Modern way to ship car across the country

More and more transportation companies are appearing at the modern market, offering a great variety of services with a huge range of the prices. There is no need to check every particular company – you can easily use one of the famous big carriers and be sure that the service you get is in correspondence with standard requirements.

If you are looking for a carrier to ship a car across the country, you most probably will be very interested in knowing the approximate cost of such a long-trip delivery. Here we will pay special attention to this particular type of delivery as well as give you some tips on how to make the price a little bit lower.

Price

A cross-country car shipment can vary significantly depending on the original and final destinations. For more convenience and visibility, we will provide you with some price examples in regards to the main routes.

Thus, if you are planning to make a car ship across the country from Florida to New York, it can cost you from 650 USD till 1,100 USD. Here we need to underline that the distance here is not the only main factor of the price. The type of your vehicle plays an important role, and of course, the smaller and lighter the vehicle, the cheaper will be the delivery. In case of a typical sedan the price will rarely go higher than 850 USD, while to ship a SUV you will need at least 800 USD for the mentioned route.

Another example is the New York-California route. Here transporting a sedan will cost you between 600 USD and 1,000 USD. And in case of heavier and more massive vehicles you will unlikely pay less than 800 USD for the delivery.

Additional factors

Obviously, the big difference between the prices mentioned above cannot be caused only by different pricing policies of various carriers. To ship your car cross country, you also need to take into consideration additional details. Knowing them will make it possible to slightly cut the price.

1. Seasonality. It’s not always applicable because many people need to ship their car across the country without pre-planning. For example, in case you need this service when buying a new house, usually the deal of purchase is not very easy to plan in advance. On the other hand, it can occur that you apply for this transportation service on a pretty regular basis. For example, having the second house in the South where you are going from the North every winter allows you to book the delivery in advance. Here you can check with the carrier which weeks and dates are the cheapest and, therefore, make the deal more attractive.
2. Delivery time. Even if you think that the distance between your required destinations can be covered within a few days, it’s not that fast with a transportation company (except you are paying extra for the individual delivery which is very expensive). To ship your car across country will normally take up to several weeks. A lot depends on the particular directions. Thus, if you consider the trip from the very East to the West, it can take about 14 days but if you are lucky and there are some orders next to your destinations, the estimated waiting time may take just 5-6 days. It’s faster to arrange the delivery of your vehicle from North to South which normally will not take more than 7-8 days. And of course, there is almost always a possibility to make it with expedited or express service. On the other hand, you may vice versa request the transportation company to keep your car for a bit until you, for example, move all your belongings and furniture to a new house. This service also requires extra payment from your side. In these examples we can see that the final price can fully depend on your flexibility. As soon as you have any strict restrictions in regards to time, in most cases it will cost you more.
3. Type of the truck. There are some situations when an enclosed transportation is unavoidable. For example, when we are talking about essentially expensive cars (sports, exclusive, classic, rare etc.) or if the vehicle that needs to be delivered has a low ground clearance. But in many other cases you can ship cars cross country through a much cheaper open carrier. The differences between these two types of the transporters can reach up to 60 percent. It fully depends on the transportation company you are choosing – sometimes a good professional carrier will deliver your car much safer with an open transport than an inexperienced new company will do via enclosed truck.

You can also check if any discounts are applicable in your case. Even 35 USD when you need to ship a car across country can become an essential detail when choosing between several carriers. The examples of the customers’ groups which can apply for the discounts can include students, seniors, military, first-time shippers, return clients, early birds and many others. You need to carefully check this detail within several carriers to find the most attractive offer.

Company to choose

We cannot name the best ever transportation company which will equally fit all kinds of customers. Some of them are looking for the cheapest possible price while others pay special attention to the safety and personalized service.

In the first case we could mention such companies and websites as Bargain Auto Transport, UShip, Easy Auto Ship, AmeriFreight (mostly because of its great discounts) and many others. Some of them are acting as brokers or marketplaces allowing the potential customers to compare the offers from different carriers and to choose the most attractive ones (not only in regards to the price itself but also considering the conditions of the deal such as the insurance policy, period of delivery, additional options and others).

In regards to the safety we can mention Horseless Carriage which is especially famous and popular among the cars’ collectors and is usually used by them to deliver a valuable car to and from different showrooms and exhibitions. Intercity Lines is one of the most reliable carriers specialized on the enclosed transportation. Golden Key Express will definitely make you feel very special with its tailored service provided by the family-owned transportation company. Here the price is higher than average and the fleet is not that various, but you can be sure that they will take good care of your car during the whole trip.