Having your car transported is a pretty stressful situation. It’s hard enough to let someone else drive your car, let alone load it on a truck for a road trip. Deciding to transport your car on an enclosed truck will help you sleep at night, but what are the costs? It can be a rather confusing industry to navigate at the beginning, but we have collected the information here to help you understand what goes into quoting the transportation of vehicles so you can avoid any “surprises”.
Diving into the world of auto transport, you'll be greeted by a barrage of quotes from various companies. But here's the twist: these numbers are more like educated guesses. Why? Because the auto transport market changes with supply and demand.
You do not want to think of it like buying tickets for a flight, reserving a spot in advance will not save you money and there is not likely a truck to “reserve” further out than maybe a week.
To get your car picked up by a carrier within a reasonable timeframe (usually 1-3 days), it's essential to grasp how the system works. Brokers place your transport request on a load board, setting a price aligned with current market rates. Trucking companies, aiming for efficiency, prefer stringing together multiple jobs. They scour load boards for loads in their vicinity, balancing the need to minimize costs with the requirement to fill their trucks for profitability.
Pricing is mainly based on the distance traveled or cost per mile.
However, the industry operates on a bidding system where prices fluctuate based on demand, route popularity, and even the specifics of your vehicle. So, expecting a fixed price upfront is almost impossible.
Auto transporters have their ways to give you the closest estimate they can, but there are no guarantees. They consider things like:
-The route: Is it a busy highway or a less-traveled backroad?
-Your car: Is it a sleek convertible or a bulky SUV?
-Timing: Planning to move during the holiday rush or the off-season?
-Flexibility: Are your pick-up and delivery dates set in stone, or can you go with the flow?
Currently, there are about 5 times more cars requesting shipments than there are trucks, so to get moved in a timely manner, you’re going to want to pay the going rate.
That initial quote is a ballpark figure. The real deal gets hammered out when a carrier says, "Yep, I'll take this job," and that's when the price can shift. This could be due to a sudden spike in demand (think city-wide evacuations) or simply because your pickup spot is off the beaten path.
It is important to work with a company that is upfront about costs. A reputable company will provide a quote that falls within a reasonable range of the final cost, typically within $100 to $250 of the initial estimate. If they're promising the moon for pennies, be cautious. In this industry, if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. You may want to pick a company based on reviews rather than the actual dollar amount.
Certain actions or oversights can bump up the cost of transport unexpectedly:
- Overloading your car with more than 100 lbs of items.
- Stacking items high enough to obstruct window visibility.
- Leaving valuables in the car.
- Transporting an uninsured vehicle.
- Placing items in the front seats.
Working with brokers can be tricky. Their primary focus might lean more towards making sales than ensuring quality transport. It’s a good practice to directly verify with the trucking company that the rate your broker quotes matches up with what you’re expected to pay to avoid surprises.
