Auto Shipping Glossary: Transit Time
In the auto transport industry, the term “transit time” refers to how long your vehicle will actually be in transit from the date it’s picked up and loaded onto the carrier until the date that it is received by you or an affiliated party at delivery. Transit time, simply put, is how long your vehicle is physically in transit – it’s different from pickup times and delivery times in that those are fairly flexible and depend on where you’re shipping from and to and how long it’ll take and all that; transit time is affected by different factors, namely traffic conditions and inclement weather conditions along the route that your vehicle has to be shipped along.
Transit time is something that a lot of people don’t really think to ask about until their car is already picked up, which is a shame considering that it’s an incredibly important aspect of your auto transportation service and one that you should understand well. It will take anywhere from 10-14 days, on average, for an auto transporter to ship your vehicle from one U.S. coast to another, and in between that it’s pretty much anyone’s game. Corner-to-corner can take upwards of three weeks, depending on the route and where you’re actually shipping from and to (for this example, think Florida to Washington State). Transit time plays a major role in your auto shipping costs too; the longer the driver is in transit, the more expensive it will likely be to transport your vehicle with them.
But when it comes down to it, transit time is something you have no control over – heck, no one really has any control over transit time, because auto shipping trucks can only go so fast and, because of the many federal rules and regulations overshadowing the various logistics industries in the country, can only go so far in a day. Weigh stations can cause delays as well as traffic conditions and inclement weather, and weather especially can affect your prices in negative ways.
If you’re interested in shipping your vehicle, take a minute to fill out our free online quote request form. If you do, you’ll get a customized quote to ship your vehicle instantly. You can also get a quote by calling us any time toll-free to speak to a representative. They can answer your questions, give you a quote, book your shipment, and more. So no matter what you’re shipping, when, or where, let American Auto Shipping help you get it moved.
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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