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How to Ship a Car Safely

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Home  |  Car Transport   |   How to Ship a Car Safely

How to Ship a Car Safely

Are you handing your car over to a car shipping company but aren’t sure what you need to do to prep it correctly? Our quick and informative guide will teach you the basics, so by the time you drop it off, it’ll be a smooth and stress-free process.

 

Give Your Car the Once Look Over  

 Inspect your vehicle for any existing damage like dents, scratches and anything else that’s ‘off’. It’s always a good idea to wash your vehicle before shipping it—that way, you’re able to easily see any minor damage to your car. Take photos of any dents, etc. for your records. Sometimes scratched paint and dents can occasionally happen while your car is being transported. If that happens to your vehicle during transport, photos taken during the pre-shipping process will allow you to accurately fill out the Bill of Lading so you stay protected

 

What About Valuable Items?  

 It’s important to do whatever you can to minimize your car’s risk of injury before it makes its journey—no matter how short or long its drive may be! Fold your side mirrors in, place your antennae in the trunk, and secure any loose parts before shipping it off.

 

Give It a Maintenance Check

 If you’re transporting an inoperable vehicle, may sure to tell your transport carrier before dropping it off. If your car is in operable condition, it’s important to give it a maintenance check before handing it off. Get its mileage checked, top off all of its fluids and make sure your vehicle has a full battery charge.

 At Ship A Car Direct, we pride ourselves on taking care of our customer’s vehicles with as much care as would with our own.  Whether you’re have a everyday or vintage vehicle, we’ve got the perfect transport option and carrier for your unique needs! Contact us today and learn about our damage-free guarantee!

 

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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