5 Steps To Ship Your Car

There are many reasons for shipping a car. Perhaps you’ve bought a car online or you’re relocating and you don’t feel like driving the car to your new home. In these instances, shipping is always a wonderful option, but as with all things in life, it helps to do some research on the topic before diving in head first. By educating yourself about how to choose the best company to work with, you might be saving a lot of trouble in the long-run.

Get To Know Your Options

Surprisingly enough, there are a few different options available when for shipping a car. These variables often have an impact on the price so it’s good to know about them before you research car shipping prices.

One of the differences you should be aware of is the choice between a covered or uncovered carrier. Covered carriers do offer more protection against anything from minor accidents to bad weather, but shipping a car in a covered carrier is usually more expensive. For that reason, it might be wise to ask about these sort of things when you get a quote.

There are other things that influence the price, such as whether you want the car to be delivered directly to a specific address. If you’d be okay with it if the car isn’t delivered to a specific address, you could ask for a terminal-to-terminal option, which is usually cheaper, but doesn’t deliver the car to your house.

Research The Average Price

There are websites available online that offer car shipping calculators. While you might not end up paying the exact price that an online calculator estimates you’d have to pay, it’s good to get an idea what the average might be before getting any quotes.

After you have a vague idea of what it would cost to ship your car, you can do an online search to find car shipping companies. Look at the quotes and compare them with one another to establish what the average tends to be.

After you have a solid idea of what the cost will be, decide what you’re willing to pay. You should preferably have both a minimum and maximum amount because you don’t want to choose a company that’s significantly cheaper than the rest, that’s a good indication that their service won’t be equally good.

Prepare Your Car For Shipping

Once you’ve found a reliable company to help you ship your car, you’ll have to examine your car to prepare it for shipping. One of the first things you should do is to take notes of any damage that you might see on your car before you send it off. Make a note of every scratch, dent or other damage so that you know the exact condition of the car.

In addition to this, it’s also best to remove any personal belonging from the car. Not only will you be unable to use these things while the car is being transported, they can also add to the weight of your car, making shipping more expensive.

If the car has a full tank, would also be advisable to empty it before shipping, as the gas can add a lot of extra weight to your car.

Lastly, once you’re done examining and emptying your car, you can do other things such as folding in the side-view mirrors and retracting the antennae to avoid any damages to these parts of your car.

Be Patient

Once you’ve shipped your car, it could take up to a month before it reaches the final destination. If it’s really important for you to know when the car reaches its final destination before you ship it, you can ask your auto transport company about the estimated time of shipping in your particular case.

For case where you’re in a hurry, you might be able to negotiate with the company for an exact delivery date at an extra cost, but keep in mind that no company will be able to ship a car if you don’t allow enough time. Ask about the soonest date a company will be able to deliver your car. It might also help to ask different companies in such cases. But regardless, any respectable company that will treat your car with the necessary care, won’t be able to ship it in much less time than their competitors.

Receiving Your Car

Once you get your car back, use the list you made before shipping it and compare the damages. Preferably, you should use only auto transport companies that have insurance, that way you can have any new damage to your car covered by the company.

However, no company will be willing to pay out damages of you didn’t have a complete list of scrapes and other things. It’s also important that you be honest about the condition of your car prior to shipping.

Shipping a car can be a much more convenient alternative then driving it all the way to its new location. The great thing about shipping your car is that it significantly reduces the risk of damage, such as flat tires, small dents and even road accidents. By knowing what kind of service you expect when shipping your car, you can find the best company to suite your needs.