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Shipping Your Car 101

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Home  |  Auto Shipping • Car Shipping • Car Transport • Vehicle Shipping   |   Shipping Your Car 101

When moving, relocating for work, or possibly attending college on the other side of the country, you may need to ship your car or multiple vehicles. If you don't have the time, you don't want to make the long drive, or simply don't want all those miles and wear and tear on your car, shipping it may be the best option.

Car shipping companies provide you with the option of having professionals transport your car on a large truck, across the state, or the country. When deciding how you want your car transported, you also must consider the reputation of the company moving it.

You should also take into account that the farther away you are having it transported means that it will likely cost more money. In addition, trucks that transport vehicles try to save time and gas by loading up as many vehicles as they can, meaning they may be making many stops all throughout the country before they reach your destination. You must plan ahead for the amount of time it takes before your car will arrive, especially if you rely on your car for work. A typical transit time for a coast to coast car shipment is 7-10 days from pickup to dropoff.

One other factor that plays into time, and sometimes cost, would be the physical location. Chadron, Nebraska is significantly more out-of-the-way than a large city center such as Dallas, Texas. If you're able to meet in a larger city nearby, you will greatly increase your car shipping options.

Many car transportation companies provide pick-up at your home, work, or anywhere you may need. In addition, they can also drop your car off right in front of your new home or whichever location you choose, assuming it's accessible for an 18 wheeled car carrier. The point is, after all, to make moving more convenient for you, so this certainly is an advantage.

As with any business agreement, speak with the companies that service your area and make sure you fully understand their process. In addition, always ensure that the company addresses any concerns you have and answers all your questions accurately. Car transportation can make the headache of moving much easier and alleviate one major concern on a long list of priorities during the moving process.

If you are interested in transporting your vehicle, please take a look at our Quote Calculator.

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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