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Get Quotes

A quote is the first step in the synchronous DashLink parcel workflow. It validates address serviceability, calculates delivery fee, determines delivery timelines, and optionally triggers address correction.

The quote endpoint and the create-delivery endpoint share the exact same request payload, with minor differences in the response.

Why use quotes?​

Quotes allow you to:

  • Validate an address before printing a label
  • Check if a ZIP is serviceable
  • Estimate delivery timelines
  • Preview the fee for the shipment
  • Correct addresses upstream
  • Avoid creating parcels that DashLink cannot deliver

This protects shippers from downstream failures and reduces undeliverable shipments.

Endpoint​

POST /drive/v2/quotes

See the Drive API Reference for the full schema.

Request behavior​

The quote request validates:

  • Address correctness (dropoff_address_components)
  • Geolocation quality (lat/lng overrides geocoding)
  • Serviceability (ZIP/proximity/days of operation/cutoff times)
  • Critical required fields (recipient details, package dimensions, business IDs)
  • Tracking code rules (if shipper-generated)

If you send an empty external_delivery_id, DashLink will generate a tracking code later during the quote acceptance stage.

Response behavior​

Quote responses include:​

  • external_delivery_id or internally generated fallback
  • pickup_reference_tag
  • Validated or corrected address components
  • Estimated pickup & dropoff times
  • Delivery fee
  • Tracking URL
  • Delivery status: "quote"

Quote responses do NOT include:​

  • Shipping label
  • Some downstream-only fields (photo POD, verification metadata)

To obtain the label (if using DashLink-generated labels), the quote must first be accepted.

Address correction during quotes​

Quotes return an updated dropoff_address_components block containing the validated address. These values may differ from what you submitted.

When to skip quotes​

You may skip the quote step and call create-delivery directly if:

  • You always use DashLink as the carrier
  • You have strong upstream address validation
  • You don’t require fees before label creation