limits on site.
- The vehicle type, if you know it: a panel van, a tautliner, a flatbed or a refrigerated truck.
- Proof of delivery and tracking: signed delivery notes, photographs, or live tracking.
- For vehicle hire: the vehicle, the period, the distance you expect to cover, and whether a driver, fuel or maintenance is included.
What to compare when the quotes come back
The lowest total is where comparing starts, not where it ends.
- How the rate is built: per load, per kilometre, per pallet or per drop, and how changes in the fuel price are passed on.
- Extra charges: waiting time, additional drops, after-hours delivery, tolls and border costs.
- Liability: what the carrier's terms and its goods-in-transit insurance pay if the load is lost or damaged, and any limit on that.
- Whether the company uses its own trucks or subcontracts the load, and who answers for it if it does.
- Transit times, and how delays are reported to you.
- For vehicle hire: what is included (maintenance, tyres, licensing, a replacement vehicle), the damage excess, and any distance limit.
On SupScope every quote arrives with the same three figures: the total, the lead time and the deposit. The first comparison is done before you open anything. The rest of this list is what to read in each supplier's notes and documents.
Paperwork worth asking for
- Operator cards for the vehicles
- Under the National Road Traffic Regulations, the operator of a goods vehicle over 3 500 kg gross vehicle mass, or of a vehicle carrying dangerous goods, must be registered, and the vehicle must display a valid operator card: category G for heavy goods vehicles, category D for dangerous goods.
- Professional driving permits for the drivers
- The driver of a goods vehicle over 3 500 kg needs a professional driving permit (PrDP), category G. A driver carrying dangerous goods needs category D, which requires dangerous goods training at an approved training body.
- The dangerous goods paperwork, if your load needs it
- As the consignor, the one who offers dangerous goods for transport, you have duties of your own under the regulations, including presenting the goods in approved, marked packaging. The vehicle must carry a dangerous goods declaration and a transport emergency card for the load, and be marked and placarded. Agree with the carrier who prepares what before the first load.
- A cross-border permit, for loads leaving South Africa
- Under the Cross-Border Road Transport Act, nobody may carry commercial freight across the border in a vehicle over 3 500 kg without a permit from the Cross-Border Road Transport Agency. Ask to see the permit for the vehicle and the route.
And from any supplier
- A SARS Tax Compliance Status PIN
- It replaced the old tax clearance certificate. Checking it on eFiling shows the supplier's status on the day you check, not the day it was issued.
- A B-BBEE certificate or sworn affidavit
- Only if your own scorecard counts it. Small suppliers (turnover up to R10 million) may use an affidavit instead of a verified certificate.
- Company registration and a bank confirmation letter
- Worth having before the first payment, so the account you pay is the company you chose.
General guidance, not legal advice. Regulations change, and some depend on your municipality or the job, so confirm anything you rely on with the authority concerned.
How this works on SupScope
- Step 1
Post it once
Describe the job and choose Fleet, Transport & Logistics and your province.
- Step 2
It reaches the right suppliers
Only suppliers who work in this trade and cover your province see it.
- Step 3
Compare and award
Quotes arrive side by side. Accept one and the others are told.