Transport Companies - the service factor

Transport Companies - the service factor by Jeff Rodriguez

Auto shipping companies are quite handy when you are looking to transport your vehicle. They will relocate your vehicle for a specific fee. They have state of the art carriers capable of shipping a lot of vehicles at once, safely and swiftly.

An inspection will be performed prior to shipment. You or a designate must be present for the inspection and will be required to sign the bill of lading and a vehicle condition report, both at the point of origin and the destination. It is in your best interest that you be at this inspection yourself.

Prior to shipping, ensure that all the personal belongings are removed from the vehicle. The vehicle carriers will not even touch your vehicle if there are personal items inside. The shipper would not want to take responsibility for the damage or loss of these items which are inside the vehicle. You can keep the personal items in the vehicle but see that they are secured properly and do not get damaged or lost in the process. Transporting hazardous chemicals and harmful substances in the car is illegal. If your destination has a different climate from your present location, you could change your vehicle’s air-conditioning and the heating system.

To ascertain the cost of the vehicle in the transit, you would initially need to contact some car transport companies and ask for quotes. You will have to give them information about the city your car would be moving from and the destination where you want the car to be transported to. You will have to give the count of the number of the vehicles to be transported. You have to give other information like the make and type of the vehicle, the date of departure and pickup of your vehicle. Guaranteed dates could however, cost more.

The duration of time, it would take to have your vehicle transported would depend on many parameters. If you do not choose a ‘guaranteed pick up’ date, then you will be given a window of time that your vehicle would be picked in. This stretch of time could be up to 5 days depending on where you reside although 3 days is the norm. Sometimes it could be possible, that though your car is the first to be picked up, it could be the last one to be delivered; principally depended on whether all the other vehicles on the trucks have been delivered to. At times the pick-up and delivery dates could be affected due to the vagaries of the weather. The best thing to do in order to know about the pick-up time and duration of the transport, including the delivery would be to have a straight talk with your auto-transport company and they will give you the right information.

As far as the auto-transport services are concerned, you could get two types of services-
• Door-to-Door – Here, the vehicle is picked up from your door step and delivered to your new home or office. At times if it is not feasible to take the car right to your new home or pick it from the old home because of the carrier being to big to drive through your neighborhood, you could arrange to meet the driver of the carrier at some place.
• Terminal Service –You will have to drop your vehicle at the terminal and from there it is auto-transported, where you pick it up at the destination terminal. This is convenient, if the nearest terminal is miles away from your new home.

Jeff Rodriquez works for Transportation Company since 1987. Her expertise covers everything from car shipping quote, vehicle inspection, classic car transport and logistics. Visit his website http://www.transportcompanies.com

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