Car Transport Quote
Car transport quote involves a lot of moving pieces and variables, which means prices can greatly differ from company to company. Depending on the service level, a network of fleet, experience, expertise and credibility, you will get a high or low quote.
The key in auto shipping is not to get the cheapest quote (we’ll tell you why later in this article) but to get the perfect balance of price and quality. Some companies may offer dirt cheap prices, but their service will be far worse than others. While some may have incredibly high prices, but they may also fail to provide equivalent quality.
Then there are some companies that offer prices that may be a little high or somewhere in between, but they’ll make your car transport process a breeze. This is the number 1 reason why you NEED to get multiple car transport quotes. Here’s how it can benefit you:
- You’ll get to know what kind of services and perks are available in the market
- You’ll get a good idea of the high, low and mid-tier price points
- You’ll spot a pattern of what you can get for a particular price point
- You can compare different prices and the services you are getting
- You can better negotiate with companies because you’ll know the worth of different car transport services
Once you are familiar with the market prices, you can then look at your auto shipping needs and car type and decide which company’s quote meets it the best.
You can then look at the reviews of the companies meeting your budget and needs and hire the one with the highest and best ratings. This is the most practical way to ensure your money is invested in the right service.
Getting Car Transport Costs From Carrier vs Broker:
You’ll come across both the carriers and brokers when getting car transport quotes from different companies. The carriers are individual truck owners, while the brokers are companies that manage these carriers and ensure their customers are handled properly. Here are a few differences of getting quotes from both:
Convenience:
Brokers make it incredibly easy for customers to get quotes. They have online quote calculators on their websites that require you to fill a few fields regarding your car and transport locations, and get an estimated quote in a few seconds.
Although no quote is exact (final cost can be a little low or high), these quotes use hundreds of data points to provide incredibly close estimates. On the other hand, when using carriers, you need to go back and forth over the phone to receive an estimate.
Quoted Price:
Carriers may provide you with a lower price because here you are directly dealing with them, and no broker is between you both. However, the broker acts as an insured and bonded entity and makes sure you are not scammed out of your money.
It is fairly easy for an individual to run away with your money, but a licensed company cannot do that. So for offering you better customer support, service, assistance and safety, brokers charge a small fee that is added on top of the carrier’s charges – the difference is not that significant but the value is!
Discounted Quotes:
The benefit of working with car shipping brokers is that they offer multiple orders to the carriers, so they fetch a good price from them compared to you sending only one car.
This means the brokers can offer you discounts, especially if you ship more than one car, or if you are a senior, student, military personnel, AAA member or a disabled person.
Why Should You Only Get Quotes From Well-Reviewed Auto Transport Companies?
There were around 4,393 active car transport companies in the U.S in 2019. This means when getting a quote, you’ll come across all types of businesses ranging from those only offering the top value to their customers to those involved in shady tactics.
Most of the time, those who receive dirt cheap prices for auto transport services think they’ve struck gold, but the truth is far from it. Companies use these scammy tactics to lure people into the trap of using their services. And when the car is picked up, two things happen; either their vehicle is delivered after a very long wait, or they are charged extra money in the name of “hidden charges”.
This is common among many car shipping companies, so we suggest you consider too good to be true kind of quotes as red flags. This is why you need to look at the credibility of the car shipping company before hiring them, and the best way to do that is to look at their reviews. We suggest you Google their names and look for the following:
- BBB profile with at least an A rating (A+ is the best one)
- Bird Eye profile with hundreds of reviews and an average of 4.5 rating
- Google Business Profile with an average of 4.3 rating
Also, ask for references and call those past customers and inquire about their experiences. This is the best way to ensure your money is not wasted or a car shipping company does not scam you. You can look up Easy Auto Ship on Google and see what kind of reviews we have; once you know how credible our service is, feel free to give us a call or use our online car transport quote calculator.