American Auto Transport has been transporting vehicles for quite a while now, and we know all the tips and tricks that tips and tricks that can help you select the suited auto transporter for all of your vehicle shipping needs.

Most companies that will contact you about auto transport are brokers, not carriers

The truth is that most people that you’ll speak to in the industry are brokers. Brokers act as middlemen between the customer and the supplier. Auto transport brokers are the middlemen between you and the independent auto carrier that will be performing the actual transport service for you.

What many of these brokers try to do is give you the impression that they have their own trucks when in reality they are just using an internet bulletin board to find a driver to do the actual work. Keep this in mind when making your auto transport arrangements.

DO NOT give a deposit to a company without proof of assignment

One common trick that we’ve seen used on our customers is the deposit trick. First, understand that it is standard procedure for all auto transporters to take a deposit. However, it is NOT standard procedure for a transporter to take a deposit BEFORE a driver is confirmed. As a customer, you must be keenly aware of the deposit policy of the company that you’re working with, or you may wind up losing a couple of hundred dollars. ALWAYS make sure that you have the driver’s name and number before allowing any auto transporter to make any charges to your card.

Some companies will list your vehicle on the bulletin board without your knowledge

This is an especially dirty trick that we’ve seen repeatedly performed on our customers. What will happen is that you’ll speak to a company about transporting your vehicle, and without you committing to any type of agreement, they’ll post your information on the auto transport bulletin board. Then, once a driver decides that they can pick up your vehicle, they will call you and tell you that they have a driver ready. The reason that they do this is so that they can appear to be an actual carrier who has a driver waiting to pick you up so that they can get a cut of the auto transport fee. But in reality, this type of scam usually winds up confusing you, wasting the driver’s time, and costing money to any other transporter that you’ve hired. Make it clear to everyone that you speak to that you DO NOT give them permission to do this.

Going with the lowest price ALMOST NEVER gets your vehicle transported

You will receive a great deal of price quotes throughout the auto shipping process, and these prices will often vary greatly. It is tempting to select the lowest quote that you’ll receive, but as is so often the case in life, if it seems too good to be true, it is. Again, most companies are brokers, so they are simply middlemen between yourself and the driver. So even if the broker agrees with you on a price, they still have to get the driver to agree to that price as well, and drivers have costs. Drivers will only ever pick up a vehicle if the price that you’ve agreed to is enough to meet their costs. And to be honest, most drivers look for the HIGHEST priced job first, and only consider other jobs after picking up the premium jobs. So if you’re working with a disingenuous broker who is simply looking for a bite at the apple, he may contract you at a lowball price and your vehicle simply won’t move.

There are two options to avoid this kind of situation. First, you should be reasonable. Don’t go with the lowest price, but rather try to find the middle ground between the all the quotes that you’ve received. Even though drivers do go for the highest priced jobs first, in most cases you won’t need to be the highest priced job to be picked up. And sometimes, even the middle ground price may be too much to be affordable. If that’s the case, then you may need to reconsider your options. The other way to avoid this kind of problem is to work with an auto transporter that you trust.

Low prices generally mean longer wait times

You can think of auto transport as existing in a sort of tiered price structure. Jobs that are posted at the highest prices go first and jobs posted at the lowest prices go last, if they go at all. If you’re looking simply for a low price, be prepared to wait. It can sometimes take 3 or 4 weeks to have your vehicle picked up when you go with an auto transporter offering a low price. So if you need a quick pickup, be reasonable and go with a mid-ranged price.

Make use of the plentiful resources that will help you find a good auto transporter

There are a number of different ways to determine if the company that you’re working with is reputable or not. Perhaps the easiest way to do this is to check out their credentials. If you’d like to see there have been any claims against a company, simply look them up at the Better Business Bureau. This site records ethical and legal infractions that any given company registered with them has received. Another easy way to check a company’s credentials is to check them out on Transport Reviews and see what actual customers have said about a particular company’s service.

We hope that these tips have been helpful to you. But keep in mind that nothing beats one-on-one communication with a real person. If you really want to know about the best ways to get your vehicle transported, make sure to call an expert. American Auto Transport is at your service and ready to answer any questions that you might have about auto transport. We encourage you to call us at (866) 327-7863 if we can be helpful in any way. So if it’s your first time transporting a vehicle and you need help, simply call American Auto Transport and speak one of our experts about auto transport today!