Car Shipping Rates are different depending on types of car, distances and other factors. Read the following article to be prepared for your quote and understand why shipping rates vary so much from car to car.
Car Shipping Rates
Winter is coming up and you want to move down south for a couple months to escape the cold weather. Or maybe it’s the other way around; you want to go up north to enjoy the winter. Maybe your son just graduated and he’s going away to college and you need to relocate his things to where he is going. Or maybe you are off to the army and need to move your belongings. Or maybe you landed the job you’ve been waiting for and you got transferred to another city. For all these occasions, you might want to minimize moving costs at their max. Although moving your things may be one of the easiest processes by hiring a moving company, cars are a different hassle when it comes to transportation. Most moving companies do not offer car transport as part of their service and you will have to look elsewhere in order to have this done. In order to do so, there are a couple details you must know in order to take advantage of the great perks of this great service for the best price.
You might think that shipping a car will cost the same at any time, however this is not the case, and in the following points we will explain why.
Season: As many other retail, service, and food industries, transportation also has its high and low peeks depending on the season. You may wonder why whipping your Nissan Sentra costs more during winter than in summer, or maybe even the other way around if it’s the same car, shouldn’t prices be the same? Usually winter and summer seasons are the high peaks in car transport and prices will be higher during this time, however winter season has limited routes and more delays due to weather conditions, opposed to summer that presents higher gas prices. Make sure you plan on time and do your research so you can plan your car transport on a non-season time if possible.
Gas prices: As briefly mentioned before, gas prices tend to rise during summer season. Because of this, quotes for car transportation rise more than usual, as drivers need to cover the same routes with higher gas prices. Check on gas prices before to have a general idea of how much more may be added to your quote.
Weight and Size: Weight and size are two factors that walk hand in hand; most of the time the size of the car determines the weight, the bigger the car, the higher the weight. DOT (Department of Transportation) regulates the weight averages of a carrier while on the road in order to maintain the street and operate safely. If the car you are shipping is a full size pickup that weighs a couple tons, drivers will have to limit themselves to fewer cars per route. Because of this they will have to raise prices to make up for empty spaces on the carrier. Maybe the car you are carrying is big but doesn’t weigh as much, you may wonder why the price is still high if not much more weight is added. Large size vehicles occupy more space in the carrier, and again, empty spaces will be left where other cars can’t fit, these spaces have to be covered by higher rates.
Flexibility. How much time you have on your hands has always been the main concern for many areas in your life: for car transport its one of the most important. Depending on how flexible you are, you can get better rates than the ones offered straight up. If you have enough time, you can work out good deals. When you need something done as soon as possible, prices usually go higher as drivers must be offered an appealing price to make room for your car or for an extra stop down the way. It’s understood that many times there is no time to plan things and you must act fast, however if possible make sure you start booking your transport with at least 2 weeks in advance.
Be prepared for your next transport, if you have shipped a car before, use the price paid before only as a general quote, never expect price to be the same as there are a lot of factors that will affect the quote. Take in account the time of year, weather conditions and road conditions, the gas prices, weight and size of the car to be shipped and make sure you are flexible with your dates. Once you have all these figured out, sit back and wait until your car is delivered to the tips of your fingers.
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You may also read How to ship a car and How much does it cost to ship a car.
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