SONAR TRAC (Trusted Rate Assessment Consortium) Spot Rates

Trucking

SONAR TRAC (Trusted Rate Assessment Consortium) Spot Rates

WHAT IS IT?

Real-time truckload rate intelligence powered by 3PL and Broker-contributed data

The SONAR Trusted Rate Assessment Consortium, or TRAC, gives users access to one of the most up-to-date views of the truckload spot market, only available in SONAR. TRAC spot rates are powered 100% by 3PL and Broker-contributed data, collected daily at the point of booking (average buy to the carrier) and updated to reflect recent market activity.

While many rate benchmarks rely on older averages, TRAC is designed to help users understand where the market is moving now. Rates are typically based on data that is less than 24 hours old, giving teams a more current foundation for pricing, coverage, benchmarking, and margin management. Contributors provide daily load data consisting of rate-information for hundreds of thousands of unique loads (i.e., different combinations of dates, modes, and zip3-lanes).

TRAC is available across several SONAR workflows, including Rate Intelligence, Batch Rate Intelligence, Charts, API access, Coverage Guide, Sales Guide, Custom Dashboards, TRAC Forecast API, the TRAC Spot Market Conditions map and more.

For 3PL or Broker customers that contribute data to the consortium, TRAC unlocks additional value through access to MyTRAC, unlimited TRAC API access, benchmarking against market peers, and enhanced rate insights that help teams make faster, more confident decisions.

What are TRAC Rates exactly?

TRAC rates are designed to reflect current spot market pricing conditions across truckload lanes. The dataset includes:

Van, Reefer and Flatbed Lanes
Daily updates for fresh rate intelligence
Confidence scoring and supporting metadata for transparency
Availability through the SONAR UI, API, and freight technology integrations
5/25 Rule: For a lane to be reportable it has to meet the minimum criteria of at least 5 contributors with no one contributor comprising more than 25% of the total volume of a lane.

TRAC rates are supported by SONAR’s Key Market Area, or KMA methodology. KMAs are collections of 3-digit ZIP codes influenced by freight market behavior, shipping patterns, and population density. Because freight markets do not always follow state lines, KMA-based pricing gives users a more practical way to analyze lane-level freight rates.

SONAR’s TRAC spot rate methodology combines real lane observations, KMA market intelligence, and mileage-adjusted rate logic to help users evaluate pricing with more confidence across truckload markets.

What makes TRAC different?

TRAC is built for speed, transparency, and workflow adoption.

Unlike benchmarks that rely on older averages, TRAC rates are powered by recent broker-contributed transaction data. This gives users a more current view of the spot market and helps teams react faster when conditions change.

TRAC also includes confidence scoring and supporting metadata, helping users better understand the strength and transparency of the underlying rate. Combined with SONAR’s KMA methodology, mileage-adjusted rate calculations, and workflow integrations, TRAC gives brokers a stronger foundation for pricing, coverage, benchmarking, and market analysis.

WHO IS INTERESTED?

Anyone who is involved in truck transportation. Brokers, Pricing Teams, Carrier Sales Teams, Load Planners, Transportation Managers, Operations Teams and Data and Analytics Teams

Why brokers join the TRAC Consortium

Joining the TRAC Consortium gives brokers more than access to a market rate. It gives them a direct way to turn their contributed data into better benchmarking, stronger pricing decisions, and more actionable market intelligence.

Win more freight with current market pricing: TRAC gives brokers access to rate data that reflects recent spot market activity instead of relying on older market averages. This helps teams make more competitive pricing decisions when bidding freight, responding to RFPs, or quoting spot opportunities.
Protect margins with better rate visibility: When the market shifts, brokers need to know quickly. TRAC helps users identify where rates are moving, where pricing may be too aggressive, and where margin opportunities may exist.
Benchmark against the market: TRAC contributors can compare their buy rates against the current market using data that is less than a day old. This helps teams understand where they are aligned, where they may be overpaying, and where they may need to adjust strategy.
Unlock MyTRAC: Consortium members get access to MyTRAC, a contributor-only benchmarking tool displayed in Rate Intelligence and Batch Rate Intelligence. MyTRAC combines market rates with a contributor’s own data to create a customized suggested bid rate.
Get unlimited TRAC API access: TRAC contributors also receive unlimited TRAC API access, giving teams the ability to integrate SONAR’s broker-powered rate intelligence directly into internal systems, pricing workflows, dashboards, and operational tools.

How to join the TRAC Consortium

Broker customers interested in joining the TRAC Consortium can contact their SONAR Account Manager or email [email protected]
to learn more.

Once a broker contributes data to TRAC, they can unlock additional contributor benefits, including MyTRAC, unlimited TRAC API access, customized benchmarking, and deeper rate intelligence across SONAR workflows.

WHAT DOES IT TELL ME?

TRAC Spot Rates tell the user what an average spot rate negotiated directly with the carrier might be on a daily basis along with giving its direction in a given lane. When viewed in Rate Intelligence users will be able to see how pricing conditions are changing over time by viewing the rate history as well as seeing where the market may have opportunities when paired with other data points such as Tender Rejections or Lane Scores.

How to use TRAC across SONAR

TRAC is built into multiple SONAR tools so teams can access rate intelligence wherever they are working.

Rate Intelligence: gives users a lane-level view of TRAC spot rates and contract rate benchmarks. This is one of the primary places to evaluate current pricing, compare spot and contract conditions, and understand how a specific lane is behaving.
- For TRAC contributors, Rate Intelligence also includes MyTRAC, which uses market rates and the contributor’s own data to create a customized suggested bid rate. This gives brokers a more tailored benchmark for pricing and bidding decisions.
Batch Rate Intelligence: allows users to upload and analyze multiple lanes at once. This is especially useful for RFPs, RFQs, bid events, and large-scale pricing reviews.
- Instead of searching lanes one by one, teams can quickly evaluate TRAC rate benchmarks across a full lane list, identify pricing gaps, and prioritize where additional review is needed.
Lane-level rates on charts: TRAC spot rates can be viewed directly on SONAR charts for additional lane-level analysis. This helps users visualize rate movement over time, compare lanes, and understand how pricing is changing in context with other market indicators.
- This is especially helpful when teams want to see whether a rate change is part of a short-term movement, a seasonal pattern, or a broader market shift.
TRAC API: access allows users to pull TRAC rates directly into internal systems, dashboards, pricing tools, and workflows.
- For consortium members, unlimited TRAC API access makes it easier to operationalize SONAR data across the business. Teams can embed rate intelligence into the systems they already use instead of requiring users to manually search for every lane.
Coverage Guide: uses SONAR market intelligence to help users evaluate load difficulty, market conditions, and coverage strategy.
- TRAC rates help support more informed coverage decisions by giving carrier sales and operations teams a clearer understanding of current spot market pricing. This helps teams determine when to engage early, when to expect a more difficult market, and how to price freight with more confidence.
Sales Guide: helps teams turn market intelligence into customer-facing conversations.
- By using TRAC rates within Sales Guide, brokers can bring more data-backed context to pricing discussions, customer check-ins, and market updates. This helps teams explain not just what is happening in the market, but why it matters for a customer’s freight strategy.
Custom Dashboards: TRAC rates can be incorporated into custom dashboards built around a broker’s specific lanes, markets, customers, or internal workflows.
- This gives teams a tailored view of the rate intelligence that matters most to their business, without needing to manually search for the same lanes or markets repeatedly.
Prebuilt high-level dashboards: TRAC rates are also available across several prebuilt SONAR dashboards that give users a broader view of the truckload market.
- These dashboards help teams monitor national rate trends, evaluate changing market conditions, and understand how TRAC spot rates connect with demand, capacity, and other freight market indicators.
TRAC Forecast API: helps users incorporate forward-looking rate expectations into internal tools, pricing models, and planning workflows.
- This can support teams that want to evaluate where rates may be headed, prepare for changing conditions, and build more proactive pricing strategies.
TRAC Spot Market Conditions map: gives users a visual way to understand market-level spot rate conditions.
- This helps teams quickly identify where markets are heating up, cooling down, or showing volatility. It is a useful tool for prioritizing lane reviews, spotting regional shifts, and giving teams a fast read on market conditions.

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