Shipping a car is one of the most popular methods of transportation, especially during long-distance moves. Moving by car allows you to transport your belongings safely and with minimal stress. But, how much does it cost to ship a car? There are many factors to consider when determining the price of shipping your vehicle, including the distance you are traveling, the company you choose to ship with, and your preferred method of transport.
Cost of Shipping a Car
The cost to ship a car is shockingly high. The average cost ranges from $500 to $1,000. The cost to ship pick-ups, small vans, or SUVs is even higher, averaging between $600 and $1,100. Shipping costs are usually based on the size of the vehicle, the type of vehicle shipping service, and the season. Per mile shipping costs range from $0.30 per mile up to $1.00 per mile depending on the route.
The cost of shipping a car varies on different occurrences such as location and time. We’ll cover each of these variables in this article and share some tips on how to find a dependable auto transport company.
Season
If you’re shipping a car, it can take a lot of time and resources. The longer it takes those over-the-road truck drivers to make the trip, the more the auto transport service company has to pay them. Traffic can also make the trip longer. What this means is that the cost of the transport service is usually passed on to you as well as to the driver.
Contrary to popular opinion, the day before Thanksgiving is not the busiest travel day of the year. In fact, Christmas time is busier, as is the 4th of July, Memorial Day, Spring Break, and New Year’s Eve. These events and others like them are more common than Thanksgiving day.
Distance and Gas Prices
When a vehicle is going to be shipped, it is either done by a tractor-trailer for multiple cars or a single truck trailer for a single car. Take the destination into consideration when deciding which one to use. If it’s going overseas, then it has to be put on a cargo ship. All these vehicles run on gas, so gas prices become a big factor in the price of shipping a car.
According to the United States Department of Energy, in April 2008, a gallon of diesel fuel was $4. You can calculate the cost of your average road trip by multiplying the miles by the time it would take to drive said distance. For example, if you are traveling from Tampa, Florida to New York City, this would be 1,128.9 miles and would take about 41.7 hours. The cost of your trip would therefore be about $1001.99.
In September of 2018, the price of a gallon of diesel was only about $2.76, which indicates that the trip from Tampa to New York City would have cost about $519.30 in September 2017. In April 2008, with the gas price at about $2.86 per gallon, the same trip would have cost about $752.60. The average cost of shipping a car is calculated by using these various prices for gas over time.
Vehicle Size
Customers contact the company to get a quote for shipping their vehicle. They will provide the make, model, and year of the vehicle to determine the length, width, height, and weight of the car. This information is used to determine the price of shipping the vehicle.
Open vs Enclosed Shipping
These days, many new cars are loaded onto a trailer and transported. The trailers have a double-decker frame and can carry between two and eight cars. These trailers can be seen on the highways since they’re sometimes used to transport new cars to car dealerships.
The exterior of a vehicle can be damaged during shipping across state lines or even the country. Dirt, rocks, sand, or gravel kicked up by other cars can lead to dents, scratches, chipped or broken glass, and minor wear on the paint. This is why some prefer to use enclosed shipping, which provides extra protection.
Enclosed shipping means your car is put inside a metal carrier with three to five other vehicles so it will be safe along the way. And it has an extra benefit: you know your car will arrive safely at its destination. Furthermore, this type of shipping will provide you peace of mind since you’ll know that your vehicle is in the same condition it left your driveway in.
Covered and enclosed transportation offers more protection than open transport, but if you want to keep your vehicle in perfect condition, it’s best to use enclosed transport.
Terminal to Terminal vs Door to Door Transport
Auto transport companies will ship your car from its origin point to your chosen destination. The most common way to do this is terminal-to-terminal shipping. All vehicles are shipped to and from one terminal. Terminals are fast, easy, and convenient; they make loading, storing, and unloading of shipped vehicles painless.
If you choose terminal-to-terminal shipping, you drop your car at the terminal closest to the car’s origin point. Once it reaches the destination terminal, the customer picks up the car there.
These terminals are usually located near airports or high-traffic areas such as highways. The side terminals often pop up in the middle of major cities where it’s nearly impossible to drive a large rig. They’re especially common in places like Los Angeles and New York City.
Nearly 80% of Americans live close to one of these terminals. Transporting cargo between terminals is easy and affordable for most customers. Some customers would rather drive their vehicles to the terminals themselves.
Door to door is a type of transport service that goes from the customer’s home to a destination terminal. The vehicle is shipped from one location to another using a shipping company, and the auto transport company handles both the pickup and the drop-off.
Once your vehicle arrives at its destination terminal, the shipping company will deliver it to you, door to door. Door-to-door car shipping is more expensive than drop-off. But it saves you the time and hassle of picking up your car.
Extra Tips
We want our car to be safe during transport, so it’s important to keep it insured. However, the customer should not insure it more than needed. It’s important to make sure that the car is insured whether the customer is still using it or not.
Consider your car’s insurance before shipping it. Your customer should contact their insurance company, tell them where the car will be shipped, and find out if any coverage is needed.
Some auto-moving companies try to sell you more insurance products when they’re moving your car. Even if the company provides the same protections as your insurance company, it may be costing you more money.