A Quick Guide to Choosing the Best Car Shipping Company
When it comes to shipping cars, whether you’re an individual moving across the country, a dealership, or a company, it’s always important to work with a car shipping company that you can trust. It may seem difficult to arrange the transportation of one or more automobiles long distance, but you can find a company that will do the best job at a reasonable price to take the stress out of the task. When it comes to choosing the right car shipping company, follow these steps:
1. Research and Explore
Jump online and research the companies that you’re interested in using. Their websites will include customer reviews that will give you pertinent insight into the operation of the business and how well they treat their customers. Even if you find a company that has a negative review, take note of how they respond to their customers. Nobody is perfect, but the way they treat customers will tell you a lot about the type of business they are running.
When it comes to doing additional research, check out your local Better Business Bureau to see if there have been any significant complaints about a particular company. If you do find complaints, you can find whether or not that company followed up about the complaints and how they solved it.
2. Get a Quote
Get a quote online from one or more companies that you’ve found online. Some companies will specialize in certain types of vehicles like luxury cars for dealerships, while others focus on individuals and shipping their cars across the United States.
Make sure you understand the type of services offered before you ask for a quote from the company. If a company doesn’t normally ship luxury vehicles, they may quote you less than a company known for it, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that they are the right auto shipping company for the job.
3. Verify
Now that you have at least one quote in-hand, it’s time to contact the companies you’re interested in. It’s always best to pick up the phone and speak with a representative than it is to send an email. This allows you to understand their customer service, and you can have all of your questions answered in one sitting.
One of the first things you should ask is whether or not the carrier has all of the licenses and bond information that’s required of them. These pieces of information should be filed with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), where you can research the safety record of specific auto shipping companies.
4. Ask Questions
Now that you’ve had initial contact with an auto shipper, it’s time for you to understand their process. After your phone call is over, you should know info about how long the process takes, what type of insurance they have, their available delivery options, and the payment process.
5. Schedule Pickup
Once you have the answers to all of your questions and you’ve decided which auto transport company is right for you, it’s time to schedule a pickup of the vehicle. Keep all of your documentation for the shipment in case there are problems later.
Factors to Consider When Looking for an Auto Transport Company
Because there are so many auto transport companies to choose from, it can be difficult to narrow down your list of options from hundreds to three. While you can choose to spend the time researching every company, we recommended choosing 2-5 that you think would be right for the job before digging deeper into their track record and requesting quotes to compare. When on the hunt for a car transport company, you should consider the following:
Quality over Quantity
Auto transport companies typically ship hundreds if not thousands of vehicles every day. While a company may brag about how many vehicles it ships, the way they do business and treat their customers and their cars should be more important.
While getting from point A to B is important, it’s more important that the car arrives there in the same shape that it left. The same is true when it comes to price. Don’t simply choose the cheapest option because it’s the cheapest; make sure that the company you work with was chosen because of their quality.
Choose Based on Services and Track Record
It’s no use wasting your time trying to contact or get a quote form a company that ships luxury vehicles for dealerships if you’re an individual who needs to ship a 2010 Toyota Camry. These companies likely won’t ship your car or will charge you more than necessary in order to do so. Make sure you choose a company with experience shipping the type of vehicle you have and can offer you the best price.
You should also make sure that their services can meet your needs. You may require door-to-door service or enclosed auto transport, so it’s important to work only with companies that can offer you what you’re looking for.
Ensure Credibility
Always make sure to check out an auto shipping company’s website to ensure trustworthiness and credibility. You may want to ask for references so that you know you can put your car in their hands and trust that it will make it to its destination safely.
Shipping a vehicle doesn’t have to be difficult. Work with an auto transport company that can safely ship your car. Contact us today for a free, no-hassle quote.
