What do you need to know about shipping a car?
Shipment of a car is not a very effortless and hassle-free job rather it is quite complicated and is associated with a lot of risks along with involving a heavy investment. A car is shipped when someone has to move among different states, regions, and countries for as settlement, which generally means he or she has an often transferable job.
But then, of course, open car transport has definitely made the entire process considerably easy. It is the easiest, cheapest and most popular option for car owners who ship their cars. There are many car shipping companies which also gives option for enclosed trailer, but majorly the former choice is opted by most of the people, alongside this can be available in almost all major and minor companies.
As mentioned above a car shipment is not something easy and thus one must abide by some guidelines while shipping a car:
1. Research
Check all the top companies, detail into their offers and quotes. A thorough and quite accurate homework must be done before choosing a company to ship their car. Give importance to the reviews of the other customer, consider what they have marked as the shortcomings and benefits of it and only then do choose.
2. Enquire if Necessary
Clear all the doubts which come to mind, don’t hesitate. Only if their answers are satisfactory one should proceed, otherwise must not continue based only on the price that is being offered. Because a cheap costing service may also mean that there may be a bit of comparison with the services offered or tools used. Thus be wise.
3. Know about the Insurance
Keep knowledge about the amount of coverage the opted company is giving you because a shipping company must have a definite insurance policy. For security have in hand the document of the coverage. And in case the coverage isn’t appropriately enough then one should ask for increased coverage.
4. Try to Recognize the Red Flag
Don’t be fooled in any way. Try to understand their mentality. For safety, ask for a written document for everything and also keep a document of the quoted amount to the final deal. Nothing should be done verbally. And if they deny providing written documentation for anything be sure that there is something wrong.
5. Never go for Deposits
Never deposit any amount, for major companies don’t ask for a deposit. Rather they require the payment when a car has been picked up or dropped off. This offers one surety of their service. Or else even if they deviate from their words a lump sum of one’s money can go in vain.
6. Preparation of the Vehicle
Lastly, one has to prepare the vehicle for transportation. Keep a quarter of a tank of gas. The battery must be charged and the antifreeze level needs to be adequate depending through which weather conditions the car has to travel.
Apart from that, the car should be vacant of any personal or unnecessary items. And finally, keep a couple of photographs of the car before the journey to detect any scratches or dents that may occur in the course of the shipping.
Conclusion
These are the basic yet important things to be kept in mind while shipping a car besides always be present at the pickup and drop point, make the company know about the car’s oddities, and some of the general rules. Primarily it may seem that driving a car is much less costly than hiring a shipping company, but an extended accounting will prove that it is not so keeping in mind the minor expenses and on top of that the added risk.