Auto Transportation – The Process and Available Options of Car Shipping

Are you into buying or selling a new car from a distant place or you are shifting to any other state across San Diego for any purpose where you need to take your car along? If yes, then it’s a must to consider certain factors like shipping costs and the well-rated auto shipping service in San Diego for ensuring safe and hassle-free shipping of your valuable vehicle.

Car shipping services are a little costly therefore it is better to do thorough research in order to find a reliable and cost-friendly service for booking your quote.

Steps Involved in Car Shipping Process:

Following are the steps you have to go through once you jump into car shipping.

Step 1: Selection of Shipping Company:

The Auto-shipping industry incorporates two types of companies, i.e.

• Brokers
• Carriers

The brokers play the role of a bridge for connecting carriers with the customers according to their (customer) requirements. And, it’s a must to check whether the respective broker is licensed through the Department of Transportation.

If talk about the carriers, they deal with the transportation of vehicles from one place to another.

Step 2: Providing Information:

After deciding the company comes the providing of information i.e the details about your vehicle, for example;

• Model,
• Age, Operability,
• Number
• Pickup Location
• Drop off Location
• Preferred Time Frame for Shipment

Besides the vehicle details, personal details are also required i.e. name, email, and phone number of the car owner.

Your respective car shipping company utilizes this information for granting you the final car shipment quote. One important point to consider here is your final car shipping can cost you more than the original quote you receive because initial quotes do not integrate service fees, additional carrier charges, and insurance costs.

Step 3: Choose Your Auto Transport Mode:

In this step, you need to decide what mode of car shipping you want to choose as the companies give multiple options like open carrier or closed carrier shipping. Both of these have their own pros and cons i.e. the earlier one takes less budget and can transport more number of cars at a time. On the other hand, an enclosed carrier is a little expensive as it guarantees safety during shipping.

Step 4: Booking of Shipment:

Once you are all done with deciding the service and the suitable time frame you want you can have your shipment booked. As far as payment is concerned there are two choices; either to pay the full amount beforehand or make half of the payment in advance and another half once your vehicle gets shipped to the destination.

Step 5: Remove All Your Personal Belongings from the Cars:

After getting your shipment booked, the very first thing you need to do is remove your personal items from your vehicle. The reason behind this is the majority of the companies don’t let you transport other times inside the car. In case you force them to allow they do not guarantee their safety during the shipping process. Besides this, some companies charge you according to the weight of the vehicle hence removing your personals from the vehicle also helps lower the shipping costs.

Read Also: Auto Shipping – 3 Common types or their advantages and Disadvantages

Step 6: Inspection of Vehicle:

Before the beginning of the shipping process, must make sure the initial inspection of your vehicle in order to notice existing damages if any. The service company is also liable to do so that the customer can’t complain later. Taking pictures of the vehicle before shipping remains a good solution to avoid any misunderstandings later.

Step 7: Thorough Tracking:

Once the shipping process has begun ask your respective auto transport company to provide you GPS tracking facility. This will help you know at which point your cars have reached and also helps to know if there any delays in the delivery.

Step 8: Pick Your Car:

This is the last step of the auto transport process where you go to the decided location for picking up your car after shipping. But, be careful regarding two things:

• Sign the bill of lading once you are done with post shipping inspection of your vehicle (in case of any damage.
• Clear the bills (if any remaining) at the spot

Ways to Ship a Car:

There are multiple ways of car shipping offered by auto transportation companies from which you can choose any according to your budget and vehicle’s requirement.

Some of the commonly practiced options are as follows:

1. Door to Door Auto Transportation
2. Terminal To Terminal Auto Transportation
3. Expedited Auto Transportation
4. Flat Bed Auto Transportation
5. Single Car Transportation

The last one is the most expensive and unsafe way of transferring your cars as the external driver is granted for driving the car to the destination. This takes a lot of fuel and the cost of stays on the way is also included. Further, more time on the road means direct exposure to traffic that is dangerous for both, the driver and the vehicle.