Auto Shipping Quotes vs. Estimates

When you're looking for automobile shipping prices, many of you will likely search for some estimates to get a rough idea of what it's going to cost to ship your car from one state to another. Others will start looking for quotes from some different companies and compare actual prices. But which method is better in the long run? As a quote provider, naturally we're going to tell you that getting quotes is always the better option, but it's more than just that: it really is a better idea to know how much you're going to be paying as opposed to how much you might pay.

Estimates might not be a bad idea to start, but why settle for a maybe when you can get a good range from reliable companies all at once with actual quotes instead of estimates? When you fill out our free form you'll get multiple free quotes from reputable and reliable shippers e-mailed to you within the hour. Get the true prices to ship your car from the companies that'll ship them. Don't fumble around with clunky prices - get instant free quotes on demand. All it takes is filling out our free form on every page on our site. It's quick, it's free, and ultimately it's going to get you in contact with the people you want to talk to a lot faster than calling a bunch of random companies and getting estimates.

What NOT To Put In Your Trunk During Auto Transport Services

Automobile shipping companies will usually let you put at least a few things in your trunk while your vehicle is being transported. Typically they will say no more than 100 pounds at the absolute maximum, but many will say fifty pounds only of stuff in the trunk. It depends on who you talk to. But there are a few things that they will all say, and one of those things is that you can't put a few select items in your trunk - namely firearms, bombs, anything illegal or that is illegal to transport across state lines. But more than that, you should never put anything that is inherently valuable to you or that has any sentimental value to it; likewise, you should never put electronics or anything expensive of that nature into your trunk while it is being shipped. Only your vehicle will be insured during transport, so anything you put in the trunk you put AT YOUR OWN RISK. Please understand that. Your shipper is not and will not be held responsible for any damage or loss of items you place in your vehicle.

Why Bigger Cities Are Cheaper to Ship to and From

Major metropolitan areas are favored by auto transporters because of the simple fact that they're major population centers. People who ship their vehicles more often move from one major metropolitan area to another, and with hundreds of cities with populations over 100,000 in the United States, there are a lot of areas that shippers can easily get into and out of without deviating from the routes that they typically run. This is also why it's more expensive to ship to areas off a major interstate (or the occasional high-traffic state route, such as the 101 in western California) as opposed to areas that sit right along it, as transporters will have to spend more in time and fuel in order to get to areas off the beaten path. If you're looking to transport your vehicle to or from a rural area, you stand to save money by switching the pickup and/or delivery locations to major metropolitan areas nearby.

City Spotlight: Auto Transport Detroit

Detroit. The Motor City. Known primarily for its strong ties to the automobile industry, the city itself has seen better days...but the future's bright despite the setbacks of its continual decline through the 70's and 80's. When it comes to shipping a car to or from the city of Detroit, you'll find that it'll probably be much easier than you thought.

Due to its large ties to the automobile industry, Detroit has many highly-traveled routes in and out of it, making it easy for auto transporters to move their vehicles in and out of the city. Built for the automobile, Detroit is one of the more friendly auto transport cities - at least during the summer months. During the winter, the weather can make auto transportation to or from the city a bit dicey, but on the whole prices tend to drop during the winter months as compared to the summer months. You can fill out our free online quote form to get multiple free quotes to ship your vehicle to or from Detroit, and you can read more on our Auto Shipping to Detroit page.

Auto Shipping by State: Kansas

When you're looking to ship a car to Kansas, you should probably know a bit about the state, especially if you're moving there and have never been there before. It's probably best known for its huge swaths of farmland, dominated by a variety of different crops including corn, wheat, and, of course, livestock. The trouble with the state, really, is the lack of major interstates running through it. There are only a few east-west routes that auto shippers can travel along, and since Kansas is fairly rural a lot of car shippers don't like going there because there's a definitive lack of customers.

With loads scarce and auto shippers reluctant to travel through the state, prices per-mile are mildly higher than it is in other regions of the country. Weather can play a big factor, and many shippers may also be reluctant to travel through the state during tornado season or during the winter months. You should talk to your auto transport representative about when the best time to ship a vehicle to or from Kansas would be, if you have the time to spare, and you can read more about the state on our Kansas Auto Shipping page.

The FAQ's - Open Transportation

Continuing our spotlight on various frequently asked auto shipping questions, we explore a bit regarding open auto transport carriers and how they benefit your during your auto shipping experience.

Open auto transport describes the specific type of transportation truck that will be transporting your vehicle - they are the most common carriers on the road today, with roughly 80-90% of all auto shippers operating an open transportation truck of some kind. Open transporters often haul up to ten cars at a time, and each vehicle is "open" to the elements - as opposed to enclosed transportation, which secures the vehicle(s) in an enclosed shipping container to protect against the various hazards of the road.

Open auto transportation is the cheapest and easiest method of transportation for shipping companies to book your shipment with, and as such they consider it the "default" method of shipping a car. If you fill out our free online quote request form you can get up to ten free quotes for open auto transport; you can request enclosed transportation, but it is considered an upgrade and will cost more in the long run.

You can read more about open transport on our Automobile Transport FAQ page.

City Spotlight: Auto Shipping to San Diego

With a population of over 1.3 million residents, the city of San Diego is the 9th largest city in the U.S. and the second-largest in the state of California. It's a popular auto transport destination due to its beautiful location on the southern California coast, and is a major transportation network in the region where it lies.

When it comes to shipping a car to the city, it's generally going to be quick and fairly cheap. San Diego is a popular auto transport location, like we mentioned, but it's not just popular for customers; many auto transport carriers will include San Diego in its cross-country routes, and oftentimes will run several different vehicles to the city at the same time. Prices can increase during the height of the summer season, as there is typically an influx of customers looking to ship to the city, but on the whole prices are relatively low on a per-mile basis for much of the year.

You can read more about the city by visiting our Auto Shipping to San Diego page, and you can get free auto transport quotes to or from the city (or anywhere else in the U.S.) by filling out our free online quote request form.

Auto Shipping by State: Alaska

Looking to ship your car to Alaska? It's a bit more involved than simple city-to-city auto transportation, and it's going to cost a fair bit more, but on the whole it's a lot easier to ship a car to Alaska than it is to drive up through Canada (it's a longer drive than you might think!).

Once you book your auto shipping to Alaska with a transport company, they're going to find a carrier to pick your vehicle up from wherever it is and transport it via overland truck to the port in Seattle (or Tacoma, but it's usually Seattle). Once there, it'll be put onto a large cargo vessel and shipped overseas to the port in Anchorage, usually, though some shipping companies can ship to other ports as well. Pricing depends highly on availability and the time of year, so talk to your shipper about when the best time to ship a car to Alaska would be. 

You can fill out our free online quote form, if you're looking for a transport company still, and you can also read more about the state of Alaska itself - as well as glean some helpful auto transport tips - by visiting our Alaska Auto Shipping page.

Vehicle Movers and You

What is a vehicle mover? Where do they come from, how are they made? These are burning questions in the  minds of our auto transport customers, and this blog - and this site - is here to lay some of those questions to rest.

But what is it? A vehicle mover is just that - someone who moves vehicles. They are responsible for timely transportation of customers' vehicles, from wherever to wherever in the U.S., and this responsibility is one that most vehicle movers don't take lightly. They are fully licensed by the DOT and are required by federal law to have an insurance policy that covers all vehicles they are transporting. Vehicle movers take moving vehicles very seriously - and you can read more about them by visiting our helpful vehicle movers page.

You can also fill out our free online quote request form and get a free quote from different vehicle movers to ship your car, or you can call us at our toll-free telephone number and speak to a live representative who can answer your questions, take your information and help you find the best vehicle movers for your needs.

The FAQ's - What's a Broker?

In your constant search for the right auto transport company, you've probably come across the term "auto transport broker" (or some variant thereof) more than once. That's not surprising. A broker, in a nutshell, simply coordinates your transportation between you and the carrier and gives you a constant contact line during the transportation process. Carriers can't drive and talk on the phone with customers at the same time, so they rely on brokers to talk to customers and set everything up.

This is a good system. Carriers rely on brokers to find them loads and keep their trucks running, and brokers rely on carriers to make sure that their customers' vehicles get moved for a good price in a timely manner. Going through a middleman, so to speak, may not always be the best, but in the auto shipping industry it's really the only way to go. You can read more about brokers and how they work in our helpful Auto Shipper FAQ.

The FAQ's: Will My Vehicle be Driven?

This is a question we get asked about a lot - "will my vehicle be driven if I book with an auto transport company?" And to start, no, your vehicle won't be driven from the pickup to the delivery location. It will be loaded onto the back of an auto transport truck, which will secure it and then transport it - without driving it - to the delivery city. There's no Ferris Bueler moments when it comes to auto transport, not only because it's illegal and will most definitely carry huge penalties, but drivers could lose their licenses - and they won't risk that.

It will, however, need to be driven onto and off of the truck, but you're going to be there watching the driver as he drive it on and off at pickup and delivery, so there's really no worries there. I mean, how else do you expect them to get it onto the truck? 

So I guess, technically, yes, your vehicle will be driven, but it's only going to be like 30 feet all told, so there's really no worries in regards to that aspect of it. The driver will only drive it onto the truck and then back off, and that's it. You can read more about this subject thanks to our handy car transport FAQ.

City Spotlight: Auto Shipping Long Beach

Long Beach is a popular auto shipping destination for several reasons. For starters, it's close to Los Angeles and is a major tourist trap; second, it's a big city with lots to do, a growing population and burgeoning economy; third, it's a major port that sees ships transport vehicles to Hawaii all the time, so most shipments to Hawaii have to go through the city; and fourth, it's in California and doesn't see any snow at any time, really. So there's a lot of reasons why auto shippers like shipping to Long Beach.

And because they like to ship there, you're going to get some good deals. Not only is it going to be super easy for you to find a carrier (depending on the pickup city, of course - if you're shipping from the boonies or a snow-covered city, you may have a harder time), but it's almost always going to be at a pretty good price. You can get a free quote from our website by filling out our free quote form and you can read more about shipping vehicles to Long Beach via our helpful Auto Shipping to Long Beach article.

Auto Shipping by State: Tennessee

Tennessee is one of those states that can be easy to ship to, but it really depends on where exactly in the state you're looking for auto shipping services to. With cities like Knoxville, Nashville and Memphis within its borders, Tennessee is definitely a popular (and populous) state, but its geography and seasonal compositions make it difficult for shippers to get and from certain areas at certain times.

Watch the weather reports in the winter months to see if snow and wintry weather will be affecting your car transport, and be sure to talk to your car shipping company about ways to save money shipping either to or from the state. You can also read more about Tennessee by visiting our official Auto Shipping to Tennessee article on our website.

The FAQ's: Pickup Times and Dates

In the auto shipping industry, there's a lot of talk about guaranteed this, and guaranteed that, and finding a carrier to ship specifically on such-and-such a date. Customers want auto transport on demand, and get upset when most shipping companies tell them they can't guarantee a pickup date because it's impossible to 100% guarantee pickup.

The reason for this is that most car shippers schedule their pickup windows for their customers at least a few days out, and - if you've ever tried to host a holiday meal with the extended family - planning everything out a week or two in advance invites a lot of opportunity for change to occur. It's this same principle that is at work behind auto transport pickup - there are so many variables that go into your auto transport pickup date that there's no guarantee they'll get there on that day. Traffic, mechanical problems, problems with another pickup or delivery - these are just some of the things that can delay an auto transport carrier.

If you're REALLY in a rush, some shippers can find a local tow company to pick it up and tow it to a specific pickup location that a nationwide carrier can pickup from at their convenience, but that's something that you would need to speak about with your auto transport company. You can read more about guaranteed pickup times and dates thanks to our helpful auto shipper FAQ page on our official website.

Bad News From Ford

And just when things seem to be going so well, too.

The Ford Motor Company has been under the pressure cooker recently thanks to the filing of papers in the U.S. District Court of New Jersey, stating that the company not only knew about problems with F-Series vans and trucks built between 1999 and 2008, but did little or nothing to warn their consumers. The company has yet to issue a statement, but the papers filed claim that the Ford Motor Company sent out a secret memo to its dealerships informing them of the problem with the F-Series fuel tanks, but essentially left it up to dealers to tell the customers. Toyota has recently dug itself out of a huge hole for problems relating to several of their models, and Ford could be the next big manufacturer to see major repercussions from shady business practices. Auto transporters have commented on Ford's recent success, stating that new Ford vehicles are shipping like hot cakes, but this could be a major problem for Ford going forward. We'll keep you appraised of what's going on as we learn more.

Prius Sales Lead Toyota Demand

The Toyota Prius has seen its share of ups and downs. Introduced far before any other hybrid vehicles were on the market, the Prius has been a staple on the road for over a decade. Though it went through a rough patch a few years ago, thanks to defects in its regenerative braking system, Toyota Prius sales have climbed through the roof and are now leading all other Toyota brands in terms of sales numbers. But that isn't the end. All Toyota hybrids - including ones in the Lexus lineup - have seen increases of 62% on average, a huge jump from last year's sales numbers. Auto transporters have noticed a slight rise in the number of Prius and Lexus hybrids being shipped from dealerships, but on the whole the numbers have remained roughly the same. Most new Prius vehicles are bought at local dealerships and driven off the lot, but with the internet only continuing to grow and become more user-friendly, maybe that too will change.

Honda Seeks To Incorporate CNG Fuel Stations in American Dealerships

Chrysler and General Motors have been working on providing compressed natural gas-powered vehicles to their customers, but Honda has been providing that for a few years now. Not only that, but Honda is committed to their CNG vehicles and are seeking to add more CNG fueling stations to their dealerships across America, allowing customers who have purchased or who are looking to purchase a CNG-powered car to quickly and easily refuel. In an era where electric vehicles and hybrids are all the rage (though still not as much as gasoline-powered efficient vehicles), Honda is seeking to do something new. Auto transporters haven't really seen many of their CNG-powered vehicles, but they're pretty low-key on the whole, with not a lot on the market right now. Little advertising has been done, and this blogger has yet to figure out what the model is even called, but I'm sure Honda will be pushing it before too long.

New Fisker Karma Fails Consumer Reports Test

The Fisker Karma is a new electric vehicle that's being prepped for introduction into various markets. Justin Bieber, apparently, received one for his 18th birthday (Bieber's 18?!), but that doesn't change Consumer Reports' test of the vehicle, which couldn't have gone worse. Apparently the testers got the vehicle up to 65 miles per hour and began testing calibration and other things wile in motion, when the car simply "died." The Karma is a plug-in hybrid sports luxury vehicle, apparently, and is priced around $100,000; auto transporters haven't even seen the vehicle yet (not unlike the Tesla "X" that we talked about yesterday, albeit with a lot more problems than Tesla's version), but that doesn't stop them from talking about it. We don't know when it will be released for sale or if the problems with the car suddenly dying will be fixed, but until they are, expect this car to stay out of the headlines.

New Technologies Help Auto Shipping Companies

This is rare indeed: a news article that directly pertains to auto shipping companies. While most blogs on this site deal with general automotive news and how it pertains to the industry, there are relatively few things out there that directly impact auto transport companies, but this time it's different. New commercial routing software is being produced specifically for logistics companies who have to pay their drivers by the mile, but there's a lot more going into it than meets the eye. Turn-by-turn navigation helps auto transporters especially, by offering a built-in navigation system that allows them to find pickup and delivery locations quickly and easily. Not only that, but new technology suites being introduced also include maps, fuel tax reporting applications, fuel management options and mobile communications, so drivers don't have to pull over every time they get a phone call. This is really cool, and I'm sure that most auto shipping managers are excited to see this technology in action. I know I am, and I don't even drive a truck for a living.