Auto Shipping: Choosing the Right Service, Choosing the Right Company - How To Find Car Transport that Best Suits your Needs

So you've just found the car of your dreams. It's a great car; just what you've been looking for. The mileage isn't that high, there aren't any major scratches or dents, it doesn't smell too bad, and best of all, you didn't even pay that much for it. Perfect right? Not so fast. The car that you just found, the perfect little car that you just can't wait to take for a spin right away, is 3,000 miles away. Maybe not so perfect after all, eh?

While many people would look for another car somewhere closer, or fly out to the car and drive it back, you're smart; you chose to have that car shipped. And honestly, auto shipping is usually the most economical and convenient way to get that car to where it needs to go. So you've made the right choice, now just comes the hard part.

You see, there are literally thousands of companies out there that are competing for the honor of shipping your vehicle. Some of the companies are good, some are great, and some are just awful. But it's your car and your money, and you want to get the best out of it. In order to get the most out of car transport, you need to know how to select the right company.

There are a few common sense practices that can help you figure out what kind of service you'll need to ship your car, how much you'll need to pay, and what company to use. I'll help you learn how to do all of this in the simplest, most straight forward process that you'll likely encounter anywhere.

First, a word about what you'll encounter out there. The car shipping industry is pretty dog-eat-dog. There is a lot of money to be made doing this kind of work, and the costs of entering the industry are relatively inexpensive compared to other industries with similar profit margins, so there are lots of firms that do this kind of work. All of these firms are fighting for a limited amount of work, and the competition is pretty tough.

So we know that there are thousands of auto transporters out there all competing for your business. But what exactly is that business and how does this business work? The answer is more complicated than you might have imagined.

The car shipping industry is really a collection of a number of different services that are grouped into what one refers to as auto transport. First, there are the providers of the actual carriers that will be transporting your vehicle. These carriers are the companies that own and operate their own trucks, and they will be the ones that will do the actual shipping. Secondly, there are the brokers. Brokers are the companies that you'll most likely be in contact with about shipping your vehicle. Keep in mind that most brokers DO NOT own their own trucks; their role is to provide logistical support, not to physically transport your vehicle. One easy way to verify whether a company is a broker or a carrier is to check their licensing information. You can request this information either through phone or email. Many companies post this information on their homepage was well. Once you have this number, you can look view information about their licensing by visiting this site ( http://li-public.fmcsa.dot.gov/LIVIEW/pkg_carrquery.prc_carrlist .) The final aspect of the auto transport industry are the information and resource aspects, but I'll talk about those shortly.

The distinction between carriers and brokers is an important one. The most common misconception amongst first time (and even repeat) auto transport customers is that one company will do all the work. In reality, however, auto shipping is a collaborative effort between carriers and brokers. Brokers are the people that you'll speak to on the phone, email, text messages, etc. Their job is not to do the shipping for you, but rather to help you make your shipping arrangements. Once you've found a broker that you're comfortable with, they'll then pass along your shipping information to the carrier and the carrier will do the job.

So when you're selecting an auto transport company, what you're actually doing is selecting an auto transport broker. In case you were wondering exactly what a broker is, simply put, a broker is the intermediary between yourself (the customer) and the holder of a good or service (the carrier.) Given that the broker does not hold the service that you're looking to acquire, his or her job is to find someone who does.

This is where selecting the right auto transport company comes into play. As brokers, it is the auto shipping companies responsibility to find a carrier that can move your vehicle at the price that you've agreed upon. Thus, it is extremely important that you select an auto shipping company that knows how much auto shipping costs, how they can provide the service, and when they can provide the service.

First we should tackle the topic of cost. If you're like any of the 75% of the customers that I've worked with over the years, then you're going to be most concerned with how much auto shipping costs. Nobody wants to pay more than they have to for anything, and this applies as much to car shipping as it does to absolutely any other good or service that you can imagine. However, what may appear to be a good deal for car shipping may not be a good deal at all.

So the first step to finding auto shipping is to get quotes and compare the costs. The way that you'll get quotes is to apply for a quote online. Typically, you'll receive somewhere between 6-12 quotes for each instance that you submit your information. And you'll notice that you'll receive a wide range of prices for what is essentially the same service. One's natural reaction is to find the lowest price, call the company offering that price, and book the reservation. However, I urge you NOT to act quite so quickly. Remember that the people who provide you with quotes are brokers. As brokers, they do not control the price of auto shipping. The carrier is the one that sets the price (based on their costs, like insurance, gas, maintenance, etc.) and the broker simply offers that price.

Here's the easy way to determine what the real price of shipping is. Take all of your quotes and arrange them by price. Take the lowest price and the highest price and immediately remove these from your list. Then, take the remaining prices and average them. This number is the closest thing to the actual price of shipping that you'll find. I would say that any quote within $50-100 of this number will most likely result in a carrier expressing interest in moving your vehicle.

Whether you'll want to pay a little bit more or less than the average price should be based on what kind of service that you'll want. If timeliness is not too big of an issue for you, you can get away with paying a little bit less than the average cost of shipping. If you want to make sure that your vehicle gets picked up quickly, you might want to think about paying a little bit more. A good auto transport company will advise you on this matter.

What kind of service that you'll need may vary based upon what kind of vehicle that you need to ship and where you'll be shipping it to. For nearly all cases, open trailer shipping is just fine. It's the least expensive means to ship your vehicle, as well as being the most common. As long as your vehicle has four inches of ground clearance, is less than seven feet tall, and has an interior that is not exposed to the elements, then open shipping should be perfect. If you're shipping a low clearance vehicle, like a sports car, for example, then you might want to consider enclosed shipping.

Another aspect of shipping services that you'll want to thing about is door-to-door versus terminal shipping. Door-to-door shipping is rather self-explanatory: your car will be picked up from your door and shipped to your door. Terminal shipping is slightly different. Rather than having your vehicle picked up from the address of your choosing, you must bring your vehicle to a loading depot or terminal. From there, the carrier will wait for a full, consolidated load to be assembled and then take that load to another terminal near your chosen destination. Choosing what kind of service you use depends upon your needs and what you're willing to pay. I personally recommend door-to-door shipping for a number of reasons which I will resolve in another article.

Finally, you'll want to choose an auto transport company that you can trust. It's extremely important that you find an honest auto shipping company to do the job. When you work with honest companies, you'll often find that although you won't necessarily be offered the lowest price, the job will get done within the parameters that you've agreed upon. Using a dishonest company means that you'll expect one service (typically a service that's too good to be true; e.g. the next day pickup for $300 less than the next closest competitor) and receive something totally different. So use your common sense to distinguish between a good deal and a deal too good to be true.

Now you're ready to go out there and get some quotes! Remember to take your time to make the right choice. Use the guidelines that I've set out in this article to help yourself make the best decision for auto shipping that you possibly can!