Things to do before Shipping a Car

1. Hiring an auto transport company is not a simple task. It takes a lot of research to get in touch with a decent ​car shipping​​ company​​. As nobody can just hand over their car keys any car shipping company. Before shipping a car, there are certain things to do and certain to rules to follow in order to get a decent car shipping company. Whether you want to ship a car to ​California​​, ​Florida​​ or to any part of the US, before shipping a car these set of rules will be your guiding light. What to do before hiring a Car Shipping Company? When you hire an auto shipping company, you have to know which ​car shipping​​ suits you the best. In order to do that, you have to adhere to the following, Do Your Research Before shipping a car to any car shipping company, you have to get to know about their company. You can start by looking them up on google. See their reviews which they received from their past performances. ​Check Their Licenses When you viewing their website on the internet, better be sure to see their licenses. So, you can trust them with carrying and hauling your vehicle. Before shipping a car, you have to know that they are registered with ​FMCSA​​​and have ​DOT​​​and ​MC number​​. You ask them about it yourself as well. If you don’t trust them, you can call FMCSA and inquire about them. Or check their licenses by putting down their information, ​here​.

2. Ask Your Friends Before shipping a car and getting affiliated with any shipping company. It’s better to ask around as well. You might have a friend or two or maybe a clique who just hired an auto transport service. You can get a reference from a friend about it. Shortlist Auto Shipping Companies At this point, you have to shortlist few auto shipping companies. Shortlist only 2-5 car transport companies at maximum. Ask your quotations and compare their prices. Never Compromise On Quality There will be many car transport companies who will bid you the lowest amount. Never go out to the lowest bidder. This automatically means that the service will not be as per your requirement. Pay a little extra if you have to but never compromise on the quality of the service you are about to receive.

3. Review Payment Policy Before shipping a car, it’s wise to go through with their payment policy first. There are some of the car shipping companies who may charge you upfront and also have no refund policy. This is a red flag! Abstain from dealing with any type of these companies. View Their Insurance Policy It’s absolutely beneficial to know about the insurance policy about the car shipping company before shipping a car. Many well-reputed auto shipping companies offer to cover you with insurance. This might increase the cost of shipping a car. However, never take any chances with the well-being of your vehicle. If it costs you a little extra, pay the amount. It’s better than taking stress over your vehicle during the shipment. You can also ask your own insurance company about the coverage of your vehicle. FMCSA’s studies looked at 6,131 fatal car-truck crashes over a three year period in 2007, 2008 and 2009. Read ​​here It’s better to be safe and than sorry.

4. Prepping for Car Shipping Company Before shipping a car, you have to make some preparations when the car shipping carrier arrives. These preparations are mentioned in detail below: Pre-book Your Shipment The cost of transportation varies on which season you hire them. It’s better to pre-book your shipment in order to ​get reasonable quotes​​ for your shipment. The shipment will also be delivered within a specified time without any delays. Specify The Date of Delivery If you have followed the previous step on time, then adhering to this step will not be an issue. When you have booked your shipment early, it will give you an advantage to easily specify the ​pickup​​ and drop-off​​ dates and time.

5. Wash Your Car Before a shipping a car, it’s imperative that wash the exterior part of your car thoroughly. This will wash out all the dirt cake from your vehicle. It will also enable you to view clearly for any paint chips and dents on your car. Make a note of it and maybe take a photograph or two, if you find any oddities. These photos will be really handy for later use. How to wash your car at home – ​​YouTube Video Check for Leakages Look out for any leakages from ​oil​​, ​fluids​​ from the vehicle. Fluids always get leakage around the gas tank for fuel, oil near the brakes and near the engine compartment for engine oil. Ensure to check in these areas, especially. If you find any sort of leakage, make sure to get it repaired on an immediate basis. Gas Tank Filling It’s a standard for most car shipping companies in the US to fill one-quarter of a gas tank. There is no need to fill out more than what’s required from your side.

6. Boost Your Car Battery It’s important for your vehicle to be in running condition before and after the shipment. Make sure to charge up your car battery to that capacity that it lasts at least till the end of the shipment of your vehicle. It is a major problem during the winter season, where the battery dies down during the shipment. Top-Off Your Anti-Freeze Antifreeze is used during the winter season to prevent car battery from being jammed or dead. A dead or inoperable car beside being an inconvenience, it also increases the cost to transport of your vehicle. Ensure to top-off your anti-freeze to protect your car battery and other components of the vehicle from getting frozen. Tires Should be Properly Inflated Make sure to check your tires are properly working and inflated.

7. Brakes Should be Working Properly It is important for the emergency brakes of your vehicle to be working properly. It helps out immensely for the carriers to load and unloading your vehicle from their trailers. It also helps during the shipment as well. It provides double the safety of vehicles from touching each other. Remove All Detachable Items from Your Vehicle After inspecting and making sure that your car is in running condition. You all need to remove the detachable items from your vehicle to not damaged during the shipment. Customary Accessories Ensure to take out all the removable items from the exterior part of your vehicle. It includes removable spoilers, antennas. You also need to cover your side-view mirrors with either newspaper, bubble wrapping sheet or your old clothes. Remove Electronic Devices

8. Take out all your all electronic devices or any important documents from the dashboard of your car. Make sure to remove your ​GPS​​, ​stereo​​, etc. Remove Toll Tags Ensure to remove all toll tags from your vehicle. As these toll tags automatically charge for crossing certain tolls and eventually it will increase the cost of your shipment. Disarm Your Car Alarm Make sure to disable or remove your car alarm from your vehicle. It’s painstakingly annoying for the driver to listen to your car alarm down on the road. Some auto transport companies even have the policy of removing your car alarm by force. Put Your Hood Up If you have a convertible, ensure to put your hood up. This will prevent your vehicle to be exposed to the outside elements.

9. Taking Precautions Don’t let your guard down just yet. There are few precautionary measures that you need to take also. These measures will put you on the safe side to prevent yourself and the carrier from any unpleasant surprises. Odometer Meter Reading It would be wise not to leave your odometer reading unchecked. Note down the current reading of your vehicle. You could share this reading with your carrier as well, in order to send a message that you are not to be taken lightly. Make Duplicate Car Keys Avoid making a blunder and be two steps ahead of the situation, you have got to own a duplicate car key. The duplicate one you should hand over to the carrier and keep the original one with yourself.

10. Don’t Conceal Information Before shipping a car, when your carrier arrives to load your vehicle. Ensure to provide all the information you gain from your personal inspection of your vehicle and do not leave any peculiarities out. Your shipment is now on the move to the desired location. If you have selected a professional auto moving service. Then, just sit back and relax till the shipment reaches your desired location. Checking Your Shipment Upon Delivery Upon receiving your shipment, there is a checking procedure that also needs your adherence. Reverifying the Condition of Shipment You want your vehicle to be in the same condition as when you handed over to them. To re-verify that, you have already taken photos of your vehicle prior to shipping. You can match the current condition of your vehicle with the photos you have taken. If any discrepancies or any damages found during the inspection. You can mention it on the receipt or the bill of lading before sign-off on it.

11. There you go! All the necessary tasks that you need to do before shipping a car.