Auto Shipping FAQ: What is Transit Time?
When you’re shipping a vehicle from one state to another you’ll find really quickly that a lot of what you’ll wind up doing is nothing. That is, you’re going to be waiting on someone to do their job, as opposed to actually getting your car shipped – from the get-go you’re forced to rely on auto shipping companies that you’ve likely never heard of. Whether it’s getting a quote or booking your order or waiting for the truck to pick it up or waiting for it to be delivered, you’re usually waiting on something. Waiting for something tends to be less fun than enjoying what you’re waiting for, but sometimes – like when it comes to car transport services – it’s necessary. Though you’ll end up waiting for your quotes to be sent to you first, then waiting to find a company and book with them, then waiting for them to dispatch it, then waiting for the carrier to pick it up, and then waiting for it to be delivered. That’s a lot of waiting.
There’s a lot of different names for each part of the transportation process as well, so in this helpful blog we’re going to be talking about transit time and what it means – as well as where it fits in the overall scheme of things. Transit time, specifically, is the period between your vehicle is picked up by the carrier and when it’s delivered to you by the carrier. Transit time can last anywhere from two days to two weeks, as it depends heavily on the route that your carrier is taking. Shippers work hard to get from location to location quickly, and if they can shave a few hours off their transit time, over time that can add up to some serious money. But they’re still limited, both by federal regulations and their own rigs, and on average most auto transporters average 350-400 miles of driving per day.
This is a good estimate when trying to figure out how long it’s going to take your vehicle to get from one location to another. Look at the mileage between the two cities and average a driving distance of 350 miles, then do some simple math. Rounding up will help, and of course you should talk to your auto transport carrier about what specific routes they’re running and what interstates they’ll likely use, and they can let you know (unless they haven’t gotten that far in their route planning yet). For more information about transporting a vehicle you can call our toll-free telephone number to speak to one of our live agents. You can also fill out our free online quote request form and get a free quote to ship yours.
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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