Various situations may require you to ship your car across vast distances, from moving to traveling to selling your vehicle. As such, the ability to get your vehicle from one place to another without stress is very important. That’s why knowing how to ship your car across the country is a good idea.
Destination
The first step to shipping a car is to determine where you are shipping from and to. The destination is significant, as it’s one of the primary factors of the cost. Shipping to most popular cities with a good highway system will cost less than moving your car to a small town.
Timing
You’ll also need to determine the timing and date of your shipment before contacting a company. Of course, you need to decide a date for your move to start the process in the first place. Timing is also a factor in cost, as there are more popular times to move cars that cost you less than unpopular times.
Find a Shipping Company
Once you’ve chosen a time and set a location to move your car, you’ll need to contact a company to move your vehicle. Now, you don’t necessarily need to go local for this company, as shipping companies have vehicles all over the country. Find a place with good reviews and offers a full range of services, like us at Beacon Shipping Logistics.
Quote
Once you’ve found a few good shipping companies, contact them for a quote. They should give you an estimate of the cost of the shipment, factoring in your vehicle, location, and date. Now, this estimate is not exact, as the actual trip will determine the final cost. But it should give you a basic idea of how much you’ll pay.
Book Your Time
Once you have the quote, the obvious next step is to decide who you’ll use as your shipping company and make a booking. You will also need to decide which of their services you want to take advantage of, such as enclosed or open shipping and door-to-door shipping.
Get Your Car Ready
Now that you have an appointment, you will need to get your vehicle ready for the trip. There are several things you should do before the shipment, as they can alter the price of the service:
- Empty Your Car – Any items in your vehicle during the shipping process will make it heavier. This weight increase will add a lot to the final price tag. Also, the insurance on your vehicle does not cover any items inside during the trip.
- Clean Your Car – Having dirt and grim on your vehicle can make it a lot harder to determine any damage it has. It also means that it will be hard to see if it sustains any additional damage during the trip, so clean your car before you leave it in a company’s hands.
- Record Your Vehicle – Before you ship your car, you will want to record everything about its condition. Take as many pictures as you can from a variety of angles to document what it looks like. And, of course, you’ll want to do this after you clean your car.
Drop Off your Vehicle
On the day of your vehicle shipment, there are several things you will need to do. As previously stated, make sure it’s empty of unnecessary items. Also, don’t refuel the car, as the extra weight of the gas will increase your end cost. It is best to keep only enough fuel in it to get it onto the truck and then to the nearest gas station once it reaches its destination.
Once you bring the vehicle to the pick-up spot, you might have some paperwork to sign if you did not already complete it. You’ll then need to go through a bill of laden process. This document will act as an official record of all the damage the vehicle has before the transfer. It’s an incredibly important process, as it’s really hard to report any damages that might occur during the shipping process without that clear documentation. This is where cleaning your car and taking pictures can come in handy. You want this to be as accurate as possible, so be proactive in this step.
After the bill of laden is complete, you will hand off your vehicle. The driver will take your keys, as well, so make sure you take any other necessary keys from your keychain. You should also be ready with the vehicle’s VIN to verify that the car present is the same one that you mean to ship.
Wait For the Shipment
Now that your vehicle is in the hands of the shipping company, there isn’t too much you can do to affect it. From here, you can simply go about your business without needing to stress about where and how your car is—though some car transport logistics do offer daily updates from the carrier drivers about how the trip is going. In any case, just make sure you have a way back home once you hand over the vehicle; you don’t want to end up stuck in the parking lot. Of course, if you are using door-to-door shipping, they can pick up your car from anywhere, even your home.
Pick Up Your Vehicle
Once your car is ready for pick-up, you’ll need to head to a lot to get it. Although, again, you won’t have to do this if you use door-to-door shipping, as they will drop your vehicle off wherever you need. Once your car is where you need it, there will be an exit bill of laden process to check for damage. Again, be thorough in this process to make sure your vehicle sustained no additional damage during transport. Once you finish this process, you can take your car back with you.
That is how to ship your car across the country. With just a phone call and a few days of waiting, you can get your car from one state to another will as little hassle as possible.
Comments are closed.