Standby Auto Transport and What it Means for You
When you use standard auto transportation services, your vehicle will generally be picked up within four to seven days from your date of booking. That’s average. It will likely get picked up faster if you pay additional money to entice carriers to pick it up – this practice is generally known as expedited shipping, and can vary in price depending on your route and carrier availability.
And then there’s the opposite end of the spectrum – pay a lower price and hope that a carrier that comes along is desperate enough to need to transport your vehicle for lower than the going rate, or else wait and see if the prices on your route drop and even out to where your vehicle will be picked up by a carrier.
These are things that you must be prepared for when it comes to transporting a vehicle via standby transportation services. Pickup times generally go into the months category, as your price will likely be significantly lower than the rest of the loads on your route and carriers won’t usually touch it with a ten-foot pole – it doesn’t net them enough money to make it a worthwhile load. It’s a waiting game, generally waiting for prices to drop along your route.
Sometimes this can happen in a matter of weeks, as prices do change often along many routes. Other times it can take months, because prices on some routes only change as the seasons change.
Generally during the winter months many areas of the northern U.S. are inaccessible due to severe winter weather. Shipping out of these areas during the winter generally puts your vehicle on standby regardless of how much you pay to ship your car considering few carriers are willing to risk their trucks, loads and lives to get a vehicle in the middle of a snow-savaged area.
Most auto transport companies don’t advertise standby shipping services because so few people actually want them, and even then many customers end up becoming belligerent when they realize what standby shipping services actually entail. You should expect your vehicle to be sitting for quite some time if you choose to ship standby.
Customers that can benefit from standby shipping most are those that do not need their vehicle shipped right away. For instance, if you buy a car from a private seller in another area of the U.S., but all it really is is a project car you’re looking at restoring, you may save some money with standby shipping services. Or customers that are shipping a few months out – book it now and see what happens, and if prices rise or fall your broker can help adjust your order accordingly.
You can get a free quote to ship your vehicle any time by filling out our quote request form. You can also contact us any time at 800-930-7417 to speak to one of our live shipping experts. They can give you a free quote over the phone, answer questions you may have, and help you arrange your shipment if you’re ready to.
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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