Did you know that the average American spends 18 days per year driving? Cars are such an integral part of our lives we probably can’t imagine living without them.
So it goes to say that when you’re relocating, you’re bringing your vehicle with you. But if you can’t make the drive yourself, you’ll want to choose a good car shipping company to get yours where it needs to be.
How can you vet a good company and avoid something like paying a high Car shipping cost? By avoiding mistakes that others have made.
Here are 6 to watch out for when you’re choosing a car transport company.
1. Not Asking About the Car Shipping Cost
When you go into a store, you usually look at the price tag before purchasing something, right? So you should definitely do something similar when you’re looking into transporting a car.
If you go into it blindly, you leave yourself vulnerable to getting charged exorbitant prices. Plus, any auto transport company that doesn’t automatically offer up a quote already proves that they’re unscrupulous.
Always make sure you ask the car transport company for a quote. This allows you to get a good idea of what you might have to pay for their services.
2. Not Getting Multiple Quotes
In addition to asking for a quote, you should ask for multiple ones. When vetting businesses, it’s always a good idea to ask for quotes from various ones. Considering they should be free, there’s no harm in doing so.
Getting at least 3 quotes from different companies will allow you to see what the general prices are. If any are much higher or lower than the others, then that’s a red flag.
Extremely cheap companies might not be what they seem. They lure customers in with those amazing prices and then drop a bunch of fees on them. In the end, you might be paying more than what you would’ve with the most expensive company on your list!
And for those that are on the higher end of things, they just might be greedy and are trying to overcharge. These should be avoided as well.
3. Automatically Going for the Cheapest Company
As we’ve said above, if something seems too good to be true, then it most likely is. When getting multiple quotes, you might come across a car shipping company that’s an outlier and offers significantly lower prices.
Many people have a knee-jerk reaction and automatically choose that company. However, that’ll only bring you trouble.
We mentioned that these companies will tack on a bunch of fees. They might also be unlicensed, unregistered, and uninsured. And the worst-case scenario is they just take your money and run with it, especially if they ask for a deposit (more on this later).
4. Not Checking Reviews
When interested in a business, one of the first things you should do is check their reviews. In this day and age, it’s easy to search for customer reviews online, so there’s really no excuse not to.
Just type in the company name on Google and your browser will come up with their business listing. It’ll show their overall score out of 5 stars, as well as how many people left reviews.
You can then click on the reviews to delve deeper. Take a look at what people have to say, both the good and the bad. Even the best company around might have some people they just can’t satisfy, so don’t take bad reviews as an automatic red flag.
If the majority of testimonials seem positive and there are only occasional bad ones, then that’s a good sign.
5. Paying a Deposit
It might seem reasonable that an auto transport company asks for a deposit when you hire them. After all, these services aren’t cheap.
However, it’s not a good or common practice for these professionals to charge a deposit. So if you come across one that does, then be aware that they might be an untrustworthy company.
Often, what they’ll do on the contract is sneak in a section about how the deposit is non-refundable. This means that if you end up not using their services, they won’t give that deposit back. As a result, they get to make money without doing a thing.
Reputable car shipping companies will only take payment in full from you. And they’ll only charge this once you’ve actually made a booking.
6. Not Checking if the Company Is Licensed and Registered
Practically anyone can put up a website and claim to be an official car shipping company. So you need to dig deeper and find out if they really are licensed and registered.
All auto shipping companies in the US have to be registered with the US Department of Transportation. So if you’re speaking to a legitimate company, they should be able to provide proof of this without issue.
You might be impressed with the prices an unlicensed and unregistered company is offering. But considering they’re transporting your vehicle, lots can go wrong.
If your car gets damaged in transit, they likely don’t have an insurance policy that covers damages. And the company itself probably won’t reimburse you either.
Avoid These Mistakes When Looking at Car Transport Companies
From not finding out the car shipping cost to not getting multiple quotes, there are several mistakes you can make when speaking with car transport companies. Now that you know about them, make sure you don’t follow in the footsteps of those who were not as wise.
By being careful and vetting auto shipping companies, you’ll end up with one that’s not only trustworthy and reputable but also right for your budget and needs.
If you want to learn more about car transport services, then take a look at our blog page now.
