Auto Shipping FAQ: How Can I Prepare for the Wait?
The auto transportation industry is a lot different than many of the other service-based jobs that are currently out there. The United States’ economy is based heavily on retail and shopping and spending money, and a mindset that “the customer is always right.”
You hear it all the time, in cartoons, watching a movie, and while you’re out on the street. But the problem is that the customer isn’t always right, and sometimes the customer is wrong.
There are too many times I’ve answered the phones here and someone’s told me that they need to get a car shipped thousands of miles within a matter of days, which – barring some type of logistical miracle – is not going to happen.
It takes time to ship a car, and as a customer you need to become familiar with what is known as “waiting.”
Waiting is never fun, but it’s pretty much par for the course in the car shipping industry. When you first start the process of shipping your car, you need to find a company that’ll help you from start to finish – that’s what we help with, so make sure to fill out our free form or give us a free call for more information.
Companies like us are known as brokers, and brokers are the guys that you want to book your order with. If you think wait times in the industry today are bad, you can rest assured that pickup times would double or even triple in length if a broker wasn’t handling the shipment.
You’re going to have to wait for dispatch (which means a carrier has been assigned to pick your vehicle up), wait for pickup, wait while your vehicle is in transit and then wait while your vehicle is being delivered. That’s a lot of waiting.
The best way to prepare yourself for your wait is to have a second vehicle handy so you’re not stuck without a mode of transportation. Of course, not everyone can afford a second vehicle, so you’ll want to discuss transit times with your shipper directly as well as how long you will be without your vehicle.
This is important, particularly if you’re relying on the vehicle you’re shipping to drive you around everywhere. Whether it’s your neighbor, his second vehicle, a friend or family member, or if you’re calling a cab every morning or taking a cab to work, you need to have some way to get around while your vehicle is being shipped, so make sure you make arrangements prior to pickup.
Other than that, it’s basically just a waiting game. Do whatever you want while you’re waiting for your vehicle to arrive, what do we care? You should of course keep up-to-date with where your vehicle is and the like while it is being shipped, but there’s not much else you can do if it’s in transit, so you can kick back and relax and wait for your carrier to arrive.
You should know that you’ll receive pickup and delivery windows that you (or someone you know and authorize to do on your behalf) need to be there to meet with the carrier at pickup and also at delivery. This is the door-to-door part of the shipment kicking in.
Your wait times will depend heavily on where you’re shipping from and to and the conditions of the roads and traffic and weather and much more.
If you’re interested in shipping a vehicle, don’t forget that you can get a free quote from us to ship your vehicle. We work with only top-rated auto transport carriers and we make sure they are top-rated, licensed, and insured. If you have questions about our website, our services, or just need help with a quote, you can call us toll-free at 800-930-7417 to speak to one of our live agents.
Since 2007 Dave has written all the content and blogs for American Auto Shipping and during this time added the duties of customer support and transport logistics.
He currently resides in Washington with his three kids and their mom and cat. A fan of Marvel movies and good stories, when not shipping cars Dave can be found working on his novel, enjoying a good book or playing some tournament HALO.
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