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Shipping vehicles can be a challenge, but knowing how to ship cars from state to state is an invaluable skill. Whether you’re trying to transport your car to your new home across the United States, or you’re supplying used cars to a dealership a few states over, knowing the best practices for shipping cars can save you stress, money, and time. With so much to learn, however, it can be overwhelming to get started.
If you need to know how to ship cars from state to state, then you’ll have to understand the different options available to you, and their different price points. Then, you’ll have to prepare the car for transport and find the best shipping company to work with for moving your car to another state.
To get started, you’re going to need to approach the situation with the right expectations. Cars are expensive, heavy, and difficult to transport, so naturally, they will be costly to move. You can’t expect to have your cars delivered for pocket change. But exactly how much should you expect to spend?
There are many factors that are going to influence the cost of shipping a car. These factors are:
Before you request a quote from a car transportation company, you should be prepared to hear a high price point. You shouldhow to ship cars from expect to pay at least $1000 for one car, but you could end up paying far less (or far more) than that. Shipping a heavy diesel truck could run you almost $1500, while shipping a small sedan could be closer to $700. And those estimates are using the cheapest way to ship a car. Depending on the shipping services you choose, you could end up paying several thousand more!
The cheapest way to ship a car is with open transport. Usually, this means that your car is attached to a frame on the back of a large truck, with several other cars being shipped to a similar location. By shipping multiple cars at once on the same truck, shippers can save time, energy, and costs, and those savings are then carried on to you. There are also single-car open trailers that you could utilize for a higher price.
With that being said, however, price should not be your only deciding factor. Open transport works for most cars, but if you have a particularly valuable or heavy vehicle to ship, then you might have to ship it on a closed trailer, which will fetch a higher price. A closed trailer could also mean that your car is better protected from damages though, so you should weigh the benefits with the costs.
Remember that price isn’t everything, and you will generally get what you pay for. If you’ve noticed that a shipping company has given you a quote that is much lower than the going rate, then you should be suspicious of them. That generally means the company is cutting corners somewhere, either with their crew, their equipment, or their insurance. Either way, it’s pretty safe to assume that a suspiciously low price could put your car in danger.
Even if the price is the most important factor to you, you shouldn’t be reckless with such an important shipment.
Once you have settled on a way to ship cars from state to state, then you will need to prepare the vehicles being shipped. Auto shippers will not prepare the cars for you, and they won’t appreciate having to deal with a car that hasn’t been properly prepared.
To ensure that your car isn’t refused, you will need to take care to ensure you have done everything you can to comply with the carrier’s requirements. To prepare a car, you will need to:
Remember that you are solely responsible for ensuring that the car is prepared properly, and if the car isn’t up to the expectations of the shipping company, they can refuse to move it at the last minute.
If you’re learning how to ship cars from state to state, then you could negotiate a much better rate with your chosen auto transport company. Almost every company would be willing to offer you a better deal if you can fill up an entire open transport truck by yourself, since that saves the company time and fuel if they don’t have to make multiple stops along the way. In fact, you could save up to 50% per car if you ship 8-11 cars at once!
However, shipping multiple cars at once requires a lot more prep work on your end. You will need to wash, inspect, and maintain each of the cars beforehand. However, the reductions in the transportation price can make it worth your while to do this all at once, even if it can be inconvenient.
Now that you know how to ship cars from state to state, you’re going to need to find a reputable car shipping company to move your cars for you. Lucky for you, you’ve already found R+L Global Logistics, a world-class logistics company with a network of the best carriers on the road and a 99.5% on-time delivery record. We also offer a variety of different auto transport services to meet the needs of any customer, such as:
Call today for a free quote, and get your vehicle transported across the U.S.!
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