For trucking & logistics owners · US & Canada
Freight is cyclical and buyers know it. What they pay for is the part of your business the cycle cannot take away: contracted customers, drivers who stay, and a fleet that has been maintained like it mattered.
Short answer
Most small and mid-sized trucking companies sell for between 2.5 and 4 times adjusted EBITDA, with larger carriers holding contracted freight reaching 3.5 to 5.5 times. Customer mix, driver retention, fleet age and safety scores decide where in the range you land, and buyers normalize earnings across the freight cycle. A confidential valuation will give you a confidential range in writing, based on what buyers are paying now — not an appraisal.
Key takeaways
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The honest version
Most small and mid-sized trucking companies trade in the range of 2.5–4x adjusted EBITDA, with larger carriers holding contracted freight reaching 3.5–5.5x. Very small fleets are usually priced closer to the value of their equipment plus a modest premium, and buyers normalize earnings across the freight cycle rather than paying on a peak year.
The range is wide because the same business is worth different amounts to different buyers. In this sector you are usually looking at three:
Which of those is at your table changes your number far more than the badge on your tractors.
What moves the number
A note on the cycle that costs owners real money: freight rates move in long swings, and buyers value through the cycle, not at the top of it. Going to market on the strength of one exceptional rate year invites a price built on an earn-out. The owners who sell well are usually the ones who prepared during the soft market so they could choose their moment in the strong one.
The process
Most owners in this sector are approached directly by a larger carrier or a broker with a buyer in hand. That approach is flattering and it is also the single most expensive call you can take alone, because a buyer negotiating against nobody has no reason to move on price or on terms.
We run the opposite process. Buyers are qualified and under confidentiality agreement before they learn whose business it is. Nothing is listed, advertised, or published. Your staff, your customers, and your competitors learn nothing until you decide they should — and several credible buyers are considering the same opportunity at the same time.
The result is not only a better number. It is better terms: what happens to your team, how long you stay, how the earn-out is structured, and what happens to any real estate.
Common questions
Most small and mid-sized trucking companies sell for between 2.5 and 4 times adjusted EBITDA, with larger carriers holding contracted freight reaching 3.5 to 5.5 times. Customer mix, driver retention, fleet age and safety scores decide where in the range you land, and buyers normalize earnings across the freight cycle. A confidential valuation will give you a confidential range in writing, based on what buyers are paying now — not an appraisal.
Three groups: strategic carriers buying lanes, drivers and customer relationships; private-equity-backed logistics platforms building regional or specialized capacity; and individual or search-fund buyers for smaller fleets. Each values the same company differently, which is exactly why competition among them matters.
In most going-concern sales the multiple is applied to adjusted earnings with a normal working fleet included, because the trucks are what produce the profit. Buyers separately assess fleet age and condition, and deferred replacement is priced against you. Where the business has little transferable value beyond the equipment, the sale is effectively an asset sale — one reason building contracted freight and driver retention is what converts iron into a multiple.
The engine, pointed at your industry
Before market
Buyer matching
Researched and scored against your business — approached under NDA, only with your written go-ahead.
Buyer Simulation
Found and fixed before you go to market — not in diligence, where it costs you money.
Offer analysis
Free · 3 minutes · no email to see it — your range, your value drivers scored, your likely buyers, your readiness, and what each fix is roughly worth in dollars.
We also source for acquirers — here's how we keep the two apart, in writing: the five rules →