The Ultimate Guide for First-Time Auto Transport

Whether you’re moving across the country for work, college, more beautiful weather, or love, and you’re a car owner that knows nothing about car shipping but wants to transport it from spot A to B; there’s a great chance that you’ll need the help of an expert to go through this process. The first-time auto transport guide by Vehicle Haul is here for all of you who never thought of car shipping and now do it for the very first time.

If you started to think about moving and vehicle shipping on time, then you have already been through some of the most important tasks you need to do before the shipping day. However, if you haven’t done the research weeks or even months in advance, you’ll need to read fast, plan even quicker, and be ready for making quick but intelligent decisions. Don’t worry if you haven’t started to plan on time; there’s always an option for transport, the thing is it may cost you a bit more.

Here’s a checklist with all the necessary questions and dilemmas that our experts answered to help you go smoothly through this process.

What Affects the Price of Car Transportation?

This is always the main question we get when someone is shipping a car for the first time. So yes, it’s understandable that one needs this information to start making plans. Be aware that the type of service you choose is essential for the price and many other varieties of different factors too.

Open Car Shipping

In this part of our blog, we want to focus on the most cost-effective car shipping option in order to cover the most used service in our company, which is most definitely open car shipping. Remember this, roughly around 97% of cars are transported by open car trailers.

You’ll probably choose this option too, because it’s safe enough for your vehicle, it’s cost-effective, there are more open trailers available, and all in all, this is the best value for the money you want to spend on shipping. Even new vehicles from the factories are transported this way. But, again, that’s because it’s super safe. Also, the service you’ll get in Vehicle Haul for your four-wheeled favorite, to be shipped on an open car trailer, is the best you can find the nationwide car transport.

The Location and Destination

It’s crucial to tell our agent where you are shipping your car and where you are planning to send it. That is how our employee will get a piece of information he or she needs to calculate the price. If you live somewhere near the highway or frequently used routes, it will be much easier for our drivers to pick up and left off the vehicle. However, if not, the price will get slightly higher because they need more time and more fuel.

How to Prepare a Car for Shipping?

Sometimes we need days to prepare for a few days long trips; we need to sort out our documents, pack the bags, arrange the hotel, and research places we want to see. It’s pretty much the same when we prepare our car for a long trip across the country. So let’s go through the tasks we need to put on our to-do list and finish before the shipping day come:

• Clean your car (both exterior and interior) and take photos: this step is essential so that you can document all damages that are already there and compare your vehicle before and after the shipping,
• The gas tank should be a quarter full: this is just enough fuel for moving the car on and off the shipping trailer, so don’t overdo, because that will add weight.
• Remove the valuable and personal things from the car: you don’t want to leave anything significant in the vehicle, so better keep all your paperwork with you or anything else you wouldn’t like to lose from the glove compartment.
• Prepare your keys and hand them over to the driver: he needs them to put on and off the car from the trailer. Also, you don’t have to show up personally with the keys; instead, you can give them to some close person.

Check Both Your and Shipping Company’s Insurance Coverage

For auto shipping beginners, one of the most significant things they’ll want to be informed about is safety. What kind of insurance and equipment auto transport company does? Will their precious vehicle be safe enough on the shipping trailer, etc.? These are a couple of questions for every person shipping their car for the first time.

First of all, choosing open car shipping is a very safe option because your vehicle will be strapped to an open trailer. Since a car will be on the back or in the middle of the shipping truck, there is almost no chance that some pebble or any other dirt can do some harm to your windshield.

But, no matter what, there are never enough precaution measures you can take, so the next step is to find out what your and your car shipping company’s insurance cover. Make sure to have both car insurance and shipping insurance because you can’t be overinsured. Try to look for shipping companies who cover insurance while your car is in their possession, and also make sure to check if they cover total loss or just some part of car parts.

How to Choose the Best Nationwide Car Shipping Company in the US?

When choosing the most suitable company for auto shipping, there are few things that you should take into consideration. First of all, they should be well-respected, have experience, good recommendations from previous customers, and provide service with the best value for the money. Besides, you will most certainly want a company with a great team, many people working in the call center ready to give you any information you need.

Vehicle Haul is just the right choice for you if you value and respect more than 15 years of experience in the shipping industry, hard-working staff that will provide you the best service and information whenever you need it. If you choose us, let us help you first by giving you information about a free price quote and then about everything you need to know about car shipping. And, if you have some friend who is still in doubt about auto transport, send him or her our blog post about 5 things that will make you say yes to car shipping.