Auto Shipping to Aberdeen, South Dakota
Aberdeen is the county seat of Brown County, South Dakota, and is also the largest city in the county and the third-largest city in the state of South Dakota; it’s current population sits at over 26,000 residents as of the last official U.S. census. Aberdeen is located in the northeastern parts of South Dakota, and as such anchors its own micropolitan area, which is home to over 46,600 residents and includes all of Brown County and also all of nearby Edmunds County. The city was first plotted in 1881, as a railroad town along the Milwaukee Railroad. Though business grew rapidly along Aberdeen’s Main Street, the town was prone to flooding, which hampered continued expansion efforts and even drove businesses away, as their basements continually flooded. It took engineers three years to figure out a way to stop the flooding, but in the process they secured Aberdeen’s first working water supply, enabling even further expansion and growth than what was originally planned. Over time the city grew into a major transportation hub in the area, as four different rail companies built depots in the town, and all the railroads converging at a hub. This is the main reason Aberdeen was able to flourish as it did, though today only one railroad company, Burlington Northern Santa Fe, still operates in the town. Learn more about Aberdeen at the city’s official website.
One of the more difficult parts of auto transport to or from Aberdeen, South Dakota is the fact that it’s so out of the way. Auto shippers tend to stick to major interstates and oft-traveled highways through large metropolitan areas surrounding major cities. This keeps them close to most customers, cuts down on days between paychecks, and basically makes them more money. There are plenty of auto transportation companies that offer transportation to and from more rural areas, including Aberdeen, which sits an hour or so west of Interstate 29, but it’s likely going to cost you more money for pickup or delivery, simply because of how out of the way it is. On that route, you’re likely going to be the only vehicle that carrier picks up that day, which means that he’s going to have to either be close to a delivery location of another vehicle or else wait for more loads to become available down the road from yours. Do you see why they tend to stick to highly populated areas?
What season you’re shipping in can also make a difference. During the summer months, the sun is shining, everyone’s shipping cars, the industry is booming, there’s more overall cars being shipped, which means there’s more loads to go around. Auto transportation companies can take advantage in the surge of customers during the summer and lower their prices a bit. It’s competitive as all get out in the auto transportation industry, and brokers help to make sure that competition stays healthy by having access to entire lists of carriers along specific routes. Some routes are more competitive than others, though, from the customer perspective (in and out of Miami comes to mind), which can actually cause the shift to occur to the carriers – more loads than carriers on a specific route, brokers have the power in negotiations; more carriers than loads, however, turns the tables. During summer, shipping to rural areas is easier because there are more loads overall, but the price typically won’t spike because it’s not traveled to or from often.
During the winter, however, all bets are off; that particular area of South Dakota is ripe for severe winter weather, aka snow and ice, which is a driver’s worst nightmare. Not only that, but loads are more scarce; it’s downtime across the board, so shippers stick to the major routes to get what they can. They have less incentive to go out of their way unless the payment is high enough, and this is how the seasons can affect your prices…and your pickup date and window, too. If you’re interested in shipping a vehicle to or from Aberdeen, or really from or to anywhere in the country, you can fill out our free online quote request form and get a free quote right way. You can also call us toll-free at 800-930-7417 to speak to one of our live agents immediately, with no hassle.
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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