How To Ship A Car

Finding the Best Way For Shipping Your Car

All of these cars and no one to drive them. How will you possibly move them from place to place? By shipping them!

What you might be wondering, however, is how do you ship a car? What steps must you follow in order to do it right? There is quite a bit involved in shipping a vehicle across the country. Here is everything you need to know about how to ship a vehicle and how to ship a car.

Start the Process as Early as Possible

First and foremost, you need to start the process as early as possible. The second you know your moving date, you need to find a shipping company and get the details down in writing.

The sooner you start the process, the more flexibility you’ll have in choosing companies and moving times. You’ll be ahead of the game, so to speak, and will have more control over when and how your car is shipped.

If you wait until the last minute, you’ll have to take what’s available to you. At that point, it might not be much.

Assess Your Options

Next, you’re going to want to choose a shipping company. As you might expect, you shouldn’t just do this willy-nilly. You need to assess your options carefully so that you pick the best one for you.

There are two types of companies that will assist you in shipping your vehicle. One is an auto transport broker. The other is an auto transport carrier.

Auto transport brokers communicate with a number of auto transport carriers and help their customers to find the best options and deals for their particular situations.

Auto transport carriers, on the other hand, are directly responsible for shipping vehicles. If you speak with an auto transport carrier, you’ll be speaking with the same individuals who are going to ship your car, not a middleman.

Both options have their benefits. For example, auto transport brokers might be able to find more options for you. Note, though, that they’re going to cost you more money as well.

Auto transport carriers might not have as many shipping options. However, they’ll generally be less expensive. Plus, in working with an auto transport carrier, you’ll know exactly who is shipping your vehicle.

Read Up on the Cost of Car Shipping

We’ve already lightly touched on the concept of “how much does it cost to ship a car?” However, we must reiterate the importance of the question. Car shipping costs can be on the expensive side and can fluctuate greatly from company to company.

Google questions such as “how much to ship a car?” and “how much is it to ship a car?” You might even Google “how much to ship a car cross country?”

Doing this will give you a ballpark idea of the costs. You can use these ballparks costs to determine whether a specific shipping company’s costs are reasonable.

Choose a Shipping Company

Once you’ve decided between auto transport brokers and auto transport carriers, you’ll need to choose a specific company. A good way to find choices is to Google them.

Type in something like “auto transport carries in [your location]” or “auto transport carriers in [your location]”. This should return a list of companies to choose from.

Once you have this list in front of you, compare different companies against one another. Assess their prices, their reviews, their shipping methods, and the like, and choose a company that you feel comfortable with.

Note, regardless of the company you choose, you need to make sure it’s registered with the Department of Transportation. To determine whether it is, indeed, registered, use this tool.

Pick the Right Shipping Method for Your Vehicle

In general, there are two types of shipping methods for vehicles. One of these is open vehicle shipping. The other is enclosed vehicle shipping.

Open vehicle shipping involves loading your vehicle onto the back of a semi-truck. Your vehicle will sit beside a number of other vehicles and will be completely exposed to the elements.

Enclosed vehicle shipping involves putting your vehicle in an enclosed trailer. This is a safer method for transporting vehicles but also costs a lot more money.

Note, that regardless of the option you choose, your vehicle should be backed by insurance. Make sure that insurance coverage is established before putting forth any money.

Clean Up Your Car

Now that you have all of that sorted out, and have hopefully established a date and signed a contract, you’re going to want to prepare your car. Start by cleaning out its interior.

Why is this important? Because it enables you to better determine whether any damage was done to the car during transport. If your car is full of bottles and dirt and random garbage, you’re going to struggle mightily to do this.

Ideally, you’ll get your vehicle’s interior as clean as possible. Ditch all of the trash, vacuum the seats and floors and wipe down upholstery.

Take Pictures of the Vehicle’s Exterior

You’ll also want to take pictures of the vehicle’s exterior. This way, if it experiences damage in transit, you’ll have proof that the damage occurred while the vehicle was in the shipping company’s possession. This could go on to save you substantial amounts of money, so make sure you have photographic proof.

Turn Off Any Alarms

Does your vehicle have an alarm on it? If so, you have to make sure to turn it off prior to shipment. If you don’t, your shipping company is going to stumble into obvious problems.

These problems will almost certainly delay the shipment and could result in a bunch of unnecessary effort on your part during your move.

Drop the Vehicle Off for Shipment

Finally, you’re going to drop your vehicle off for shipment. Or, if you’ve arranged such, you can have the vehicle picked up at your desired location.

In any case, make sure to have proper accommodations for yourself. In other words, make sure you have a way to transport yourself as needed.

And That’s How to Ship a Car

And with that, we’ve told you how to ship a car. Now that you know how to ship cars, you might be looking for a reputable car shipping company. If so, look no further; Fleet53 has you covered.

We’ve shipped vehicles all over the country and can transport your vehicle to whatever location you need. Regardless of the type of vehicle you drive, we can accommodate you.

Contact us now to receive a free quote!