5 Common Long-Distance Car Transport Mistakes And How To Avoid Them
Long-distance transport can be for whatever. Most of us, for a lot of different reasons, decide to utilize transport services for our stuff, cars and even our homes. Yes, if you didn’t know it is possible to transport an entire home from point A to point B.
Now when it comes to transportation many issues can come from this. There are mistakes made by those who are hiring transport as well as by those that are providing you with the service. As in anything some mistakes are bigger, some are smaller and negligible, but why make them at all.
As you can see the topic of today’s article is long-distance car transportation and the mistakes we make. Today we will talk about these and share some insights on how to avoid them. Most of you by now are wondering why would someone ship their car across the country when they can drive it there.
There are a lot of reasons to use long-distance transport or Car Shipping Carriers but we will not go into those this time. Today we will teach you about avoiding the most common mistakes tied to this.
1. Online quotes and prices
Whenever you are online browsing for these types of services and whenever you fill out a form online for a quote you instantly get blasted with dozens of phone calls and you do not know who is calling and for what reason.
Those online quotes for these types of jobs are your info collection services which then send your info to 20 different auto transport companies all calling to say that they are available, that they can pick up your car today for the lowest of low prices and so on. What we are saying here is not to trust these online services, just on the contrary, you can trust them you just have to find the best car shipping companies out there.
Another thing is to never say yes to those that offer the lowest prices. Money is always an issue but when you are transporting your car, you really shouldn’t cheap out on the service. Another thing to consider is the fact that although you do hire the cheapest service, the cheapest quote is never going to happen anyway.
This is the way to get you locked in and take your deposit to secure your business. The reality is that your end price will never be what they locked you in with and if it is you will probably wait months for your car pickup.
2. You won’t experience
When it comes to the trucking world and business, experience is what matters. This fact ties in nicely with the previous one where money is an issue. If you go and get the lowest possible price for your car transport the most likely scenario is that you will attract brand new haulers with no experience whatsoever or that you will get the other side – a lot of experience but a bad track record.
Those are your two worst options when it comes to this and neither one of those is going to pan out the right way. So, make sure you always hire a company with experience in business and with drivers that have experience in this type of work.
This could be taken the wrong way when it comes to newcomers in the trucking world and it could make you think that they are all bad. Just the opposite, it all comes down to who has been training them and who are they working for…
3. Be mindful of delivery and pickup time
When it comes to pickup and car delivery services, we all expect them to be just as advertised or as agreed on, meaning the exact time of pickup and exact time of delivery. What you need to know is that most of these car delivery services, well at least those small ones, are limited in drivers and trucks and they are doing their best to uphold agreements and get your car shipped to where it needs to be.
Another thing to know is that all of these companies work on windows meaning they are never transporting only one car, they will pick up more along the way if it is down their route and sometimes, they need to wait for working hours or other things similar.
What you need to expect is that most of the car delivery services, mainly those that do long hauls will operate on a two-day window on pickup and delivery. You also have to take into consideration the elements of the world and how they impact drivers, your cargo, and the times needed to get from point A to point B. There are a lot of things that may impact times of pickup and delivery but the top you should expect and hope for is this two-day window.
4. Watch what they are offering you
What you are offered as a means of transport is important. Since we are talking about cars you need to know that there are two different types of car transport available – open and closed trailers. Now depending on your car, what it’s worth, and what its profile is you should get a real offer if a hauling company is serious.
They will offer closed trailers for any expensive, exotic and low-profile cars because these are the only ways you will get that car transported safely and soundly from point A to point B. flatbeds and other open trailers are OK for all other types of vehicles and for shorter routes where you can predict and plan for the weather.
Yes, this also plays a huge role, because a serious hauling company will always consider this and should offer you the best for your car with all things considered.
5. Never put anything inside of the car
One thing that people always do is stuff their car with a lot of other things or personal items to fully utilize the transport. We understand that the car offers plenty of space which can be stuffed with other things and transported with the car but you really shouldn’t do that.
Serious transport services will warn you about this and they will tell you that they are reasonable for the car and the car alone. Everything else that is on it or in it is not their concern and they will not be held accountable. So as a safe thing to do ship your car by itself and nothing else, this is the safest way for everyone.