Long distance trips for shipping the vehicle

If you need to deliver your vehicle whatever it is in the USA, in most cases you consider quite a long route. Moreover, a majority of people are applying for shipping a vehicle cross the country which definitely requires more attention to the details. Here we will cover the main points to take into consideration as well as an average cost for such a service.

What you need to know before shipping a vehicle

A lot of factors can influence both the final price and the estimated waiting period for the delivery.

Of course, one of the main points is to choose an appropriate company. Nowadays you have an option of the carrier itself or a transportation broker who will help you to find the better deal. There are some advantages and disadvantages for both of the variants, but overall, it’s always better to deal directly with the carrier. That is how you will be able to discuss all the details in advance and avoid any misunderstanding caused by the broker’s involvement.

When choosing a carrier, you need to carefully check its reputation. And various reviews which you can find on the Internet will definitely help you to make the right choice. You can simply use Google and the name of the vehicle’s shipping company to find more information about the quality of service it provides.

You also need to check if this particular company is dealing with shipping of vehicles for your state or region. This is especially important for such remote states as Alaska and Hawaii. Luckily, nowadays the issue with transportation to these regions is slowly being resolved by various famous and big carriers.

You also need to carefully consider the vehicle for the shipping across the country. Normally, on the carrier’s or the broker’s website you will find a special online calculator which will require you to insert the make and model as well as the year of your particular car. Afterwards you will get a preliminary quota for its delivery. Here is an important detail – in case you somehow changed the standard configuration of your car, you need to inform the company’s representative about this. Of course, in some cases you will be required to pay an extra fee for additional inches or kilos of your car, but it’s better than if you will figure out that because of these extra sizes it can not be placed on the truck (especially if we are considering an enclosed transportation).

Tips for pricing

First of all, it will be useful to know the average cost for shipping a vehicle across the country to make sure you have found a fair deal. And the main difference you will meet here is a different quota per mile depending on the distance. As we are considering here mostly long-distance trips, the quota for the route of 1,500 miles and more will be about 0,60 USD per mile. For the comparison, a short-distance trip less than 500 miles will take up to 2 USD per mile. Therefore, if you are planning to apply for the trip with 1,500 miles, you should expect to pay about 870 USD.

When you see such prices, you need to consider that it’s for open transport. In case of the enclosed cross-country vehicle shipping, you should expect to pay additional 40-60 percent to the price depending on the particular company and other additional services.

Beside the type of the truck, the main factors that can affect the final price are the following:

• The date and the season. The first is important to consider in case you can afford to make pre-arrangement. Usually, the carrier will give you a good discount or some additional bonuses if you will make a reservation for shipping the vehicle at least a couple of months in advance. This will allow the company to prepare a better schedule for the deliveries. In regards to the seasonality, wintertime is less popular and in demand for the cars’ transportation. That is why, on one hand, you will get 200-300 USD cheaper price, on the other hand, you will need to wait a little bit longer until the carrier will deliver your vehicle;
• Express service is one of the most common services provided by the carriers. Sometimes you even have a few options. For example, you can pay a little bit more and you will get an expedited service. This means you still may wait, but your car will be in priority for the carrier so you will skip the queue. There is also a fully express service with the opportunity to get your car within 24 hours which will definitely cost you much more;
• Car’s condition. It is pretty essential when considering shipping a vehicle cross the country if it’s operable or not. Especially in regards to the brakes, steer and rolls. Some companies have specific restrictions in this regard as non-operable car will require additional equipment to load it on the truck.

It’s always possible to check with the carrier’s representative about all the possible ways to cut the price. Some of them have a special discount for some groups of people like students, military, senior people or just a repeatable client. Also, you may not know but the near dates of yours can be cheaper for you because there are already orders for the same destinations. And the difference can be up to a couple of hundreds of dollars which is not that little.

Among the best carriers in the USA, we would recommend checking out AmeriFreight, Easy Auto Ship, Montway Auto Transport, a popular broker Bargain Auto Transport and others. Good reputation in this case is one of the most important and influential features to consider. You should not follow only the price filters.