What needs to be done first?

Acquire an auto shipping quote

You need it to find out how much money you should prepare. Get as plenty as you can from various companies so you will have many choices for comparison. The quotes will make you see the price differences between transport companies. Having the quotes will also prevent you from being hemmed in by a price that is too high.

Get auto shipping quotes from carrier companies or brokers. Carriers can provide instant online quotes. Brokers can give you several quotes, and can even provide information about vehicle shipping companies. Brokers’ quotes will initially not include the complete list of options that will be in the final costing.

Research the shipping company

Check their reputation. Ask questions. Read online reviews. Make sure to gain an adequate amount of information about a company. This will make it easier to choose the more reliable vehicle shipping companies.

Research the broker company

You can access the websites of brokers to find out if a particular company will appear in several search queues.

Join forces with a broker

When it comes to transporting a vehicle, three groups of people make the deal: the vehicle owner, the broker who is authorized to connect to the National Dispatch System, and the trucker who will actually transport your car.

When the trucker arrives to pick up cars from Point A to transport to Point B and there are around 15 to 35 listed cars and their bids to be transported range from $500 to $700, he usually selects to transport the highest bidding listed vehicles. This means the lowest bidder will be forced to wait for a long time after which bidding higher is the only choice in order to have his vehicle transported.

Joining forces with a broker is a good way to go. The broker can compute for the optimum price for your individual needs. The national dispatch system connects truckers and brokers. The broker can look at the dispatch list for the client’s route and check the listing price for other vehicles. Then the broker can suggest a pricing that fits the client’s budget in order to have the client’s car transported within the time allowance the client wants.

Almost all vehicle shippers are brokers.

The bulk of vehicle shipping companies are not the operators or owners of car carrier trucks. They use the central dispatch system to connect or coordinate your transport with truckers or drivers.

The shipper to choose

A vehicle transport company with a high rating on Transport Reviews is ideally the company you should hire. They should be capable of handling the vehicles they transport as if it were their own.

Insurance

Car transport companies will usually have basic insurance included in the cost. While in transit, this will provide protection for the car. Different kinds of insurance will be offered by the transport company. Marine Shipping Insurance gives full coverage while standard policies only provide basic protection.

The reality

Carriers and brokers may appear to be jockeying to get you as a customer when they provide you with auto shipping quotes. The truth, however, is that it is the customers who are bidding to have their vehicles moved.

Sources:

1. Auto Transport Companies Insider Scoop, by Melanie Cardozo,www.ezinearticles.com
2. How It Works, from www.napierauto.com
3. Vehicle Transport Services – Tips That Will Allow You To Make The Smart Decision, from www.articlesbase.com

Know your Options

For many people, driving their car over long distances is not an option. The aggravation and stress as well as the wear and tear of your car being driven on the road for hours on end can justify the added cost for getting it shipped.

Start with the basic.

Visit any shipping company with a price quote calculator (almost all of them have one) and input the most basic information: origin and destination (or their corresponding zip codes) and your car model and make. Some cites will give you an indicative quote. But many more will ask for your preferred date of transfer. This may not be basic but because shipping firms face lean and peak market seasonality, the information helps to fine tune their vehicle shipping quotes.  You may want to verify this by inputting different dates in the calculator and see how the quotes vary.

Consider mode of shipment.

The cheapest in the market is an open multi-car 18-wheeler double deck transporter that can carry 8-14 cars in one trip. Used by local car makers to bring their ex-factory vehicles to showrooms and dealers, this option will bring vehicle shipping costs to their cheapest point during the lean season, but you need to allow a longer delivery lead time. The shipper will need to get the transporter fully booked to start rolling down the road. Unfortunately, this option, along with a more expensive single car open flatbed trailer, exposes your car to road elements and over long road stretches, you can expect paint chips, glass cracks or even body dents to appear on the body of your car. Needless to say, a fully enclosed container van is the safest way to transport your car, even if it is the also the most expensive. This is why it is important to check if the added cost is worth the car protection you can have.

What about door-to-door transfer?

A door-to-door transfer is a convenient option for anyone, but it will also increase vehicle shipping costs compared to the standard port-to-port or terminal-to-terminal option. In addition, there are certain communities that will not allow large trucks to pass. Make sure to check your village or residential zoning restrictions since many will not allow or accommodate large trucks to pick up or deliver your car. In this case, a terminal-to-terminal option is not only cheaper but is also the only option.

Lastly, you need to check out what insurance coverage you can expect from those vehicle shipping costs. Most are basic types, covering only damages to your car resulting from an in-transit accident. But it may not cover dents, scratches, windshield cracks, or falling exhaust pipes and side skirts. You may need to upgrade your insurance to cover these and shippers of luxury, exotic and vintage cars are known to do just that. Make sure to check if the added insurance cost is worth the peace of mind that goes with covering all bases.

Terminal-to-terminal

In this kind of shipping, the vehicle is dropped off and picked up at the terminal. The terminal is usually a lot or warehouse where the vehicle will be parked until the auto transporting company is able to gather enough vehicles to be transported to the same destination. A truck is used to carry the transported vehicles, keeping the car out of its driver’s hand until it reaches its destination. The auto transporting company will then ship all the assembled vehicles at a designated terminal where clients have to go to pick up their transported vehicles.

Pros and Cons

Terminal-to-terminal auto shipping is considered cheaper because the cost of shipping vehicles is split according to the number of vehicles being transported. Most shippers offering terminal-to-terminal vehicle transport give discounts for people who reside in densely populated metropolitan areas, where door-to-door vehicle transport is impractical.

The problem with terminal-to-terminal vehicle shipping services is that it can take some time before the car is transported to its destination because the auto transporter will have to wait for a sufficient number of vehicles before it proceeds with the transfer. This is why terminal-to-terminal auto transporting is not recommended to clients who need their vehicles at a certain place in the soonest possible time.

Terminal-to-terminal vehicle transfer can also put the car at risk of petty crimes like vandalism to more serious ones like theft. While most vehicle shipping companies provide round-the-clock security to parked cars in their terminals, it is no guarantee that cars are safe against criminal elements. Likewise, the cars are also exposed to various elements like weather changes that could potentially lead to damage. It does not help that most auto shipping companies are not compelled to pay for any weather-related damages for cars that they ship.

Door-to-door 

On the other hand, door-to-door vehicle shipping services is the more popular and more convenient way of transporting vehicles. As the name suggests, this kind of vehicle shipping has the company picking up and dropping off the vehicle at the address provided by the client. There is no need for drivers or car owners to get their car from the terminal when they avail of door-to-door auto transporting. It is fast, too. It typically only takes 2-3 days for the auto transporting company to complete the vehicle shipping.

Pros and Cons

The most obvious advantage of door-to-door auto transporting is that it is fast. Unlike in terminal-to-terminal method, the door-to-door auto transportation method does not require the driver to bring his car to a terminal or warehouse. All he has to do is to wait for the auto transport company to drop by his home. The truck then picks up the car and is then delivered to the address specified by the driver. With this method, there is no need for drivers to wait several days before their vehicle is moved from one terminal to another terminal. Not only is it faster and more convenient, it also lessens the risk of damage when parked in the terminal. The downside with door-to-door vehicle shipping is that it is more expensive.