Auto Transport Tips: Why Overseas Shipping is More Expensive
If you’re looking to transport a vehicle from or to Alaska or Hawaii, you’ve probably noticed that the prices you’re getting are fairly high when compared to transportation services within the contiguous U.S. – and if you haven’t started looking for quotes yet, that’s likely what you’ll end up finding. Transporting a vehicle overseas, regardless of where your pickup or delivery locations are, is going to be more expensive for several reasons, but mostly it’s because there are only a handful of companies that even provide overseas transportation services, which means that they have kind of a de facto monopoly over the overseas car transport industry – and if you want your car shipping to Alaska or Hawaii, you’re going to have to go with one of them.
Well, not you specifically. Typically when you’re shipping overseas you’ll book with your shipping company like normal, but what they’ll have to do is find a carrier to either pick your vehicle up and deliver it to the port to be shipped to either Alaska or Hawaii, or else assign a carrier to pick it up at the port when it arrives from Alaska or Hawaii and deliver it to wherever in the contiguous U.S. you want it to go. And that’s really what adds so much to the price, because not only do you have to pay for the broker’s service initially (via a deposit), but you’ll also have to pay for the overland shipping to or from the port and the port-to-port cost when shipping it overseas. This is also why shipping companies that ship overseas will take your payment in full, up-front – they’ll have all the funds on hand to pay all the different shippers that will be transporting your vehicle.
Overseas shipping is more expensive than overland transport, but it would be even more expensive via just about any other method, including private charter ship as well as cargo plane. Most shippers that move vehicles overseas have great deals with the port shippers, which helps save you time and money as opposed to booking with a port shipper directly. If you’re interested in getting a free quote to transport your vehicle overseas, you can fill out our free online quote request form and get a free quote right away. If you have further questions about overseas transport and why the price is higher than usual, you can call our toll-free telephone number to speak to one of our live agents.
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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