What Is the Best Way to Ship My Car?

Benefit of shipping your rv

Shipping a car can be a hassle but it is being done more and more often and car moving is bug business. The United States car shipping industry is growing, currently it is worth about $12 billion. More and more cars are being sold online by companies such as eBay Motors, cars.com, carsdirect.com and autotrader.com.  They sell approximately 15 million cars a year. Interstate sales make up 75% of transactions involving cars on eBay, according to USA Today. And then there are all the people who just want to move and need to get their vehicles to their new home or vacation spot.

There are a lot of costs associated with vehicle shipping. If you find yourself in he position where you have to move a car from one state to another you should consider the following:

  1. How much can you spend?
  2. How flexible can i be regarding the dates?
  3. What is the distance I need to ship a car?
  4. Is the vehicle running?

To save money, some people will hire someone to drive their car from their old home to the new one. This can be risky, especially if you don’t know the person who will do the driving well. It also would not make sense if you have purchased a vintage vehicle and want to insure it arrives in the same condition you bought it in.

For most people, a safer alternative is to hire a professional car shipping company.  How do you pick one? You want a dependable shipping company to move your vehicle. Here are some tips for finding the right company to move a car.

  1. Shop around. Get price quotes from at least a few companies. At the vert least you will know you did your research and got a good price.
  2. Practice due diligence.  Research the companies’ safety record and look up customer reviews. Ask people you know for recommendations. Check Facebook groups for options. You want a company that people rave about after they have used them.
  3. Don’t go by price alone.  The most expensive service might not be the best and the cheapest might cost you more later. After you have gotten some quotes, be wary of companies that fall really outside the average price range. If they are super cheap, the company might not be able to help you complete your move. For example, the average cost to move a car from New York to San Francisco (nearly 3,000 miles) is $1,000.
  4. Plan your move or purchase for the winter. Vehicle shipping will cost you about $200-300 less in the winter.

Shipping a car for a move or any reason does not need to be terribly stressful. There are a number of companies that can ship a vehicle safely all over the country. If you do a little research before hand, you will feel much better with any company you select to do this.

Three Preparation Tips for Shipping a Car

Motorcycle transport

You may not have the option of really preparing your car before it’s shipped (especially if you’re the recipient, and not the sender). But if you do have the opportunity to get your car ready before it’s shipped, being well-prepared will ensure that you have a great experience with whichever car transport service you use. So, here are just a few important things to put on your preparation checklist:

  1. Be sure to remove all valuable personal items from inside the car, and if you have anything on the car’s exterior that can be removed (like a spoiler, or a fancy antenna), be sure to remove those features as well. Even though a trustworthy car shipping service shouldn’t make you wonder if something will get stolen, it’s possible that personal items and protruding add-ons could be damaged during a move.
  2. Try to get your gas tank down to around one-fourth full (and definitely map out where the nearest gas station will be at the car’s final destination). This is more for a weight concern than for a safety concern; car shipping companies often appreciate when you get your gas tank as low as possible, because it significantly reduces the weight of the car (and if the company charges rates based on weight, a lower gas tank could save you money, too!).
  3. Because a car shipment can take anywhere from a couple of days to a couple of months, it’s important to make sure that your car battery is charged fully. The battery dies down even when a car isn’t in use, so making sure that your battery is fully charged will ensure that you’re able to drive it off the lot once it’s finally delivered.

Remember, this is far from a complete list, and depending on the car you’re shipping and the vehicle transport service you’ve chosen to use, you may have to make different preparations before you ship a car across the country. But if you feel like we’ve left out some really important preparation tips, be sure to let us know in the comments section!