If you give the pickup and delivery information to the broker and you verbally give them a credit/debit card number, you are considered under contract from most brokers including Aaall States. We will immediately post your order on the national load board after you give us the names and phone numbers of both the pickup and delivery locations and your credit/debit card. This is to give you the fastest service possible. If you are just discussing your vehicle move with a broker and have not decided who is going to get your order, do NOT give the broker the pickup and delivery information nor the credit/debit card number.

There are two factors when it comes to price differences.

(A) If an auto carrier has a 1,500 mile trip planned, a 3 car carrier would need more money than what a 10 car carrier would need to pay their expenses to operate a truck for the same trip.

(B) Another reason for price differences is that some brokers bid on your vehicle move assuming that you need your vehicle moved immediately. Other brokers bid on your quote thinking that you don’t care how long it takes to move your vehicle and that you just want to save money. Since nobody really knows your situation, it is IMPOSSIBLE for anyone to quote you accurately on your vehicle move without guessing. Many times the rates can vary $200 to $300 for the same vehicle move, totally depending on your needs. Give me a call, so we can discuss the different rates for your specific needs.

(C) The reason that 99% of quotes that you receive are from brokers, are that the companies who receive the quote request from the web site that you submitted your information from, has to purchase each and every quote request from that web site. Since a carrier would NOT have a truck in 99% of the requested quotes, the carriers would be wasting 99% of their money to buy useless quotes and the carriers would go broke. Therefore, only brokers buy these quote requests. Even if a broker has their own truck, chances are, that they would still have to broker out your vehicle to a carrier who is actually running your particular route.

The carriers rely on the brokers to take the orders as the brokers post the orders on the national load board for the drivers to look at, as the drivers decide which orders that they want to claim for their next trip. When the carriers see your order on the load board and they want your order for their next trip, then they will then call the broker to claim your order.

Yes and no! Any bid that is made, is made with the assumption that your vehicle runs, steers, drives, has brakes and is transported on an open carrier. Never let a company tell you that you must buy cargo insurance through their company. (See question #6 above) Also, never let any company tell you that they are charging you a fuel surcharge, sales tax, road tax, etc. Quotes should already include all of these charges. To bid low and then increase the price later is not right. There are 3 main reasons the price could increase: (1) during transit your auto becomes in-operable, some companies may charge $100 to $200 more, (2) the order does not state that there are items packed in the vehicle, most companies will charge more because of the additional weight. Federal D.O.T. rules state that no auto transporter can carry household goods inside of a vehicle. This D.O.T. law applies to everyone. The third reason is that some trucks that carry fewer vehicles such as a 3 car carrier need more money per vehicle than a 10 car carrier would need for the same trip. So the driver of a smaller carrier may ask for more money. You may then accept or reject any offer from a carrier that is asking for more money.

This is one of the most important questions that you need to know the answer to. The proper way to place an order is to FIRST get all of the quotes that you can get, and then call the broker with the POLICIES THAT PROTECT YOUR BEST INTERESTS. I am sure that the broker will work with you on what you want.

The reason that you should never book your order with more than one broker is quite simple. If everyone did this, it would throw the whole trucking industry into a mass of unorganized confusion. Can you imagine truck driving 100 miles to pick up a vehicle, only to arrive and see another truck driving away with the vehicle. This would add cost to all truck companies, therefore driving up the cost of transporting vehicles. It will not make any difference who you place your order with, since ALL brokers will place your order on the SAME national load board as we all use the same system. The truck driver or dispatcher will see your order, no matter which broker that you place your order with. If the driver or dispatcher sees the same order on the board with two different brokers, they will not even bother calling on your order to avoid the possibility of driving 100’s of miles to pick up a vehicle that may not even be there any longer.

If you only take one thing away from this Car Transport FAQ page, it is the answer to this question! ABSOLUTELY NOT!!

Have you ever worked for anyone that has paid you before you went to work for them? The same thing applies in the auto transport business. You should only pay your transport fees after someone has done something for you.

A lot of brokers will promise or guarantee you a truck, just to get an order from you and to put your deposit in their pocket. When the truck doesn’t show as promised, they still have your money in their pocket. For this reason, WE HIGHLY RECOMMEND that you never pay the deposit with an auto transporter broker until AFTER YOUR VEHICLE HAS BEEN LOADED onto a truck. It is alright to give your credit card number to the company when you place your order, but make sure that the company agrees not to run the credit card through until AFTER your vehicle has been loaded.

Our policy is to get your credit card number to secure the order, but the credit card will NOT be charged until your vehicle has been picked up.

There are a few auto transport brokers who receive their deposit and then they do not have as much incentive to move your vehicle ahead of someone else’s vehicle that they did not get a deposit on. Also, a few companies will bid a real low price, just to hook you into giving them your order as you may think you are going to save some money. These brokers will lead you into thinking that you may save $100 to $300, but they know full well that the price is too low and the chances of moving your vehicle is slim. These brokers may also say that they have a truck lined up already to pick up your vehicle within 3 or 4 days. The broker tells the customer that a deposit is required to “secure a spot on that truck”. So the unsuspecting customer pays the deposit, signs a 20 to 30 day contract. A few days later the truck “cancels or the truck has broken down” so the company tells you that they will find another truck. Two weeks later, still no truck and now they are asking for more money to move your vehicle since no truck driver can be forced to take an order that does not pay him enough. The low bid a lot of times turns out to be not so low after all.

Federal D.O.T. law requires that every carrier must have cargo insurance. The carrier is 100% responsible for any damages. The driver will perform a pre-load and a post-load inspection on your vehicle. If any damages occurred during the transit, the person signing for the vehicle at the delivery end must note the damage without exception and have the driver sign for the damage. Without a signature, it is impossible to verify with the insurance company when the damage occurred.

We do not allow a company to take your vehicle to a terminal. Terminal companies need to gather a full load of cars going from point A to point B and this may take several weeks before they will send in a truck to pick up a full load. Avoid these companies for your protection. So our policy is for the truck to go door to door.