If you are considering taking your car across the country, you may wonder how to choose the right auto transporter.
Sometimes, to find the right road transportation service and plan, you need to know some road transportation secrets.
Auto Shipping Secrets: Brokers
One of the many secrets of road transport is that you must ask auto transport companies if they are a “road transport broker” or “road transport company” that handles all the goods they deal with. The brokers do not transport your vehicle themselves, but instead, hire other transport companies.
Most auto shippers share a universal loading and unloading bay. It’s a national inventory of vehicles that are waiting to be shipped. It is where brokers list the vehicles as well as details of origin and destination, desired mode of transport, and your requested dates for transit.
For example, When a customer transports a vehicle from New York to California, and the company from which you are receiving this offer does not have a carrier available on the desired transit dates, they will pass it along with information about the type of vehicle and what the fees are.
You can search for vehicles heading to California if there is a truck waiting to be loaded in New York City. This way, carriers can keep their trucks loaded and drop them off within a few hundred miles.
At this point, several hundred road carriers will see the placement work and may contact the company that gave the quote if they have any interest in the vehicle. It is known as “brokering” in the auto transport industry.
Many brokers may not have their own trucks. Some companies will not “brokerage” transport. They will work with a fleet of vehicles within the company, and will only accept transportation that they can manage themselves.
The brokers give fair quotations to ensure the fast delivery of your vehicle. If the price is too low, then the carriers will choose a vehicle that offers to pay more than yours.
Automatically sending a secret on how to explain why choosing the lowest quote cannot be your best option for getting a fast and reliable service. Brokerage fees, or commissions, are paid to the broker from your shipping costs.
All parties must receive payment from your fee: the brokerage company, the vehicle company that accepts the transport, and the driver.
Some brokerage companies charge up to 30% of the total shipping cost. You might want to ask the brokerage company what their share of the commission is, as higher commissions increase the price of what you pay.
More Auto Shipping Secrets
Weight And Size
Another of the secrets of road transport rarely speaks about how your car’s size and weight can play a role in the speedy delivery.
Weight is a factor with road carriers because road carriers can fit smaller vehicles on a transporter than larger SUVs or trucks. The more vehicles they can fit on a trailer, the higher the gross pay they get.
Working Hours
You may want to think about asking your transport company what their working hours are. Some companies only work 6-8 hours a day, relying solely on the national board to find a place for your transportation.
When a transportation company loads a truck, it cannot wait for you or the broker to call back the next day. Several people are waiting for their cargo to arrive. It can be a huge consideration for you when you choose a road transportation company.
Put Together The Relevant Documents You Will Need To Ship Your Car
No vehicle is complete without proper documentation. If the car that you deliver is a gift for a friend or family member, having the right documentation is paramount to the successful transfer of the car.
Fortunately, you will not need the same amount of documentation to transport your currently owned car to another state when you use a shipping company.
You should know that no shipping company will request the documentation for sending your car. Only at a car auction or at a dealership will the car carrier double-check the VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) to make sure it is carrying the correct vehicle.
Although it is ideal to have your registration, title, and insurance certificate with you when you hand over your vehicle, most shipping companies don’t need to present such documents.
However, remember to insure your car while driving on rough terrain. All shipping companies will take out their insurance policy when you ship your car, but it is better to have extra insurance on top of your insurance just in case.
Clear Out Any Valuables
Before a road carrier loads your car onto a transport trailer, you must ensure that you have cleaned up any valuables that may be inside. Some of the key places to look for valuables:
- The sides and underneath of the seats
- The center console
- The trunk
- Seat pockets
- The glove compartment
Cleaning up the valuables in your car is a “better safe than sorry” case. Otherwise, it won’t be easy to prove to the car carrier that something was inside your car when it was initially picked up.
Stay Away When It’s Being Loaded On and Off
A driver is a specialist for safely loading a car onto and off a trailer, whether it is a closed trailer, an open trailer, or a flatbed truck. For your safety, it is best to stay away from the car and trailer during this process.
It would be best if you did not stand in front of or behind the car in case something goes wrong. It will only take a split second for the impulse and weight of the car to cause serious injury to you if it rams you with any great force. Instead, it is recommended that you stand aside at least five feet away.
Let The Transport Company Know of Any Issues
If there are any problems with your vehicle, you should be prepared to solve them. The transport company should know about them in advance.
Some of the transport problems that can endanger both your car and the driver:
- Brake issues
- Electrical issues
- Leakage issues
- Mechanical issues.
For example, if your car has a gas leak, it can be hazardous during transport because of its flammability. Take note that gas leakage is one of the main causes of all fires in your car.
The Driver Will Take Care of the Rest
Also, by following the above tips and preparing your vehicle based on the instructions provided to you by the road carrier, the driver will take care of compliance with various safety protocols. Getting a vehicle from one point to another is the easiest and safest way for all those involved.
What To Do Once Your Car Arrives
You may be the one who is waiting for your car to be unloaded from the trailer at the drop-off point, or it may be a friend or family member who is waiting at the drop-off point.
Depending on the car’s driveability and your transport budget, your car can be dropped off right on the road or delivered to the parking lot and unloaded there.
As you might expect, the door-to-door service is more expensive than the terminal-to-terminal service. Know which one you are paying for, so you can plan the fence accordingly.
Hopefully, you are using a company that is on top of the line and will keep you informed of your car’s location throughout the entire delivery process so that you will not keep waiting.
When the car arrives, your driver will check the identity of the person who picks up the car to make sure that it matches the name you provided to the shipping company.
When your car touches the road surface again, remember to make a complete interior and exterior inspection of the car with the driver of the shipping company. Please take a picture at this stage, too, because you may not notice a small dent or ding, but then you may see it in a few weeks.
This way, you will have photographic evidence that the dent or ding has appeared from the moment the car arrived on the trailer, not from the moment you drove through your new city during those two weeks.
You will also need to sign the bill of lading that the trucker will offer you after examining the car. If you do find any new dents or marks on the vehicle, you can use this bill of lading to file any claim with your shipping company.
With reputable companies, such claims are rare. They use the safety of the first drivers to ensure that the vast majority of the vehicles they deliver are delivered without problems.
To Sum Up
Road transport is usually a safe process, and there is very little chance that anything will go wrong.
While road transport is generally safe, there are some essential tips on road transport security that you should be aware of, especially if you have never been through this process before.
With these road transportation secrets in mind, you should better understand how the industry works and what factors influence shipping a car.