Many car owners need to ship their cars over a long distance. However, they could be quite confused with all the options. When we move our cars, there are a number of methods that we can choose. The easiest and cheapest way to send our car is to drive it ourselves. We would only pay for car maintenance, food, gas and lodging. It also allows us to be in full control of our car. The route we take and our driving styles could affect the time of the trip and the overall costs. If we end up taking some detours to see some local attractions, the overall costs can be elevated, higher compared to the professional car shipping services. If we want to ship our car and let a professional handles it, there are popular companies that we can choose.
Some shipping companies could load cars on the train or big truck. Another option is to ask a service that drives the car for us. Professional paid drivers are available from these services and we would need to pay for his food, lodging, gas and of course, return trip. When choosing for drivers, we should make sure that they are hired by a trusted company. The car should also be insured to encourage drivers to take care of our car carefully. We may also take the odometer reading before the car departs and check it when the car arrives at the destination. It would be a good thing if the company will also pay penalty if the car arrives late to the destination area.
Sometimes, the destination area is located across the sea and the only way is to actually ship it. We should be aware that some shippers are the actual transporters, while others are only brokers. If the shipper is just a broker, our car will be handled by a different company. It is acceptable to choose a broker, but only if they honestly tell us about it. We should also be notified about the actual shipping company and what is the current condition of the car. There are several methods of shipping our cars. Terminal shipping is if put the car at the designated departure port. The car will be brought only to the destination port. Door to door is if the shipping company picks up the car and bring the car to the final destination, not the nearest port. In both cases, we should have a guarantee when the car will arrive to the destination.