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Tips To Prevent Damage During A Car Shipment

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Home  |  Car Transport   |   Tips To Prevent Damage During A Car Shipment

Putting an auto shipment into someone else’s hands is an investment. For many car owners, it’s as much of an emotional investment as a financial one! But, it doesn’t mean it has to be difficult. Many first-time customers need the assurance their car or truck will return to them damage-free. Here’s how you can help ensure that will happen. 

How Do Auto Shippers Protect My Vehicle During Shipping?

What you’ll find with one auto shipper you won’t find with another. That’s why it pays to do your research in order to find the right one for your needs. Some of the most important things to know are: 

  • Never base your decision on the price alone. Most of the time, when it comes to auto shipping, you pay for what you get. If their price is significantly low, they may be cutting corners somewhere. Is it on insurance? Because they don’t have a great reputation and need to drum up more business? Either way, that’s not a good sign. 
  • Don’t pay a deposit. Your auto dealer should never ask for a deposit but instead payment when you pick up your vehicle. If they ask for any money up front, this may be your biggest sign they aren’t the right shipper for you and may not have what it takes to protect your vehicle during the process. 

  • They have bad reviews. One or two negative reviews isn’t something to write them off about, but a theme of multiple negative reviews talking about their poor customer service or inadequate delivery should raise a red flag. 

Consider External Factors to Protect Your Vehicle

Here’s a few additional tips to provide you with the knowledge to protect your vehicle during the car shipping process:

  • Size and type of vehicle. The size of the vehicle always goes into play. A classic or vintage vehicle may require an enclosed trailer to transport it to and from (which typically costs more than an open trailer). But when it comes to minimizing the risk of damages to your vehicle, the more protection you can give it, the better. 
  • The season it’s being shipped. Weather is always a consideration when shipping a vehicle. During the spring, prices tend to increase and accidents can happen. While the winter weather can cause your transport to take longer due to ice, heavy rain or snow, it’s worth being flexible with your time frame to minimize the risk of damages done.  

A Company That Does It Differently 

Ship a Car Direct is America’s number one shipping company. We offer an unparalleled customer experience, by finding only the best shipping companies to fit your needs and your budget. We don’t trust everyone, which is why we pride ourselves on saying “No” to hundreds of companies and only work with the best. Over 600 5-star reviews will prove it! 

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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