Considerations When Choosing an Auto Transport Company!

Auto transport company

For all car owners, the need to transport your car is something all have encountered or will encounter at some point. Vehicle dealerships can also use auto transport company services to transfer cars to their customers or other dealership locations.

When the need for vehicle shipping arises, this is where car transporters come in. Car transporters offer car hauling services. They pick up your car or you bring it to them, and then they transport it to your desired location using car freight trucks.

Shipping cars is an expensive and often nerve-racking experience for the client. This is due to the possibility of car damage in shipping or even accidents. As a client, you should ensure you choose the right auto transporter to alleviate the worries associated with vehicle transportation.

Numerous factors constitute a good auto transport company. In this article, we shall discuss the six main factors to consider before choosing a car freighting company in our step by step guide to ship cars.

1.   Reputation

In this era of technological advancements, it is easy to get fooled by the internet. Companies that offer poor car hauling services can fool you into thinking that they are the best. A common tactic used is the creation of fake customer reviews on websites.

To deceive potential clients, car transport companies can produce fake customer reviews that promote the company. To avoid this, you should consider getting actual car hauling company recommendations from close people.

Actual recommendations from people have lower chances of disappointing you as compared to online reviews on personal websites. 

If you do not have friends who know good automotive shipping companies, you can rely on third-party websites. Pay keen attention to recommendations from sites about automotive. They can have the best recommendations.

2.   Company Licensing, Insurance, and Bonding

This is a key factor when it comes to alleviation of risk from the client. Before choosing a car hauling company, check to ensure that the company is licensed, bonded, and insured. You should also check for the insurance company to check whether it is reputable.

Choosing a licensed car freight company alleviates the possible risk of the hauling truck getting impounded. The truck can be impounded due to a lack of necessary business licenses. 

Business insurance and bonding help make sure that you do not incur losses in case of an emergency. If, for instance, the freight truck gets into an accident and your car gets wrecked, the business’ insurance and bond will ensure you get paid back.

These three key factors are a necessity for any shipping company. They are factors that you should not ignore or cheap out on. 

3.   Carrier Shipping Charge

We have all heard the saying, good work ain’t cheap and cheap work is not good. When choosing a car hauling company, price is a huge factor to consider. When developing quotations, the car hauling companies factor in the size/weight of the car, distance to be covered, and shipping method. 

Before going with a specific auto shipping company, compare vehicle transportation quotes from various shipping companies. Get an online quote to ship the car across the country. Factor in the different charges and get an average cost. If you note that one of the companies offers a weirdly low price, avoid that.

Cheap car transport companies often compromise on various factors, especially the safety of the cars during transportation.

While avoiding the overly cheap companies, you should also factor in your economic intelligence. Avoid going for expensive companies if you find they offer the same services and transportation methods as others.

Oftentimes, you will find well-established and reputable companies charging more. This is due to the company factoring in their popularity when offering services.

Choose a car hauling company that guarantees you safe vehicle transportation without denting your bank account significantly. 

4.   Tracking System

For anyone who has made a car transport initially or even an online purchase, they will tell you waiting for delivery is stressful. Choosing a car hauling company that offers vehicle tracking is an added advantage.

Vehicle tracking will allow you to know the status of your car hauling process at any time. It will also allow you to note when there are delays at any step in the car hauling process. This on-demand tracking helps to significantly reduce stress for the client.

Oftentimes, car transporters that offer tracking services will charge more because of the integration of this feature. However, the tracking system is worth the additional pricing you will pay for it. 

5.   Carrier Company Options

Generally, there are two main ways used for car freight. The two methods are:

  • Open carrier
  • Enclosed carrier

The open carrier method is when the vehicle is shipped on an open carrier and exposed to all of nature’s possible conditions. The enclosed carried method is whereby your car is transported in a fully enclosed carrier. The enclosed carrier method is mostly recommended for high-value vehicles because of the degree of security and protection it offers.

The open carrier, on the other hand, is cheaper than the enclosed carrier.

Before choosing a car freight company, you should analyze all the pros and cons of the two shipping methods.

6.   Vehicle Protection Protocol

The safety of your car should be a paramount factor to the vehicle shipping company. The company should have a damage analysis protocol to ensure that they safely deliver your vehicle.

When filling out the shipping form, most vehicle shipping companies ask the client to list any dents or defects on the vehicle. This will allow the auto transport company to carry damage analysis when cars are delivered.

They check for any damages during delivery and counter-check against the list of already existing dents. If the car has new dents or damages, it is noted on the delivery form, and both parties sign to confirm.

This ensures that the process of compensation for any damages on the car proceeds without any hitches. 

Conclusion

You can choose your preferred vehicle transport company after conducting a thorough examination. Consider the variables outlined above when doing your analysis.

Most people tend to think that driving their car to the preferred destination is the cheaper option. However, this is far from the truth. In most cases, the use of car hauling services has been cheaper than actually driving the car to its destination.

Auto transport company article and permission to publish here provided by Dan Martin. Originally written for Supply Chain Game Changer and published on August 23, 2021.

One thought on “Considerations When Choosing an Auto Transport Company!”

  1. The safety of your car should be a paramount factor for the vehicle shipping company. The company should have a damage analysis protocol to ensure that they safely deliver your vehicle. Keep sharing this type of blogs

Comments are closed.