Can I Make My Auto Transport Services Faster?
If you haven’t figured it out by now, shipping a car isn’t cheap – in fact, it’s pretty expensive, and the further you have to ship a car the more expensive it’s likely going to be, but something that most people don’t really know is the fact that it can take weeks to actually get a vehicle shipped, depending on where you’re shipping from and to. Auto transport is a time-consuming process, and understanding where that time is going to come from and the impacts that it will have on your shipment, your budget and your schedule is one of the most important things that you can do when you first ship a car.
Time frames are incredibly important in the vehicle shipping industry – when you ship a car, you need to have the time available to actually do so. Depending on the route, auto transport services can take up to two weeks to deliver a vehicle, though most of them take 4-10 days, again depending on where you’re shipping from and to. This is important to know and understand, because that’s time you’re going to need to plan for and work into your schedule, which is likely already pretty busy and hectic even before you had to ship a car. You need to talk to your representative to get the actual time lines for your pickup, transit and delivery – these are known as “windows” in the car shipping industry because their length of time can vary based on a number of different factors.
You can’t really make your shipment go faster, at least not after it’s picked up. You could likely pay more for expedited services, which will get your vehicle picked up in 1-2 days from the day you book, but transit times are pretty set and that’s why we recommend you give yourself time. Start searching for a shipper a few weeks before you actually have to ship your vehicle; get everything setup ahead of time because if you do you’ll give your shipping company the time they need to get everything arranged. Dropping a bomb on a shipper and saying that you need your car picked up tomorrow likely won’t get it done without some serious moolah; that’s an unfortunate drawback of the auto transport industry and one you really need to prepare for.
Money is what’s going to make your shipment faster 90% of the time, at least when it comes to getting it picked up. You may be able to get the carrier to switch their schedule up once it’s picked up so you can get a bit higher on the pecking order, but that’s going to either cost a lot more than it normally would or just straight-up be impossible – that depends on the carrier Some of them will allow customers to pay more for faster transit, but that means they have to bump other customers and haul ass from pickup to delivery, and not all of them will. Remember, the car shipping industry runs on the back of the trucks that they drive, so if a carrier won’t pick your car up there’s little that can be done. The answer? Well, more money may not be the one you want to hear, but in this industry, money talks.
If you’re interested in shipping a vehicle to or from anywhere in the United States, no matter what time frame you’re trying to stick to, we here at American Auto Shipping can help you get it shipped. Simply fill out our free online auto transport quote request form and you’ll receive a free quote to ship any time. You’ll get to see your quote right away and you can also contact us any time at 800-930-7417 to speak to an agent and get started on your shipment today.
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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