Can anyone help with Freight/LTL Multiples?

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January 29, 2026

by a searcher from University of California, Los Angeles in San Diego, CA, USA

My partner and I are evaluating the acquisition of a freight agency (mostly LTL but some TL) with approximately $1 million in EBITDA. The business is an agent of a large freight brokerage (Priority 1). There is a large team in place such that the owner does not have to be involved in the business on a full time basis. There is some customer concentration risk but the relationships are not super dependent on the seller specifically. The business has been very steady, averaging close to $1 million in EBITDA for the last four years (on approximately $2 million in revenue). What would an appropriate EBITDA multiple be for the business, and what percentage of the deal price would typically be held back and conditioned upon retention of key customers over a period of time following closing. Thanks!
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Reply by a searcher
from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Los Angeles, CA, USA
We use LTL carriers daily to ship our product because it is bulky and must be shipped on pallets. We use XPO, Road Runner, Estes etc)...I can't answer your question about multiples; however, as a customer of these LTL services, I can tell you that the service providers are absolutely the worst at managing freight. The freight handlers in the warehouses are often "bottom of the barrel" - I can show you photos of the disastrous journeys several of our pallets have been on. All these carriers are horrible at paying out claims. As a freight agency, you will *often* have to deal with very angry customers. On average, I lose $30K to $50K annually due to product damage in transit. We used a freight agency for a period of time, and decided to have direct arrangements with the carriers just so we could control the claims process directly. I would not invest in this industry; that $1MM EBITDA is likely built on the backs of very angry customers.
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Reply by a searcher
in Santa Barbara, CA, USA
@redacted‌ thanks for the tag! This is my specialty area. @redacted‌ Let me break down LTL/FTL (Less Than Truckload/Full Truck Load) Your pay is based on rates, don't look at EBITDA or any of that stuff right now, look at rates, rates have been decreasing since COVID big time from $5/mile to $1.50/mile, this can bankrupt you. Ask for rate sheets, compare cash-flows to rates for the past 3-5 years and they work directly with brokers if I'm correct (that's fine, but you want to get direct loads with suppliers this is room for improvement) how are the rates. What's the cost of fuel? It's going up bad right now due to the wars in middle east, and will eat up your cash-flows, what's the cost of drivers? Per Mile, Hourly, Weekly? Add up numbers. Are all the drivers, Americans and have American CDL's and speak english? If not you're going to get fined with all these new FMCSA regulations, they are doing english proficiency tests at the weighing stations. Scaling and finding new drivers is HARD. Cost of trucks are going up tremendously due to EPA regulations coming in effect 2027 for emission. Buy trucks NOW! The new ones will be worse. What's the cost of maintenance and repair. Brother this can all make or break your deal. You're supposed to calculate all those costs into your rate, say it costs $1.32/mile to break even the rest is profit. That's where you get your profit margins from! Good luck, feel free to reach out.
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