The car shipping experience is one that most people don’t undergo. It’s not surprising – most of us have never had to ship a car before. But for anyone new to it, the act of transporting a vehicle can come with some surprises. Whether those surprises come from the way pickup and delivery dates work, to how payments work, or something else, being surprised when transporting a car is never fun. More importantly, it can lead to a negative car shipping experience, which is something we strive to avoid.
That’s why we’ve decided to give out this handy guide to improving your own auto transport experience. Here are five tips on how to improve your experience when transporting a vehicle.
Understand the car shipping experience
It’s important to understand just how shipping a car works. We have plenty of literature on the process, from start to finish, that you can read. For instance, take a look at our Auto Transport from Start to Finish for a good overview.
If you don’t have time to click the link, we’ll summarize. To start, you find a car transport company (like us), and you hire them to transport your vehicle. Once you book your order, your chosen company will work to find you a carrier that will transport your car within the time frame that you require.
Once a carrier is assigned, the transport company will charge you their deposit or down payment, and the rest you will pay to the driver at delivery. At pickup, you and the driver that was assigned to transport your vehicle will do an inspection and sign the Bill of Lading. Once your car is at delivery, you do a second inspection, sign the Bill of Lading again and pay the driver. Congratulations, you’re finished!
Understanding how it works is crucial to having a quality car shipping experience and makes the following tips a lot easier to understand and implement.
2: Plan ahead
Now that you know how the process works, it’s time to start discussing how to approach the transportation of your vehicle. The first step is to plan accordingly. Of course, it can be challenging to prepare for something like transporting a car. But your car shipping experience will be better if you take a little bit of time and work out your schedule ahead of time.
Figuring out when you need to ship and how much you can spend to get it done are two crucial steps that you need to address immediately. We recommend that you book your transportation for at least a few days ahead. So if you’re looking to have your vehicle picked up on Thursday or Friday, book your shipment Monday at the earliest.
This advice can change depending on numerous factors. Summertime tends to be busier, so more lead time is necessary there as it can take time to find a carrier for you. Winter months tend to see expedited shipments move more quickly, as there is less freight on the road. When there is less freight on the load boards, prices go down, as there is less competition for loads among carriers.
Regardless, you should give yourself time to get everything done. Being forced to rush your shipment can result in higher prices and also delays that could impact your schedule.
Remember, this isn’t like ordering a pizza. It takes time and planning to execute the transportation of your vehicle successfully, so do what you can to help your shipper.
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Contact Details
Phone
888-996-8228
Sales Dept.
(678) 541-7568
General communication
info@usaautoship.com
Mailing Address
USA Auto Shipping 1710 Russell Pond Ln, Lawrenceville, GA, 30043
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