Once you have made the decision to ship your vehicle or car, there is a lot of planning that will be involved. Chances are that there is a rather good reason for wanting to ship your car in the first place – whether that is because you are moving, taking an extended trip, or something else, you will have to really think ahead about a lot of things. Perhaps the biggest concern that most folks have when they do decide to go through this process is how much it will cost.
Some aspects of that calculation will be fairly standard for any shipping process, as you can read about here: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/mel.2014.29. However, as you have likely already guessed, there are some specifics that apply particularly to if you are going to transport an automobile. That is what we will be discussing today, so stay tuned!
What is Car Shipping?
Our first order of business today is to sort out what car shipping is. Put simply, it is a way to transport your vehicle without having to physically drive it long distances. With most service providers, you will be able to simply arrange a pickup time and a driver will come to retrieve your vehicle. Then, it will be ready for you and dropped off at the location that you want as well.
Now, there are a lot of moving parts involved when we decide to do something like this of course. We will touch on that a bit more later on, but for now, just know that whatever company you decide to work with should be willing to walk you through along the way.
How it Works
Next, let us take a look at how car shipping works in the first place. A lot of it will somewhat boil down to the plans that you were making otherwise, so do keep that in mind. Moving can be quite difficult after all, and it is not exactly a secret that there are a lot of moving parts in long trips.
With that in mind, you will want to go into this process already knowing a few things: where your vehicle will need to be picked up from, as well as where your final destination is. Remember that this will factor into costs as well, so it is definitely not just a “suggestion.” It is vital to get an accurate price quote as well as to ensure that everything goes to plan.
After you have figured those bits out, it will not hurt to turn your attention to your vehicle itself. What is the make of it, the model of it, and the year that it was manufactured? All of this will help you to sort out how much it weighs – try to get as accurate a figure as possible on that front. It will help you later on down the line, so definitely sort it out as soon as you can.
Depending on the company that you work with, they may or may not offer door-to-door services for your vehicle. That is essentially what we describe in the introduction here – a driver will arrive at your home to pick the car up. Then, once you arrive at your destination, they will drop it off at your new location after. Simple, right?
Calculating Costs
Now, let us delve into how we figure out what the costs are for car shipping. The primary way that it will be calculated is via the weight of your vehicle. You can read more about that on this page, but you can probably guess that this means that when we get it picked up, we should do our best to ensure that it’s as light as possible.
How can we reduce the weight of an automobile, though? Well, that’s where cleaning up will come into play – you may have seen this advice somewhere else already, but just in case, one of the primary things that you will want to do before you have your vehicle picked up is to clear out any personal belongings from the interior. Remember – each thing that you leave behind could end up directly costing you more money.
Obviously, this includes anything like a bicycle rack or even magnets on the exterior of the vehicle. It is not just to cut costs, either – it is also to ensure that none of these important items get lost. On a final note, for this topic, you may also want to empty your gas tank to about a gallon or less – just enough for the transit.
Again, each of these things, even if they seem quite small, could eventually add up. So, it is important to be vigilant. Many companies, including A1 Auto Transport Inc., will offer a reminder to you if that’s something you’re concerned about, so that may be something to factor into your choice.
What else might factor into the price, though? One of the biggest things is the actual length of the trip in question. Naturally, the further that you want the car shipped, the more it will cost. This can be expounded by a larger and heavier vehicle, so do keep that in mind.
Now, you may notice that on most shipping company websites, there are some lists of potential costs. Technically, the longer that you want it shipped, the lower the per-mile cost will be. Regardless of that, though, it will still be more expensive, so try not to be misled by marketing tactics like that from certain providers.
Is Car Shipping Worth the Money, though?
The biggest question that most people have when they are considering whether or not they want to ship their vehicle with a professional freight company is whether or not the costs will actually be worth it. How can we even calculate something like that, right? Well, one thing to keep in mind is that you have to consider how much it would cost you to take a road trip in the car instead.
To a certain extent, this will depend on how many people would be travelling with you but let us break it down. Food costs are certainly something to think about – even if you are not stopping at places to eat, you will have to bring things along with you. That is something to factor in at the least.
Besides just that, though, there is also the matter of sorting out lodgings during the trip. Hotel rooms certainly are not cheap these days, and neither are small personal bed and breakfast places either. So, it can be really expensive to do something like that – chances are, you would likely end up spending less money if you shipped the vehicle. Compare the costs for yourself, though, and we wish you luck with the decision!
