Avoiding Costly Mistakes When Shopping For Vehicle Transport
The #1 mistake people make when shopping for companies to ship their vehicle is to shop solely for the lowest price.
There are thousands of companies in the transport business. Unfortunately, vehicle transport is an industry with a lack of regulation, which leaves room for unscrupulous individuals to take advantage of unsuspecting clients. I highly recommend you shop on reputation instead of the lowest price to prevent experiencing problems.
All of the reputable carriers are going to be within a few dollars in price of each other. For example, if you get a few quotes and let’s just say they are all around $1000 and someone tells you that they can do it for $700, it should be a HUGE red flag.
The reality is, the carriers dictate prices. In other words, we all pay the same amount to get your car from point A to point B… An inaccurate “low” quote can be the result of one of two reasons.
The first reason for an inaccurate low quote could be that the broker is inexperienced and truly does not understand the route and the “real cost” of getting your car moved.
Moreover, since the vehicle is not priced correctly, no driver wants to pick it up for that amount, which can cause undue delays.
The financial consequences of this mistake are just the same as in the airline industry, because as the vehicle slots on a particular route start getting sold out, prices rise.
If you find yourself in this situation and your shipping date arrives, you will most likely have to turn to a seasoned company like ours to get your car shipped on an expedited transport. These are drivers that specialize in the “last minute” business, but that can get very costly.
The second reason a quote can be inaccurately low is they are intentionally low-balling a price to bait you. Some of the possible consequences of that may be:
A: They may charge you an upfront deposit before ever securing a driver and then turn around and tell you that it costs much more than you were originally quoted.
B: Charge your credit card and simply never show up. If you are lucky, you may eventually get your money back. In the interim, your whole world has gone crazy because your car never gets moved. In that case, you are forced to shop for last-minute expedited services, which can be 25% – 200% more than regular rates.
The best way to shop for vehicle transport is to shop for reputation first, then look for a fair price to pay. Look past the “cheap” price and look at the bigger picture of what could happen if you choose a vehicle transport company with a less than stellar reputation.
Do your homework. Many savvy consumers check recommendations available on the Better Business Bureau’s (BBB) website, which is a wise move as they are a well-respected resource in the auto shipping industry. Ship Your Car Now, LLC is one of the very few vehicle transport companies to have an A rating with the Better Business Bureau.