How Carriers Ship a Travel Trailer
Unlike an automobile, a travel trailer doesn’t move under its own power. This means that getting quotes to ship a travel trailer can be tricky, as it can’t be shipped like a regular vehicle. Because a travel trailer isn’t actually a vehicle, it has to be moved by a truck that can haul something of that size. Couple this with the variety in shapes and sizes that travel trailers have, and finding quality auto transportation services for a travel trailer can be quite difficult and confusing.
This increase in difficulty makes for more expensive shipments that generally take longer than a standard vehicle. However, all is not lost!
Here at American Auto Shipping, we specialize in shipping anything that can roll. This includes cars, trucks, SUVs, boats on trailers, and, yes, even travel trailers. However, we do stress the importance of understanding the differences and knowing what to expect when you ship a travel trailer, so keep reading to learn how they’re moved, what you can expect, and how we can help you do it in a hassle-free way.
Article Overview
How carriers ship a travel trailer – an overview
A travel trailer cannot be shipped on a standard open auto transport carrier. Open carriers are the main carriers on the road and haul a majority of the vehicles that are shipped today. More importantly, these kinds of trailers can typically haul up to ten vehicles at a time and are designed to move automobiles, not travel trailers. As such, a travel trailer cannot fit on one, so they have to be shipped another way.
That way is via a flatbed auto transport truck. Flatbed trucks are used on an as-needed basis, and vehicles are not moved via flatbed unless they have to be. Because of the on-demand nature of flatbed trucking services, they’re quite a bit more expensive than a standard car on a standard open transport truck.
Flatbed transport trucks are not nearly as common as open transport trucks. This means that it will generally take a bit longer to find a flatbed truck on a route than it would be to find an open transport truck on the route. In addition, because they are unable to haul ten vehicles at a time, flatbed transport trucks are going to be more expensive. They are often priced on a per-mile basis based on the size and weight of the travel trailer.
Are there other methods of shipping a travel trailer?
While flatbed transportation is often the best when it comes to shipping a travel trailer, there are other methods of getting it moved. The most common is to simply bumper pull it.
Bumper pull is a method of transportation where your trailer is just hitched to the bumper of a truck and towed. This is surprisingly common when it comes to shipping a travel trailer. As they are big, heavy, and difficult to maneuver onto and off of a flatbed truck, you often can save some money by opting for bumper pull instead.
We will say that it’s not exactly shipping it, but rather having it towed. So you’re going to encounter the same issues that you would if you were to tow the travel trailer yourself, notably wear and tear on the tires and the risks that are associated with towing a piece of heavy equipment.
At the same time, though, if you are willing to do bumper pull services, it’s something we can provide. It is often a bit cheaper than a flatbed, but it does depend on the travel trailer you are shipping as well as the equipment the carrier has. Some carriers will not have the power available to them to move bigger travel trailers. If that’s the case, a flatbed will be needed.
If your travel trailer requires flatbed services and cannot be bumper pulled, it’ll require either a winch or some kind of heavy-lift equipment (like a forklift or a crane) to get it onto the truck. Let us know if you have access to a piece of equipment that can load it, as it can actually help us broaden our search for the right carrier for you. If you don’t have that kind of equipment, that’s okay. It just means we’ll need to find a carrier with the ability to load your trailer onto their flatbed without any assistance from you.
What you will need when you ship a travel trailer
When you ship a regular car, you typically just need to give us the year, make, and model of the vehicle. That is often enough to get you an accurate quote to ship an automobile. The same is true whether it’s a compact or a full-size car, a crossover or regular SUV, or even a minivan. Most things larger than that, though, will require special pricing practices in order to give you an accurate quote.
When you ship a travel trailer you’ll need to have, in addition to the year, make, and model of the trailer, the length, width, height, and approximate weight of it.
Most of this information can be found online, particularly weight, which is usually the hardest dimension to measure. The rest of it can be done with a tape measure, after all, but it’s not like people have something to weigh a trailer!
These dimensions are important because they will determine not just the price of your shipment but also the carriers available to you to haul it. Not all carriers – even flatbeds – can handle every size travel trailer out there. The more information you can give us on the size of your trailer, the better able we will be to find the right carrier for it.
Can I get quotes to ship a travel trailer?
If you are trying to ship a travel trailer, we highly recommend you call us and speak to an agent. In this case, filling out our free auto transport quote form likely will not yield an accurate quote. As mentioned we’ll need the dimensions of your travel trailer at a minimum in order to get you an accurate quote. Our representatives know the auto transport industry very well and will get you the best quote for your shipping needs.
Of course, if you’re shipping anything else, we can help with that too! We specialize in the transportation of any vehicle that has wheels, including non-vehicles such as trailers, boats, and more. So no matter what you’re shipping or where it’s coming to and from, 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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