Is There Any Way to Lower My Auto Transport Expenses?
Shipping a vehicle is expensive, there’s no denying it. While some people are better able to handle the financial burden of shipping a vehicle, some are not, and for many people in the United States today cheaper is almost always better. Unfortunately, in the car shipping industry cheaper is usually not better, and for several reasons, chief among them the fact that car transport carriers tend to search out the highest-paying loads on a given route first. This means that lower-than-they-should-be quotes don’t get vehicles picked up within the standard pickup window, which can lead to conflict between customers and their agents and even cancelled orders.
So is there any way to lower auto transport expenses without sacrificing service? There are a few tactics out there that can shave some bucks off your total price, yes, and in this blog post we’re going to explore some of them, notably the idea of moving your pickup or delivery location to somewhere more easily accessible. This is a common tactic, and one that we suggest if you are shipping on a budget and are not shipping to or from a major city or metropolitan area. Auto shippers prefer to run routes into and out of major cities in order to keep their costs lower; it’s easier on the wallet to provide services for several customers within a day’s drive of each other, as opposed to spreading those pickups or deliveries across three or four days and hundreds of miles of driving.
This is what makes rural auto transport expenses so high – often higher than metro shipping services. Moving your pickup or delivery location to somewhere closer to a major interstate highway or into a major metropolitan area can help save money because it allows shippers to consolidate their route and spend less time getting from A to B to C to D and so forth.
Another method of saving money is to ship standby, but this comes at the cost of your time. Standby shipping is where you pay a lower price on purpose in the hopes that some carrier will be willing to take it at a lower rate than what is expected on that route. They do this from time to time, usually if they’re already making enough money on the route. Taking standby shipments can help carriers and brokers build a rapport as well, which will help customers in your situation down the road. However, it usually takes much more than the standard seven to ten days to pick up a vehicle that is shipping standby, often to the extent of being three to four weeks from booking to pickup. Discuss this with your shipper for more information and to discuss your options in further detail.
If you are interested in shipping a vehicle, regardless of your budget or time frame, get some free quotes by filling out our online quote form. If you do, you’ll get multiple quotes emailed to you from some of the best car transport companies in the industry, companies that understand auto transport expenses and how it can be difficult for customers to get their vehicles shipped while adhering to a budget. They can help you understand more about your specific shipment, including route conditions that can affect prices and services, and by getting multiple quotes you can compare prices and services and find the right shipper for your needs. If you have more general questions, including questions about the industry in general or getting your free quotes, give us a call any time 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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