Average shipping cars’ quotes in the industry
The quote of car shipping is something that many people are not dealing with on a regular basis. But this is a very important aspect when a car’s owner decides if to spend some time and effort to drive the car on its own or just simply to apply for the professional service of one of the numerous auto transport companies. Moreover, you need to remember that when deciding to drive the car you will put extra mileage on its odometer which is not always a good idea. Especially if we are talking about the trips across the whole country.
Today, with a huge competition in the transportation industry, you can pretty easily find a car quote of shipping you can afford. But you need to remember that the price is not the main aspect of the choice. Especially if we are talking about such an important property object as a car. For many families this is one of the most valuable items, and it’s crucial to make sure you can hand it over to a transportation company for the delivery purpose.
The best deal
To get quotes on shipping a car, you can just visit an official website of any transport carrier or a broker. But to get an idea if the price you are getting is adequate and fair you should know the overall tendency on the market. Luckily, you don’t need to make all the investigations on your own as it would take at least a couple of days – you can easily find all the important information here.
Thus, shipping car quote in the case of across the country transportation will most probably be somewhere between 500 and 1,000 dollars. Unfortunately, there is no possibility to get an average price for your particular car and the route online as there are too many offers to check. But if you are considering an open transport for your car, you can easily compare the offer you got from the potential carrier or broker with the average car shipping quote with an open-air platform of 710 dollars. For the enclosed trucks, where your vehicle will be placed inside and, therefore, fully protected both from nature and from the people, we can already talk about 1,120 dollars on average.
Beside the quote on shipping a car overall, it’s also useful to operate the information about the quotes per mile as they are fully depending on the whole trip’s distance. Not everybody knows this tip but it definitely can help you to make the order of the transportation service more affordable and convenient. Thus, you can expect the quote of a shipping car around 1.10 dollars for the delivery between nearby states (like California and New York), but the longer distance you are considering, the lower quote per mile you can expect to get. And if you need to arrange the transportation of your vehicle across the whole country, the rate can be even 40 cents per mile.
Different factors
When talking about the quotes for car shipping, you need to keep in mind a lot of aspects and details. For example, the delivery period. First of all, you need to understand that a very few transportation companies can pick your car up the same day you signed the contract for the delivery service. Most commonly it can happen if you are located in a big city or near the terminals of the transporter. In all other cases you can expect to wait for at least a couple of days, and for the remote locations we can speak even about the longer period of time. That is why, if you know the exact date you are willing to send your car to another destination, you should better try to arrange it in advance so the carrier will be able to plan the routes accordingly. By the way, this is also a good opportunity to make the shipping car quote a little bit more attractive as many transportation companies are highly interested in attracting the clients on the early stage of the planning as they can schedule the delivery process in the most effective (and profitable) way. So being a so-called early bird will allow you to apply for the according discount. More information you can usually get on the website of the carrier or during the conversation with its representative.
Another thing about the dates is the approximate delivery day. When dealing with the professional carrier you need to be aware of other vehicles the driver of the truck needs to deliver besides your own car. So normally the delivery process will take much more than just a time to cover the distance between your two spots (at least, unless you ordered an expensive individual transportation). In case of the interstate transportation, you can expect to wait up to 8-10 days on average. There are also some car shipping quotes that provide you with the expedited service. You also will need to check with the transportation company you are dealing with all the possible options. Some of them may have even a couple of versions for this expedited service. For example, you may need a slightly higher rate, and therefore your car will be in a higher priority for the transportation in comparison with others in the queue, but you still may need to wait about a week. On the other hand, there is always an express service which is much more expensive but you can get your car within 1-2 days which is very convenient and essential for many car’s owners.
Some people prefer to use the professional transporter as a good opportunity to deliver their personal belongings together with a car. Of course, it’s possible and can be quite convenient to have everything delivered at the same time. But there are some restrictions you need to follow to make sure the whole delivery process will go smoothly and efficient:
- Inform the carrier about your plans. You should not expect that the driver will not weigh your car during the loading process so there is no need to cover this information. Moreover, when knowing that there are some parcels and boxes inside the vehicle, the driver will be more careful with the loading and unloading process for your car;
- Do not put any really valuable stuff inside the car. Even if the driver will take extra care on the way, there can be a lot of sudden and unexpected obstacles on the road, especially when driving across several states. And while your car will be firmly fastened inside the trailer or onto the open platform (depending on the method of the delivery you chose), all the belongings inside the car can be easily broken and damaged;
- Too heavy items can significantly affect the final quote you will need to pay. Sometimes it makes more sense to arrange the delivery of your belongings and furniture with a separate moving company than to load your vehicle with all of it. By the way, if you are interested in applying for the service of such moving companies, you can always check with them if they are dealing with the car’s transportation as well. Thus, you can save much more money.
When choosing an offer of the car’s transportation, you can carefully check all the details in the contract, especially in regards to the insurance policy. Of course, you can find that almost every transporter includes some basic insurance coverage into the rate (according to the requirements) but if your car is very expensive and valuable, you can always add an extra insurance to make sure that in case of some damage upon the delivery, you and your wallet will be protected from any extra expenses. Many transport brokers also can offer you an additional damage-free guarantee which is also a great tool.