How Auction Auto Transport Works
More and more people are turning to the internet in order to buy their items. Whether it be entertainment, such as books and movies, clothing, even food – you can get must about anything online nowadays, and that extends to automobiles.
Believe it or not, you can buy cars online today, which is actually really cool considering online shopping for a vehicle tends to take some of the less favorable factors of visiting a dealership out of the equation. At the same time, though, it requires some trust on your part – it’s easy to take a picture of a vehicle then sell a completely different one to some poor schmuck and pocket the cash, leaving the buyer completely screwed, though admittedly not nearly as easy as it used to be.
Online auto auctions are a lot like using eBay to buy something you like – it’s an auction, after all. There are quite a few different ones out there lurking in the depths of the internet, with some of the most popular ones being eBay, Mannheim and Co-Part. eBay is a bit different than the other two in that eBay lets you bid on another individual’s vehicle as well as dealership-owned vehicles, but Mannheim and Co-Part are a bit different in that while you still bid on vehicles, they aren’t individually owned.
Auto auction companies typically have warehouses setup in a city or across multiple cities, where customers can then bid on them online and, should they win, go get it from the warehouse, if it’s close, or else hire a shipping company to pick the vehicle up and transport it to wherever it needs to go.
Most auto transport companies today offer auto transportation services to and from auto auction warehouses, or for eBay customers who bought a vehicle from another individual. Auction auto transport works basically the same as any other shipment from one area to another in that the carrier will pick the vehicle up at the pickup address – in the case of auction auto shipping, at the warehouse – where they’ll load it onto their truck and secure it just like it were a regular vehicle being shipped like any other regular vehicle.
The most important part of how auction auto transport works is understanding how shipping from an auction can affect prices, carrier availability and transit time. To start, auction auto shipping services tend to be a bit cheaper than standard door-to-door since, at an auction, a car transporter can pickup more than one load at a time, a practice known as co-loading.
By loading multiple vehicles at a single pickup location, car shipping companies can save themselves money on fuel costs and can also help lower your costs, since they don’t have to go to three or four different cities in a state or region if they can pickup those three or four vehicles at once at the warehouse. This tends to keep prices lower, and it’s generally a bit easier to find a carrier, especially if your warehouse is in a major metropolitan area.
If you’re looking to ship a vehicle you bought at an online auction, don’t hesitate to fill out our free online quote form. You’ll need to know the city that the vehicle is located in, as well as what auction house the vehicle is at, but when filling out our form the city is all you really need.
If you fill it out and submit it you’ll get a free, comprehensive quote directly from us. We price our shipments to move and have extensive experience shipping both to and from auto auctions. Have questions or concerns about shipping a car? Feel free to call us at 800-930-7417 to speak to one of our live agents, who can answer your questions while also getting you your free quote right over the phone.
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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