There\u2019s an old saying - \u201cmoney makes the world go \u2018round.\u201d There\u2019s also another, something about how money doesn\u2019t buy happiness. Both are true, but happiness doesn\u2019t lower auto shipping costs. As such, understanding the prices of things - and why they cost what they cost - is a great way to ensure that you\u2019re getting the most bang for your buck.
Of course, most times, there\u2019s not much you can do about the price you pay. Whether you\u2019re comparing auto shipping costs, or new vehicle costs, or something else altogether, the prices are what they are.
At the same time, though, knowing
they are what they are can help you make sure that you\u2019re getting a fair shake. Like at a car mechanic - if you know about how much it costs to fix your brakes, you\u2019ll know when a mechanic is trying to overcharge you.
Today we\u2019re going to be breaking down your auto shipping costs, why things cost what they cost, and how you can get the most bang for your buck when you ship your vehicle with American Auto Shipping.
How distance affects auto shipping costs
You can\u2019t talk about auto shipping costs without first talking about how distance affects the price you pay.
Distance - mileage - accounts for the vast majority of the money you spend to ship a car. It costs a lot to operate an auto transport truck, after all, and one of the easiest ways that carriers have to make money is to just charge a per-mile rate.
These rates are higher for shorter trips and lower for longer trips, with cross-country shipments seeing the lowest price-per-mile. A good example is anything under 500 miles tends to cost around a dollar per mile, if not more. The further away your delivery location is from your pickup location, the lower the price per mile goes. Some long-distance shipments get as low as 25 cents per mile!
The pricing structure is set up this way for several reasons. For one, short-distance trips cost more because carriers just aren\u2019t making much on those routes. On long-distance shipments, they have multiple stops for pickups and deliveries, especially the latter. This means they earn more on the trip, which helps reduce costs. Those short trips often don\u2019t have those.
Not only that but if the price per mile were static, it\u2019d cost thousands more to ship across the country. The price per mile drops the further you go in an effort for carriers to remain competitive and keep their trucks filled.
If you\u2019ve ever shipped a car before you likely know that the industry is a seasonal one. People tend to need transportation services more in the summer and less in the winter. And believe it or not, this can influence the prices that you pay, especially along popular routes.
During the summer months is when most people choose to relocate their vehicles. There are a number of reasons, too, but the bulk of the extra loads comes from people moving. Or snowbirds - those people that move to a winter home in Florida then go back north once winter has passed.
The increase in demand during the summer months makes it a carrier\u2019s market, especially on popular routes between major cities. Prices go up because loads go up; carriers can pick and choose which loads they want, of course, so they take the highest-paying ones first. This means that in the summer, prices go up if you want your vehicle moved in a timely fashion.
During the winter, though, demand drops, even on the most popular routes, so it turns into more of a shipper\u2019s market. Fewer loads to take results in carriers taking pretty much what they can get. If they get desperate enough, some may move for rock-bottom prices that may not even net them a real profit!
What all this means is that when you ship your vehicle will matter when it comes to the price you pay. So if you have the time to wait, fall and winter will likely yield better prices than in the spring and summer. This does depend on your route so make sure to talk to one of our auto transport specialists before making a final decision.
There are two other major factors that will also affect your price: the weight of your vehicle, and how big it is.
It\u2019s no surprise that a typical car is the easiest for car transporters to ship. It\u2019s their bread and butter, it\u2019s what they handle most often, and it\u2019s what their trucks are designed to haul. They can also fit a wide variety of other types of vehicles, including SUVs, pickup trucks, microbuses, golf carts, etc. That\u2019s not a problem.
a problem, though, is how much extra weight those bigger vehicles add, as well as the extra size of them. On a ten-car hauler, it\u2019s not surprising to see bigger pickup trucks take up two spaces. This means that, instead of ten cars, the carrier can only haul 8 plus a pickup truck. So the pickup truck is going to have to cost more to move because they can\u2019t fit a ninth car.
The same goes for anything with a lot of weight, even if it\u2019s a regular car! For instance, many people put aftermarket parts on their vehicles that end up weighing more. This means that carriers will have to work harder to balance their truck and keep it under federal weight limits. This in turn means figuring out how many other vehicles they can (or cannot) take. As with a big pickup truck, a heavy vehicle will ultimately take up more than its fair share of space on the truck, leading to higher prices.
Most of the time, the weight and size of your vehicle will be factored into the total price you pay, as will most everything we have covered and will cover in this post. But it\u2019s important to keep in mind how size and weight will affect your price and to plan accordingly.
Many times, customers have personal items that they want to ship with their vehicles. And we can understand that - it\u2019s already being shipped, and there\u2019s plenty of room for some household items, so what\u2019s the harm?
Well, the issue with household items is two-fold: one, carriers aren\u2019t licensed to ship household goods, only vehicles, and two, household items add additional weight to the vehicle.
Let\u2019s tackle these individually, and start with the fact carriers aren\u2019t licensed to carry household items. This is an immediate reason as to why you can\u2019t put household items in your vehicle. At the same time, most carriers won\u2019t care if you have a few personal items in the trunk, like clothes.
problem with household items comes with extra weight. Clothes and blankets are fine, as they aren\u2019t heavy. But when you start packing your vehicle full of items like furniture or electronics or even just moving boxes, you start running into issues.
Those issues are the same as the ones we talked about above, notably that carriers have weight limits they have to abide by. If you
have to put things in your vehicle, make sure they are under 50-100 pounds, they\u2019re out of sight, and, most importantly, we
Household items may end up costing you a bit more to move with your vehicle, and for the same reasons we talked about above. So make sure your concierge knows about it so we can find the right carrier for you.
Miscellaneous expenses are always covered by the total price you pay. These, however, are expenses that you don\u2019t really think about. For instance, a major one is the price of fuel - diesel fuel in particular.
As the price of fuel goes up - which it tends to do in the summer - prices go up. That\u2019s just a natural consequence because carriers have to make sure their trucks stay filled. And carriers can easily drop hundreds of dollars to fill their tanks, sometimes even thousands!
Another major expense is just general overhead. Carriers have to pay license fees, cover maintenance costs, general overhead...these are costs that force them to keep their prices above a certain threshold. Drivers also have to be paid, as do the dispatchers and other office workers.
Even for owner-operators there are expenses. Dispatchers have to work somewhere, right? So there\u2019s rent. Rent also comes with other bills, like water, and power, and internet.
These costs are all wrapped up in the price you see. This means you won\u2019t be surprised by any of them. Really, most of the time they won\u2019t be an issue at all. But they
things that get factored into the overall cost to ship your vehicle , and they should not be excluded.
Choose American Auto Shipping for your next shipment!
Make sure to give us a call if you're looking for a great, competitive auto transport rate! We can help you ship your vehicle to or from anywhere in the United States. We are the only auto transport company with a dedicated transportation concierge! So give us a call and let us help you today.