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Will My Car Lose Its Value If It’s Shipped

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Home  |  Car Transport   |   Will My Car Lose Its Value If It’s Shipped

If you have ever had a package arrive at your door completely bruised and battered then you might be weary about shipping your vehicle. After all, your vehicle is one of your most valuable possessions and you certainly don’t want to risk damaging it. Better yet, you don’t want to worry about your vehicle depreciating in value because you chose to ship it. This is an understandable concern and this is exactly the reason why it’s important to do your research to find the right auto transport company. The reality is that car shipping is safe, assuming you are working with a reputable company that takes appropriate measures to ship your car correctly. With a reputable auto transport company, you should have no trouble and you can rest easy knowing that your car will not lose its value. Here are a few things you should keep in mind to ensure your car won’t lose its value and remains safe throughout the shipping process.

Find the Right Shipping Company

When you are placing your vehicle in the hands of a stranger, you want to be sure you find the car shipping company that is right for your needs. To find the best company, do plenty of research to find a reputable company. Make sure the company has an MC and DOT number, read customer reviews, make sure they are licensed, bonded, and insured, ask about their insurance policy, and compare their prices with other companies. If a company’s prices seem “too good to be true,” chances are it’s not a reputable company. Be wise about choosing an auto transport company and take your time to avoid being scammed.

Ask About Their Shipping Process

Any reputable company should be upfront with you about the shipping process. There are certain guidelines and restrictions that auto carriers must adhere to so you want to be sure the company is taking the proper precautions.

Prepare Your Car for Safe Transport

While it’s important to choose a shipping company with a safe shipping history, it’s also important for you to take the necessary steps to ensure your car ships safely. You should wash your car prior to shipment and inspect it for any scratches, dents, or dings. It’s also a good idea to take pictures of your car so you have proof of its condition. You also want to check your tire pressure, disable any alarms, and remove any custom accessories. Finally, remove all personal belongings and lock your vehicle.

In most cases, it is perfectly safe to ship your vehicle and your vehicle will not lose any value. However, while damage during transport is not typical, accidents do happen so you want to make sure your vehicle is properly insured. Whether you are shipping your car across the state or across the country, do your homework to make sure you are working with a reputable auto transport company.

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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