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.

The FAQ's - Non-Running Vehicles

Are you looking to ship a non-running vehicle? If so, that's absolutely fine - you can fill out our free quote form to get quotes for both running and non-running vehicles. But what's different about shipping a vehicle that doesn't run? Well, for starters, any auto shipper that transports non-running vehicles has a special winch attached to his vehicle - and not all shippers have one of these. While it's normally not an issue, pickup times could be affected, with pickup windows being stretched by a few days to accommodate for the smaller pool of available carriers.

You should always specify if you're shipping a non-running vehicle; not doing so could very well end up with some very unhappy people, including yourself. If you try to pass your vehicle off as a running vehicle, and it isn't running, then you run the risk of your transport company booking with a carrier that can't ship it - this could net you not only a cancelled carrier, but a completely cancelled order, because many shippers state up front that you need to specify. You can read more about shipping non-running vehicles via our helpful Car Shipping FAQ page.

Auto Shipping Testimonials from Real Customers

In the car shipping industry, it can be hard - sometimes really hard - to find a reputable, reliable and secure auto transport company to ship your vehicle, especially if you're shipping to or from a hard-to-reach location or you're shipping a car that not a lot of carriers can haul for whatever reason. The larger, heavier or more awkward a vehicle is, the harder a time you'll have of shipping it - it goes the same if you're shipping to or from hard-to-reach locations or areas that are otherwise difficult to get to or from for shipping companies.

So before you pay out a ton of money to have someone try and ship your car, you should probably check out our Auto Shipper Testimonials and get an idea as to what they look like and what you should really be searching for. Testimonials are a great way to gauge the overall experience, worth and reliability of a car shipping company that you're looking to ship your vehicle with. Check it out, and you can also fill out our free form and see what we can do in regards to finding a great vehicle shipper for your needs.

The FAQ's: Shipping Multiple Vehicles

When it comes to shipping multiple vehicles at once, it can be somewhat of a hassle, especially if you're trying to organize transportation for two different vehicles in two different locations. But we can help you get multiple vehicle shipping quotes from reputable and reliable companies regardless of where you're shipping from and to.

To start, shipping multiple vehicles is going to be more expensive than shipping a single vehicle, but how much more expensive is really up to you. There are many companies who provide incentives for their customers to book their multiple vehicle shipping needs with them, typically in the form of multiple vehicle discounts and the like. We talk about this a bit in our helpful car shipping FAQ, which you can visit by following that link we provided. There's a lot more information regarding shipping more than one vehicle in that helpful article, and we think you'll be surprised. You can also fill out our free form and get some free quotes for shipping multiple vehicles as well, and we recommend doing so, because you can't go wrong with free quotes from reputable and reliable shippers.

Ease Your Car Shipping Experience

There are several things you can do to make your transport experience easier. One of the biggest things you can do is to make sure that your car is clean – on the inside, and that you have less than 100lbs of stuff in the trunk. This is because trucks aren’t licensed to carry household goods, but if you keep the load light in the trunk only, they never have to know about it and can just call it “junk in the trunk,” so to speak. You would be responsible for any lost and stolen items, however, so proceed at your own risk. Make sure that all loose change and trash is out of the interior of the car, and you may want some dirt on there to show any new damages.

Make sure you mark any damages on your vehicle prior to transport, then when the car is delivered go through a thorough inspection again.

Always know what type of transport is which – terminal to terminal is where you drop your car off at a terminal, whereas door to door auto transport is when the trucks comes to your house (or somewhere close) and picks up the vehicle. Terminal to terminal shipping typically costs less, but is generally less reliable than door-to-door transport. If you’re shipping an exotic or expensive vehicle, we recommend door-to-door transport.

Car Shipping Hot Spots

In the auto transport industry, there are always going to be “hot spots” (and, conversely, “cold spots.”) – places that trucks are moving into, or where a lot of people are going to, making it easier and cheaper to ship your vehicle. Some hot spots to look out for are (during the summer months) Florida, Alabama, South Carolina—pretty much anything in the deep south. Cold spots are places that trucks don’t really want to travel to, thus making your shipping a bit more expensive – in summer, this typically means California and the rest of the Pacific Northwest. Trucks going here seem to be scarce because of all the traffic backups going through California during the summer—just be careful.

In winter, it really changes. Florida and the deep south are places that become more expensive as the months turn, because everyone is coming out of there to get back home. Conversely, car shipping to the Northwest actually goes down—why this is, no one really knows.