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The Truth Behind Shipping Cars

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Home  |  Car Transport   |   The Truth Behind Shipping Cars

The Truth Behind Shipping Cars

 Shipping your vehicle can be a tedious, and costly process. But, it doesn’t have to be. Learn the truth about the shipping car process, and how you can make it smooth, worry free and affordable!

A Simple Process to a Common Problem

The process is relatively simple: when you need to ship your car, you can invest in a car shipping broker to find the right carrier for you. Some brokers excel at what they do, by screening thousands of carriers to find just the right one for each customer. Once you’ve found a few shipping companies you’re interested in (read our guide below to know how to find the right company), you’ll receive an online quote, sign your contract, arrange for a pick-up time and agree on a delivery ‘window’ of time.

The Truth Behind Shipping Cars Is In Finding the Right One   

Now that you know how car shipping works, it’s time to find the right one! Here are two straight forward ways you can determine which company will give you the care, attention and service you require (and which ones won’t):

  • Read the reviews. You can search through reviews to answer a few key questions such as: are you current on all required licenses to transport? What insurance do you offer? Are there any hidden/additional fees I need to consider? What is the communication like? Do they offer any ‘perks’ like door-to-door service?
  • What kind of service do they offer? Your vehicle has been an important investment, and one you treat with the utmost care. So, shouldn’t your car transport company treat it with the same level of care when it’s out of your hands? Look for keywords when considering a transport company such as ‘guarantee’ (and then ask them what and how they guarantee your vehicle will be returned to you in the same condition you left it!)

No matter how near or far your vehicle is being shipped to, it all comes down to quality, care and service. Ship A Car Direct offers many advantages that makes us the most trusted car shipper around, including: door to door service, no upfront deposit required, and a damage-free guarantee! Contact us today for a free quote!

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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