While moving to any cross country location, people generally hire the services of a car shipping company or a trailer service so that the car can be transported easily from one location to the other. You can find many such companies providing such services. Even most car dealers also avail themselves of their services regularly.
If you prefer an enclosed car shipping option then your shipping cost will be more expensive. Therefore, if you are looking for the cheapest way to transport a car then you should rather go for the open car shipping option provided by Ship a Car, Inc.
We will talk about a few options to ship your car at lower costs.
1. Hiring a driver
If you can hire a trustworthy and reliable driver, who may drive your car and that can also reduce your stress and your car can reach to its destination without any delay. However, handing over the car key to some strangers can be a bit risky.
You can, however, reduce your risk by contacting any agency that hires their driver with a lot of screening and will take responsibility for the conduct of their drivers.
In this option, your driver will pay for food, lodging, and gas. The car owner will be responsible for insurance.
2. Shipping by truck
Another very common way of shipping a car cross-country will be to hire any semi-trailer, which most car dealers also do. Your shipping cost will depend on a few factors like:
- Type of your car
- Condition of the car
- Present season
- Distance to be covered
- Start and end locations
If it has to go through popular routes then even a long-distance may cost you less than any short trips between any small towns. You can reduce a little cost by not preferring door-to-door service while picking and dropping your car.
3. Shipping by Rail
If the distance to be covered is more than 750 miles, then train transport will be cheaper than the above truck option. Vehicles transported through rail will travel in a certain enclosed system.
However, with this option, your cars will be vulnerable to vandalism during the time your car will be sitting in depots. Most of the auto dealers often avail such train transport service where they need to carry several vehicles at a time. This option is however available at certain select locations only.
4. Driving it yourself
If the distance to be covered is within 100 to 200 miles then perhaps the cheapest option will be to drive your car all by yourself. However, if you have to drive a much longer distance where you may have to spend overnight in a certain hotel then this option will tend to be expensive.
Here you can also carry your own personal item along with your car as long as it is safe to carry while driving your car on the highway.
Often, the cost of self-driving may become significantly higher if you have to drive during your working days. In such conditions, shipping by truck will be a more preferred option.
