When you have a necessity to apply for the service of the auto shipping company, you will be definitely interested in getting an approximate price. Nowadays it’s becoming more and more easy to get it fast and easy without even leaving your home. Almost every professional transportation company has its website.
And almost every website has a special online calculator where you can figure out a shipping quote for your auto: https://cdlscan.com/
Here we will consider in more detail what information you will need to provide and what else you need to do to make the price more accurate.
Data for online calculator
Frankly speaking, the calculators for getting an auto shipping quote are pretty different and can require a lot of additional information for better accuracy. We will disclose the most common information you can face on the transportation companies’ websites.
1) Locations. On this step you don’t need to provide the carrier with the detailed address. You just need to choose the cities or zip codes so the calculator can consider the approximate distance it will need to cover to deliver your vehicle. And only when you will discuss more details to get the final price, you will be requested to give the full addresses of the pick-up and drop-off spots.
2) Parameters of the car. Normally, you will need to give the information about your vehicle’s make, model and year. With this data the calculator will consider the potential size and weight. The heavier and bigger is the car, the more expensive it can be to arrange transportation.
3) Car’s condition. It’s very important if your car is operable or not. Some auto shipping companies will not even deal with vehicles without working brakes and steer as it will be pretty difficult to load such a car on the truck. Some small malfunctions are not essential in this case. In most cases an online calculator requires an overall answer if your car is running or not.
4) Type of the transporter. This is one of the most influential factors of the price. Open truck will give you a much cheaper quote and faster delivery. But if you possess a very expensive vehicle, it’s recommended to consider the enclosed transportation. It will provide your car a full protection on the way which is especially important in case of a long-distance trip.
Discussing the details
You need to inform the carrier about any adjustments and changes you have made with your car. Even a couple of extra pounds and inches can be essential and influence the shipping quotes for your auto. And there is no sense to hide this information as upon the pick up it can cause difficulties. For example, your car may not fit the truck or its extra weight will exceed the limitation for the delivery.
In some cases, if the price looks too high for you, you can check with the company’s representative if there is an option for terminal-to-terminal delivery. It’s especially popular when the locations are pretty far from the main route and the carrier takes extra fees for getting to such remote destinations. With terminal-to-terminal delivery you will just need to take care of delivering your car to and from the ports or terminals of the transportation company.
The date of pick up can also be very important. You can check which dates can be cheaper and if you are pretty flexible and can afford to wait a little bit longer you can expect to pay the lower price. Beside the date, you should also discuss with the carrier the delivery period. Depending on the distances and routes it can take from a couple of days up to a month. And the sooner you want your car to be delivered, the more expensive it will cost. So-called express delivery can bring your car even within a day, but you will need to pay a lot more for such an individual service.
You can also search for some discounts a lot of transportation companies provide. Among the most popular ones are for students, seniors, military, return customers, early bookings and others. Usually, the discount is not too big, but it’s always good to pay 20-50 dollars less than expected.
Looking for the best deal it’s always useful to remember that price is not the main factor for the car’s transportation. You should choose a real professional who will take care of your vehicle the whole way. That is why it’s always highly recommended to check the reputation and the rating of the carrier. Low price with a lot of negative reviews is definitely not a good choice. You can also find the lists of the most reliable carriers and transportation brokers online with full information about their advantages and disadvantages as well as some distinguishing features.