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Creative Ways to Shop for Your Next Car During the Vehicle Shortage

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Home  |  Auto Shipping • Car Carriers • Car Shipping • Vehicle Shipping   |   Creative Ways to Shop for Your Next Car During the Vehicle Shortage

Instead of driving up to a local dealership to find row upon row of new cars to choose from, you will probably be more likely to find a few new cars here and there along with a random assortment of used cars. Unfortunately, dealerships all across the country are dealing with inventory issues due to a variety of industry supply-chain problems and other production problems related to the Covid-19 pandemic. There is a high consumer demand along with a serious shortage of vehicles which is making it difficult for consumers to shop for a new vehicle. What, then, can consumers do to get a new vehicle? If you aren’t in a position where you can wait for a period of time, you might need to get creative and think outside the box in order to find a new car. Here are some helpful tips and expert advice for car shopping during the current vehicle shortage.

Conduct an Online Search

With less inventory available, you may not be able to find a suitable vehicle in your area. Therefore, you can increase your chances of finding a car by expanding your search radius. Thanks to today’s technological advances, you have the ability to shop for a car anywhere in the country. If you are open to purchasing a car in another state and having it shipped to you, you are increasing the odds that you will be able to find a car.

Buy Used

Although all cars are in short supply, used cars are in somewhat better supply than brand new ones. This is caused by a global chip shortage that is severely constraining the supply of new vehicles. Manufacturers are unable to get the tiny semiconductor chips that are needed to build new cars and this has brought the production of new vehicles across the nation to a halt. Thus, car dealers are left with empty lots as manufacturers await shipments of semiconductor chips. While this has certainly pushed up the demand for used vehicles, you will find that there is still a bigger selection of pre-owned vehicles available and they will come at a more affordable price.

Look for Cars on Facebook Marketplace

While you cannot actually purchase a car on Facebook Marketplace, you can search for one and make a connection with a seller. As a result of the current vehicle shortage, the used car market on Facebook Marketplace is hotter than ever. Due to lower inventory, people are looking to places other than dealerships to buy a car and Facebook Marketplace is a great resource. In fact, it has become one the most popular social media platforms to advertise used cars from private sellers.

Don’t Be Too Picky

In the pre-pandemic days you may have squabbled over the color, accessories, and additional options available on your vehicle but these days you don’t have room to be so picky. The pickier you are, the longer you will have to wait. If you are willing to be flexible on the specs of your car there’s a better chance you will get it much sooner.

Consider Other Vehicle Categories

Trucks and SUVs are definitely the most popular vehicles on the market. If you are willing to consider looking into another type of vehicle such as a sedan, you may have better luck finding more options.

Frequently Asked Questions

Honest Answers to Your Car Shipping Questions

Yes, we always ask for your specific pickup and delivery addresses, if the carrier can get right to the addresses you provide, they will. If the addresses that you give us are not safely accessible for a Multi-car carrier, however, you will need to make arrangements with the driver to meet at a nearby location where the carrier can safely get in and out.

People do it all the time (rarely for free) but the official answer is no.

Not what you wanted to hear, we know, but that is the honest answer.

We are not licensed to broker the shipment of household goods and, likewise, no car carrier that operates in the USA is licensed to transport them from state to state either. Despite what you might be being told by other car shipping companies you may speak with.

Remember, at the end of the day we're all salespeople, and the true answer to this question is not a great selling point.

You will hear a lot of companies tell you that you can put up to 100 pounds of items in the trunk, but that is not entirely true. That fact is that items of that amount are fairly common and the department of transportation is probably not going to split hairs and fine the trucker over items of that amount, provided they are not over their weight limit. They could fine them, however, if they see a vehicle stuffed full of personal items so the car carrier will most likely try to negotiate something with you to cover themselves against any costs they could incur. It's not something we can build into your contract though.

We have a short and helpful video on this topic in our user videos.

Only in rare cases and car carriers will usually charge a premium to make it happen.

All dates given by car carriers are typically estimates and projections.

For this reason (and to keep your cost down) we ask that you build in some flexibility and give us the earliest possible date you would be WILLING to release the vehicle, even though it may not be your preferred date.

We'll put you in direct contact with your car carrier and the driver will also typically call you the afternoon or evening before your pick up and delivery (they won't just show up unannounced, and if they do we want to hear about it). However, car carriers are out on the road battling traffic, weather and any number of other factors that can and do throw them off of their pickup and delivery projections from time to time.

If the projected dates we give you come and you are unable to make contact with your carrier, please call our office immediately so that we may help resolve the situation.

The average transit time from pick up to delivery on any vehicle going coast to coast will average 7 to 10 days. From there you can figure your transit time based on how far your vehicle is traveling, i.e. from either coast to the Midwest might average 3-7 days.

Yes!

Even better, we do not even ask for payment until we have you confirmed for pickup by a safe, reliable, fully insured, direct car carrier. If for any reason you do not ship your car with the carrier that we arrange for you, there is no fee.

The fees paid directly to the carrier however, (in most cases, their fees are not paid until your vehicle is delivered) are not directly controlled by us, so any requests for a refund of the carrier's portion would need to be addressed with the carrier directly.

Of course! And you are always backed by our Damage Free Guarantee policy.

Part of what you pay us for is to verify that the car carrier that we put you on is covered by the proper amount of insurance and that everything is up to date.

There is never any additional cost to you for this coverage, and their insurance is always primary.

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