The Cost of Car Shipping (Video)

Mike Scenna of PAL talks about the cost of car shipping, including the many factors that go into quoting a price for your auto transport.

Hi, I’m Mike Scenna, sales manager at Preowned Auto Logistics. A question I get asked all the time is, “How much does it cost to ship a car?” There’s really no straightforward answer to this question. There are tons of factors that go into determining a true cost. A lot of people think it’s just about the mileage, but that couldn’t be any further from the truth.

Think of shipping a car like renting a spot on a truck. There’s only so many spaces and there’s a weight limit that the truck needs to meet. So the bigger and heavier the car, the more money it’s going to be. So it’s less about mileage and a little bit more about size of the vehicle.

Another big factor that goes into this is the seasonality or commonality of the lane. Again, you’re renting out that spot on a truck, so a lane that’s traveled more frequently is going to have more spaces traveling back and forth, to and from that destination, making spots more available and resulting in a better price. Whereas a lane that’s not traveled as often has less spots and it is going to result in more money to find one of those spots.

When it comes to getting an accurate quote, the best thing to do is speak to someone who is experienced and professional, someone who can give you an accurate quote that knows the lanes and knows what factors truly go into shipping a car.