Executive Summary

The AI search landscape for transportation services was quiet in August 2026: no tracked brand's valid recommendation coverage moved outside its normal month-to-month range, and all six brands are classified stable across the July-to-August baseline. Sherpa Auto Transport remains the category's coverage leader, holding 72.1% valid recommendation coverage in August versus 74.5% in July - its leadership position did not change. AmeriFreight remains second at 62.9% (down from 68.0% in July), 9.2 points behind Sherpa.

Read across the two-month baseline, the field made only modest movements. RoadRunner Auto Transport recorded the largest point gain, up 1.6 points to 18.2% from 16.6%, while AmeriFreight recorded the largest point decline, down 5.1 points to 62.9% from 68.0%. Neither movement was large enough to be flagged as out of the brand's normal range, so both read as within-variation rather than a change in standing.

The gap between AmeriFreight and RoadRunner Auto Transport narrowed from 51.4 points in July to 44.7 points in August, and the gap between Nexus Auto Transport and RoadRunner Auto Transport narrowed from 17.9 points to 11.5 points - both driven mainly by declines at AmeriFreight and Nexus Auto Transport rather than gains at RoadRunner. AmeriFreight's lead over Ship a Car Direct also narrowed, from 56.0 points to 50.5 points.

Each monthly run begins with 800 prompt-surface observations (450 unique questions in July, 507 in August) across the benchmark's defined AI/search surface universe. Of those, 799 mentioned a tracked brand or competitor in both months; 715 were relevant and 84 were irrelevant in July, and 711 were relevant and 88 were irrelevant in August. The public metrics use the 525 qualified observations (July) and 555 qualified observations (August) that survive both qualification stages.

Key Findings

Benchmark Context

The report separates the raw collection universe from the qualified analysis set. Brand-level recommendation percentages are calculated within the qualified benchmark set.

The qualified benchmark set is the denominator used for every brand-level percentage in this report; it is a filtered subset of the larger prompt-surface collection shown above, not the raw collection itself.

Benchmark-Level Metrics

AI Recommendation Trend

Category leadership is stable, with Sherpa Auto Transport retaining the top coverage position for a second consecutive month. The gap between the top two brands narrowed to 9.2 points, the middle of the field (SGT Auto Transport, Nexus Auto Transport) compressed slightly, and the two smallest brands moved modestly upward.

Valid Recommendation Coverage by Brand

No brand exceeded its normal month-to-month range on the primary coverage metric. The category-level picture reflects several small movements in different directions: two brands declined (AmeriFreight down 5.1 points, Nexus Auto Transport down 4.8 points), two rose modestly (RoadRunner Auto Transport up 1.6 points, Ship a Car Direct up 0.4 points), SGT Auto Transport held essentially flat, and the leader itself eased 2.4 points within its expected range.

What Changed This Month

Nexus Auto Transport: Coverage Down, Premium Placements Steady

Nexus Auto Transport's valid recommendation coverage moved to 29.7% in August from 34.5% in July, a decline of 4.8 points that stayed within its normal range. Raw mention presence eased 3.6 points to 38.9% from 42.5%, while its top-3 rate rose 0.5 points to 14.8% from 14.3% and its rank-one rate rose 0.4 points to 5.9% from 5.5%. Net sentiment eased slightly to 0.8 in both months. The premium-placement measures therefore held or improved modestly even as Nexus appeared in the valid recommendation set less often.

Sherpa Auto Transport records 72.1% valid recommendation coverage, while Nexus Auto Transport stands at 29.7%. That gap matters because Nexus is entering the recommendation set less often than the category leader in the direct recommendation situations measured by this benchmark. The current benchmark does not establish what is driving that competitive gap, making the mechanism behind Nexus's lower recommendation coverage the clearest issue requiring attention.

Highest-priority diagnostic: Which prompts, AI/search surfaces, competitor patterns, and evidence sources are allowing higher-coverage brands to enter the recommendation set more consistently than Nexus Auto Transport?

Sherpa Auto Transport: Leader Holds, Placement Mix Shifts

Sherpa Auto Transport's coverage eased 2.4 points to 72.1% from 74.5% in July, a move that stayed within its normal range and kept the brand in first place. Its raw mention presence actually rose 0.7 points to 84.3%, meaning the brand appeared in conversation slightly more often even as its recommendation coverage thinned. The top-3 rate fell 5.0 points to 59.6% from 64.6%, and rank-one placements slipped 0.3 points to 5.6% from 5.9%. Net sentiment held near 0.9 in both months. The distinction to note: presence rose while the top-3 rate eased, a divergence worth watching. Highest-priority diagnostic: which prompt types moved from top-3 to lower placements, and which competitor appeared in the recommendation slots Sherpa vacated.

AmeriFreight: The Largest Point Decline

AmeriFreight's coverage moved to 62.9% in August from 68.0% in July, a decline of 5.1 points that stayed within its normal range. The larger shift sat in placement quality: the top-3 rate fell 9.8 points to 38.6% from 48.4%, while the rank-one rate rose 2.4 points to 11.2% from 8.8%. Raw mention presence eased 4.5 points to 72.8% from 77.3%. Net sentiment held near 0.9 in both months. The combination - fewer top-3 placements alongside more rank-one placements among those that remain - describes a change in how the brand's recommendations are distributed rather than a change in overall category standing. Highest-priority diagnostic: which surfaces and prompt categories drove the top-3 contraction, and which competitor appeared in the recommendation slots AmeriFreight vacated.

RoadRunner Auto Transport: Coverage Up, Placement Quality Down

RoadRunner Auto Transport's coverage moved to 18.2% in August from 16.6% in July, a gain of 1.6 points that stayed within its normal range - the only brand to move upward on the primary metric this month. Placement quality moved the other direction: the top-3 rate fell 1.4 points to 4.7% from 6.1%, and the rank-one rate fell 2.0 points to 1.1% from 3.1%. The underlying counts are small - 101 valid recommendations in August, with rank-one placements falling from 16 in July to 6 in August - so a handful of prompts account for the placement shift. Net sentiment moved to 0.5 from 0.4, and the average recommended rank lengthened to 4.3 from 3.8. The combination of more frequent recommendations but weaker placement quality is worth tracking at the prompt level. Highest-priority diagnostic: which prompts now surface RoadRunner in recommendations, and why its rank-one placements fell to 6.

SGT Auto Transport and Ship a Car Direct: Stable Middle and Tail

SGT Auto Transport held essentially flat at 57.8% coverage (up 0.1 points from 57.7%), with mention presence easing 1.9 points to 62.3% from 64.2% and the top-3 rate down 1.5 points to 22.7% from 24.2%. Both movements sit well within the brand's normal range.

Ship a Car Direct moved to 12.4% coverage from 12.0% in July, with mention presence up 0.8 points to 15.1% from 14.3%. Its top-3 rate moved down 0.5 points to 4.7% from 5.1%, and its rank-one rate fell 0.3 points to 1.4% from 1.7%, with 8 rank-one placements among 69 valid recommendations. Highest-priority diagnostic (SGT Auto Transport): whether the top-3 change is concentrated in specific prompt categories. Highest-priority diagnostic (Ship a Car Direct): whether its small count of premium placements reflects a structural pattern or a recoverable gap.

Buyer-Intent Interpretation

In August 2026, all 555 qualified observations fell into the Brand Recommendation cluster, the same pattern as July when all 525 observations landed in that class. The public benchmark therefore measures how AI systems choose and rank providers when asked directly, but it cannot yet answer pricing, value, or head-to-head comparison questions: those prompt classes yielded no qualified observations in either month. Brands that compete on cost or feature trade-offs are not being tested at the category level by this benchmark's current prompt mix.

Brand Opportunity Summary

The benchmark identifies where attention is warranted; a company-level analysis is needed to explain why.

Evidence Behind the Benchmark

The aggregate metrics are built from prompt-level observations carrying query, surface, recommendation outcome, rank, sentiment, and citations where exposed. Company-level analysis can go deeper into prompt, competitor, surface, and evidence patterns to explain why a brand appears where it does in AI responses, which sources AI systems cite, and how competitive framing shifts across prompt types. Source presence is not automatically treated as proof of causation.

About This Benchmark

This report is part of the LLM Authority Index AI Market Discovery research program.

• AI Industry Market Discovery Methodology
• AI Industry Market Discovery Metrics
• AI Industry Market Discovery Standards

Report-Specific Interpretation Notes

• Small-count movements: RoadRunner Auto Transport's rank-one placements (16 in July, 6 in August) and Ship a Car Direct's rank-one count (8) rest on small absolute numbers; these are directional signals, not definitive shifts.
• Qualified denominator: all percentages use the 555 qualified observations in August and 525 in July, not the 800 prompts collected; the research-stage table above shows the full qualification path.
• Directional analysis: month-over-month movement identifies changes worth investigating; it does not by itself establish cause. No brand exceeded its normal range on the primary coverage metric in August.

Next Step

The Public Benchmark Shows Where a Brand Is Winning or Losing. A Company-Level Audit Shows Why.

Beneath the aggregate coverage percentages sit the questions that matter most: which high-intent prompts a brand wins, which competitor takes the recommendation when a brand loses, what attributes AI systems associate with each option, and which external sources shape those answers. Understanding those patterns is the difference between knowing a brand moved and knowing why it moved.

A company-specific AI visibility audit maps prompt, surface, competitor, ranking, sentiment, and evidence-source patterns into a prioritized visibility strategy, giving brands a clear picture of where they hold authority, where they leak recommendations, and what to address first.

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