Car Transport Services: What Are They?
Simply put, car transport services are services that get your car from Point A to Point B. There are many different types of car shipping services available for customers with different shipping requirements. You can find auto transport services for basic cars, trucks and SUV’s, luxury automobiles, classic cars, heavy duty trucks/SUV’s, cargo vans, boats, and much more. But just because car shipping services are available for just about anything that moves you doesn’t mean that they all are shipped using the same methods. In this helpful car transport article, we’ll break down how different vehicles are physically transported and what they can mean for you if you’re looking at or require the following car transport services.
Car Transport Services: Open Transport
Open car transport is the standard type of car transport service in the industry today. 90% of all freight is moved on open carriers, and open car transport services are generally the cheapest of the bunch. Unless your vehicle is highly valuable or too large to fit on an open transport truck, open transport should suffice. While open transporters expose their vehicles to the elements, it usually isn’t any more dangerous than driving the vehicle on the road yourself – and, indeed, it is a good deal safer, due to the fact that you don’t have to worry about putting all those hundreds and thousands of miles onto your vehicle’s odometer. Open car transport provides adequate protection, and besides, every car shipper is required by law to carry enough insurance to cover repair costs for all vehicles on their truck – even if something does happen, which is rare (less than 3% of all vehicles shipped report damage), you’ll still be protected.
Car Transport Services: Enclosed Transport
Enclosed car transporters provide enclosed car transport services at a premium price. Enclosed car transporters protect their vehicles in a specially-designed trailer that keeps out rain, snow, dirt and debris that can be present on the roads. Open transport keeps the vehicles on the truck exposed to these elements, while enclosed transport protects vehicles from them. Enclosed transport is generally more expensive than open transport and as such should only be used for vehicles that can’t be exposed to outside conditions for extended periods of time.
Car Transport Services: Flatbed Transport
Flatbed car transport services are typically reserved for vehicles that are too large or oddly-shaped to fit on a regular open transport truck. This includes lifted or large pickup trucks and SUV’s, boats, motorhomes, yachts, etc. If your vehicle is big, be prepared to spend a bit more on flatbed car transport, even if what you’re shipping isn’t a car, because flatbed shippers are usually only used in extreme situations. Flatbed trucks are also rarer in number and therefore cost more to use.
Car Transport Services: Overseas Transport
Overseas car transport services include shipments to Alaska, Hawaii, any U.S. territories, and many international countries. Overseas car transport can be arranged for almost any vehicle, though it generally costs in the thousands in order to secure it. Shipping to Hawaii is perhaps the cheapest of all destinations, but it still costs a lot because you have port fees and international cargo fees (when shipping internationally), among other costs that your auto transport representative can fill you in on. In terms of getting a vehicle to another country, however, there’s really no other way to do it, and the prices – for the car transport services provided – are actually pretty fair.
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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