Car Shipment Guide: The Basic Guide For Novices
Are you moving to another part of the country? Do you want to get your old car to a new buyer? Is this your first time trying to ship a car, and you do not know how to do it?
Are you looking for a company that offers land shipping services? We have prepared this guide to help you with that.
You might have spoken to a few people, and they told you scary stories about how shipping your car can be complicated and messy. This guide is meant to help you refute that claim.
With this guide, you will find that shipping your vehicle can be simple. You just have to concentrate on major details. Keep reading to find out how easy shipping your car can be.
Contents
Your Guide To Shipping Your Car
It is time for us to give you that complete checklist on shipping your car for the first time. This checklist will guide you in making the right choices depending on your needs.
It is a very short one, and once you tick all the steps in this checklist, your car will be shipped without any hassle.
Step 1: Bid Your Time
Hopefully, you started reading this guide weeks before it is necessary to ship your car. Shipping cars takes time, so you need to plan and act on time to minimize costs.
But if this is not the case and you need to ship your car off as soon as possible, you can pay for expedited shipping as most shipping companies allow for this. Once you have sorted yourself out and properly managed your time, you can move on to the next step.
Step 2: Gather Car Information and Submit
This is the next step. Before you even choose a company, you need to gather the necessary information about your car. What is the make and model of the car, and what year was it made?
Where are the pickup and drop-off locations? When do you want it picked up, and when will it be due for delivery? Is the vehicle driveable or not?
These are the basic pieces of information, but you should also figure out the transport services you might require. Do you require an open carrier or an enclosed carrier transport service? Do you want the basic shipping or an expedited one?
Once you have gathered this information, you should submit it to as many companies as possible and request quotes. Quotes are estimates that are as close as possible to what it would cost to ship your vehicle.
It is not spot on, but it gives you an idea. Once you have gotten enough quotes, it’s time to move on to the next step.
Step 3: Compare Shipping Companies and Pick One
This is the most important step in this guide, and you should take it seriously. Choosing the wrong company will not bode well for your vehicle. The mistake most people make is to base their comparison on prices alone. This can be very misleading as other factors come into play here.
You need to consider the track record of the company in question. Do they have enough experience offering land shipping services? Do they have enough positive reviews? Use this to whittle down the list of companies.
Once you have gotten a list of trusted companies, you can compare quotes from these companies and select the one that stands out the most. Verify the quote, and pick a pickup and a drop-off date. They may ask you to deposit part of the payment before starting the shipping process.
Step 4: Prepare Your Vehicle For Pickup
In this step, you prepare your vehicle for pickup. It is like doing your bit to make the work of the delivery company easy for them.
The first thing you need to do is to clean your car thoroughly. Wash the exterior of the car and take pictures. This will help you check for any damages the car might get while the company is shipping it. Take pictures of the interior and exterior parts of the car, and pay attention to areas prone to damage.
After this, check your car for any damages and record any dents or cracks. In the case of damages to your car by the shipping company, you will need this information.
Check the inside of your vehicle for any valuables. You do not want to miss valuable documents because you didn’t check your glove compartment before shipping your car off.
Cleaning out your vehicle might also reduce the amount you pay for shipping. Although this might not be much, every penny counts in this economy, right?
Also, make sure that your gas tank has about a quarter tank full of gas. Smaller than this might not be enough for shuffling your vehicles; higher than this, you will weigh down the truck delivering your car.
Step 5: Drop Off Your Vehicle and Handover A Copy of Your Keys
Depending on the shipping you have selected, you might need to drop off your vehicle at a selected location. However, most companies offer door-to-door shipping, and in this case, the shipping company will handle picking up your vehicle.
You will hand over a copy of your keys to the driver, and then you and the driver will inspect the vehicle. Any damage is recorded, and you will sign a form to this effect. After this, the driver will leave with your vehicle, and all you have to do is relax and wait for it to get to the destination.
You might have to organize picking up your vehicle, after which you will be required to pay the balance if any. Inspect the vehicle for damages and ensure nothing is missing before leaving with it.
And there you have it. If your question before you clicked on this guide was, “how do I ship a car?” I am sure that you have gotten your answer.
The trick is to understand that you cannot do this without a car shipping service company, so look for one that is trusted and with a positive track record, like Goshare shipping.
