Auto Shipping Glossary: Local Move
The auto transport industry today is a global industry. From Cairo to Rome to Kuala Lumpur, New York to London to Berlin, you can find someone out there to ship your vehicle.
Of course, we here at American Auto Shipping don’t provide international car shipping services (hence the name “American” Auto Shipping), but we can ship your vehicle to or from anywhere in the United States. That includes pickup or delivery to Alaska, Hawaii, and the major outlying U.S. territories like American Samoa and the Mariana Islands.
When you’re shipping within the United States there are two main groupings that shippers use to classify their shipments: local moves and long-distance moves. If you haven’t read the title of this blog post, we’re going to be discussing local moves and what you can expect out of them.
Most car shippers define a local move as any shipment within 200 miles, with anything beyond that radius being classified as a long-distance move. It’s important to understand the differences as well as what you can be expected to pay for each type of shipment.
Most auto shippers price their routes based on the overall distance that your vehicle will need to travel, as well as additional factors such as weather, size of the pickup and delivery locations and their popularity among customers and carriers and the time of year you are shipping. In addition, most companies will use a per-mile pricing chart to help keep their prices more accurate.
Shorter shipments tend to cost more on a per-mile basis, as the carrier won’t have as many other vehicles to pickup or deliver along the route. For shipments under 200 miles, most companies charge upwards of a dollar per mile, while shipments of 2,000 miles or more may see a price drop per-mile of 50% or more.
It depends on the company, but local moves tend to be cheaper on the whole while more expensive per mile. This is because carriers drive less for local moves and don’t have the opportunities to finish loads the way they do when they’re shipping long distance. There are plenty of local auto shipping companies that can handle local shipments for cheaper, so you’ll want to discuss your options with an official agent for more information.
If you’re interested in shipping a vehicle, regardless of where you’re shipping from or to or how far away the delivery location is from the pickup location, you can fill out our free online auto transport quote request form to get a quote to ship your vehicle with us. The quote is completely free and is our best price to ship your vehicle within a reasonable amount of time. You can also call us any time at 800-930-7417 to speak to a representative. They can answer your questions, give you a quote, book your shipment, and more.
Since 2007 Dave has written all the content and blogs for American Auto Shipping and during this time added the duties of customer support and transport logistics.
He currently resides in Washington with his three kids and their mom and cat. A fan of Marvel movies and good stories, when not shipping cars Dave can be found working on his novel, enjoying a good book or playing some tournament HALO.
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