Nuances for cars shipping for cheap
As soon as you are sure that you will need to transport your car from one point to another, you will definitely try to look for car shipping for cheap. There is nothing unusual about it, and even people who possess a really expensive and rare car still will not want to pay additional hundreds of dollars for the service they can get cheaper. The main point in this regard is to find a transportation company which will be able to arrange the shipping a car cheap and, at the same time, with an appropriate level of quality.
Here are some factors that can influence the final price. We will consider them both in the qualitative and the quantitative ways.
Method of the delivery
This choice fully depends on the vehicle you are going to send and the budget you have. Thus, if we are talking about a used and pretty ordinary passenger’s sedan, the most common option in this case is to apply for open transportation. In this case the car will be loaded on the open-framed trailer aside with dozens of others. Beside the fact that the driver of this truck will need to make more stops to pick up and deliver more vehicles, normally the estimated waiting time here is shorter than in case of an enclosed delivery. This second option is also more expensive (we can talk about the difference between 20 up to 80 percent depending on the particular route and other circumstances), but its main benefit is that the car will be fully covered from all four sides and, therefore, it’s a great option for more expensive and exotic cars to be delivered. Many transportation companies provide both a cheap car shipping and an expensive enclosed method, so it’s always better to consider two variants, especially if the difference in prices is not that big.
Conditions of the car
If you are looking for the shipping car cheap process, you need to make sure your vehicle is in operable condition. There is nothing about problems with the lights or the windscreen wipers but mostly about the brakes, rolls, steering wheel and other essential parts of the car. If your car is non-running, it will not only cost you most to transport it from one place to another, but will even complicate the whole process of searching for an appropriate transporter as not every carrier is ready to deliver inoperable vehicles. In regards to the cost, with damaged brakes and steers you can expect to pay a hundred of dollars extra while in case of the car that needs to be winched or forklifted the extra cost can raise up to 500 dollars. Definitely, it’s a big amount of money, so if you are planning to fix your vehicle anyway, it’s always better to do it before the transportation service.
The cheapest car shipping in the low season
Almost every industry and sphere of the services has its low and high season. In regards to the transportation service the winter is the car shipping cheapest way when you can expect to save maximum of money but, on the other hand, you will also need to wait longer period for your vehicle to be picked up and delivered while the weather conditions can also essentially affect the overall experience, especially if you chose the open method. Summertime is a most expensive time where you can expect to pay from 200 dollars up to 800 dollars extra, especially in the peak time. Therefore, it’s suggested to choose a “golden mean” – spring or autumn to receive a pretty much quick service of the car’s transportation while not paying too much extra for the busy time of the carrier.
Advance booking
Car shipping cheapest procedure includes the possibility of advance booking. Of course, in the overwhelming majority of cases it’s not possible to predict the necessity of this service too much in advance, but even in the case of a few months earlier reservation you can expect to get some valuable discount. You can easily find it in the “discounts” part of the transportation company’s website called “early birds”. The difference is not too big, but at least you can use the opportunity to save some money for something else.
This was about the pick-up date mostly, but there is also an estimated delivery period which can essentially influence the final price. Normally, the transportation process can take up to a few weeks, and that is what you as a car’s owner should expect in the case of shipping cars cheap version. But of course, such a long period of time can become quite inconvenient for the person as in modern life most of us are fully dependent on the possibility to drive the car and, therefore, to move to different destinations like home, work, supermarket etc. In this case you can always apply for the expedited service. In some companies there is even a choice between different variants of such a service depending on the urgency and the budget you are willing to pay for the expedited delivery. On average, for the express transportation of the SUV you can add about 75 dollars to the original quote.
Appropriate routes
Even if we are talking about exactly the same mileage between the pick-up and drop-off locations, the price can be very different. You can find a pretty cheap shipping cars method in case of the locations in the big cities and popular routes for the carrier. But if the spots are in a very remote rural area the price will rise accordingly. You need to take into account that the driver of the truck will need to make an essential loop only because of your particular car, therefore, all the expenses for the fuel consumption and extra working hours will lay only on you.
There is a solution if you are not willing to pay that much extra – you can choose a terminal-to-terminal transportation. Of course, in this case you will need to arrange the delivery of the car to and from the appropriate terminals, but at least it will take less time and definitely will be a cheaper option.
Use the discounts
Car shipping for cheap cannot be considered without various discounts you can find in the carriers’ offers. For students, seniors, military, regular bookers, early birds – here you can find everything. Normally, the discount can be around 20-100 dollars, but it’s definitely a good opportunity to cut the final quote.