Auto Shipping FAQ: Why is Terminal Auto Shipping so Unsafe?
If you don’t know, there are two main ways of shipping a vehicle: door to door and terminal to terminal. The most commonly-used method of shipping a vehicle is door to door; with door to door shipping, carriers arrive at your door (or as close as possible, as there are many places an 80-ft transport truck simply cannot fit) and load your vehicle in front of you. Terminal auto shipping requires you to drop your vehicle off at a designated location, oftentimes little more than a storage shed or open field, where it will wait until the vehicle is picked up. There are several major reasons why terminal auto shipping is unsafe an not used as often as door to door transportation, perhaps the most important being the fact that you don’t actually get to see the vehicle for weeks on end.
Seriously, when you drop a vehicle off at a terminal, it’s often going to sit for days or weeks before it’s picked up. Auto shippers don’t like that for the same reason you may already be seeing – who is liable for damages if it sits in a place for weeks on end before it’s picked up? A carrier that picks up a damaged vehicle from a terminal doesn’t know how it got there, whether or not it was pre-existing, and will only note it on the inspection report. This can lead to conflict between the driver and the customer if the customer asserts it was in perfect condition when it was picked up. The carrier can point to the Bill of Lading and the inspection report and say they picked it up damaged, but the customer usually asserts it’s a lie, and the cycle continues. To avoid this, customers and carriers both tend to avoid terminal auto shipping services.
However, it’s still available if it’s absolutely necessary. If you’re interested in terminal auto shipping, or are simply trying to get a vehicle shipped, take a moment and fill out our free online auto transport quote request form. It’s completely free and, once you fill it out and submit it, nets you multiple free auto shipping quotes from top car shippers in the industry. We clear each and every shipper for both dependability and reliability, and that means we make sure they are all fully licensed, bonded and insured. If you have questions about our services, or if you would rather speak to someone over the phone instead of filling out the free form, that’s fine – just give us a call any time at 800-930-7417 to connect directly to one of our auto transportation experts.
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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