But, thankfully, with the power of information that the internet provides, new markets have been created, such as this one.  A service that normally would only be provided to large dealerships is now being made accessible to the ordinary person.

Unfortunately, there also is a lot of risk in dealing with such a high stakes industry.  AM Express Auto Transport focuses on being the best.  We want to provide the best service we can for our customers, and we stand by our “A-” rating in the Better Business Bureau.  Which leads me to point 1…

1.  Check Your Auto Transporter’s Better Business Bureau Rating

This is the best way to check on your companies legitimacy.  If your company doesn’t belong to the Better Business Bureau, then you should definitely begin asking yourself, “why not?”

There are other “unbiased” rating companies, such as Transport Reviews, or others – but, a known secret is that Transport Reviews posts up reviews of paid customers and also will remove bad reviews of their gold and silver rated members.

Also, the power of the internet has drawn closer the information gap between companies.  AM Express recommends that you do your homework before choosing an Auto Transport company, and we have the confidence to know that you will see that we are a superior, and honest, company.

2.  Upfront Deposits

Unfortunately this little habit of bad Auto Transport companies is really putting a smear across the industry.

It would make sense for a company to ask money upfront to arrange vehicle transport, but some companies are using this as a scheme to get money before providing service, then ignoring customers.  If the Auto Transport company you are dealing with asks for an upfront deposit, then we urge you to do a simple search of the company in Google or with the Better Business Bureau.

Again, if you inform a company that you want to do your homework about them, and they use pressure tactics to get you to contract their company, this should raise a huge red flag.

AM Express Auto Transport never asks for upfront deposits until we have actually arranged a driver that will pick up your vehicle.

3.  Pressure Tactics

“I have a truck in your neighborhood right now!” or “If you don’t do this now, then you’ll lose out on a great deal!”  Are two common phrases among Auto Transport companies that will do whatever it takes to get your money, and deliver as little as possible.

Honest companies will be patient with customers and understanding if they need time to make a decision.  There’s a difference between informing you that there is a truck in your neighborhood that can pick up your vehicle, and pressuring you into making a decision on transportation.

4.  “Low Ballers”

My mother raised me to believe that any deal too good to be true, probably is.  AM Express loses a great deal of clients to Auto Transport companies that offer a “lower price”, only to have the customer call back a week later incensed that their vehicle was never picked up, and they can no longer get in touch with the other company.

To give a slight explanation to the Auto Transport business’ inner workings — most Auto Transport businesses compete with each other to contract a small amount of drivers.  It is rare that an Auto Transport company has their own trucks, and when they do, they don’t give outrageously low prices to ship your vehicle.

The low price is the same exact tactic of Bait and Switch scam artists.  The Auto Transport company will promise to be able to do the transport for an absurdly low amount and then call you a week or two later saying that to move the vehicle it will take an extra amount of money.

Typically, you’ll find, that extra amount of money will equal to the original quote that an honest company, like AM Express Auto Transport, gave you in the first place.

Except now you’re dealing with a company that not only lied to you, but also put you in a rushed position, and have no choice but to pay out money you may not necessarily have wanted to spend in the first place.

Don’t fall for this trap.  Again, check the Auto Transport companies’ Better Business Bureau rating to make sure that you have are dealing with a reputable company.

Fuel Costs

I found this handy gas calculator online, AAA Fuel Costs Calculator.  Our supposed trip will be from Miami, Florida to Los Angeles, California, for a total of 2,736 miles — mostly highway driving too.

In a 2002 Ford Focus, the one way price, for just fuel is approximately $250 dollars.

Hotel Costs

Hotels are also vital in terms of expenses when doing a cross country trip.  If the average driver goes 70 mph, for 9 hours (straight), that is a distance of approximately 600 miles.  So a 2,700 miles trip takes approximately 5 days, which is 4 over night stays.

Even the cheapest of hotels are about $50 per night, so that is an additional $200 dollars.

Travel Costs

Unless you’re the best of packers, you probably won’t be packing enough food for a 5 day trip and will end up eating on the road.  For a family of 3 (parents and one child), over the course of 15 meals, with approximately $8 per person, per meal, the total costs end up being an additional $360.

Your Comfort

The total price is already over $800 for the trip, that almost matches the price of having your vehicle shipped.  But, don’t forget to take into account piece of mind, and comfort.  Unless you’re a road warrior, most people would not enjoy a 4 day trip cross country – unless if it were site seeing.  Additionally, take into account the wear and tear on your vehicle that you’ll be saving as well.

With all things considered, the question isn’t if shipping your car is a wise decision, but why would anyone NOT ship their car.  Financially, piece of mind, comfort, and ease shows why this is one of the fastest growing industries in the country.  That alone should make your decision easy to make, and we hope that you choose AM Express Auto Transport to be your transport provider.

Choosing A Safe And Reliable Car Transport Service

It doesn’t matter if your car is a sports car, an antique car, or even just a plain family car, if you want it safely delivered to you, you will have to find a reliable and affordable transport company that has a car transport package that suits your needs and your budget.

But, when choosing a car transport service you have to be aware of some issues regarding the transport and delivery of such. Transporting something as precious as your car would be suicide if you don’t take the proper precautions. 

Here are some things to look out for when considering a car transport service.

Insurance

Your car is a big investment. If you allow your car to be transported carelessly, you could end up with a badly banged-up car. To avoid this, you can have your transport service insure your car. While doing research on what transport service to hire, always look at the total price plus insurance. It may seem like a waste of money to some, but for those who have experienced having their cars shipped to them with dents, scratches, and – gasp – other major damages; insurance will seem like a welcome advice.

Know What Type of Transport You are Dealing With

There are quite a few options on how to have your car delivered. You can have door-to-door, enclosed, open, terminal-to-terminal, and rail service among others. Some of these options may have features that you do not need, or features that are more than what you need. Make sure you understand the details of each option and choose one according to your needs.

Read more here…

How Stuff Works is a site dedicated to diving into the little things in life, and explaining them so it can be better understood.

The article first introduces a lot of concepts:

Convenience and efficiency drive the automobile transport business. It’s somewhat ironic that automobiles are transported since they themselves are designed and built to provide transportation.

Then follows up by explaining convenience charges in new vehicle prices.

What we’re really interested in is their view of auto transport, the service that we provide. 

Today’s tractor-trailer auto transporters can carry up to 12 vehicles. The rigs are designed so that the tractor can support up to four vehicles and eight vehicles are placed on the double-deck trailer. The tractor-trailer rigs utilize hydraulically operated ramps.

Each year, millions of vehicles are transported to meet personal needs, such as:

• Families moving cross-country
• Students going to college a long distance from home
• “Snowbirds” moving to the Sun Belt for the winter
• Corporate relocation

Some of these situations are one-time needs and the car owner will hire an auto-transport company. Phone directories and the Internet are filled with advertisements promoting a variety of transport companies and transport brokers. Consumers need to be aware of the difference. A company handles the actual pickup and delivery of the vehicle. A broker does the legwork and sells the job to one or more transport carriers.

There are pros and cons to working with both. Transport companies have more control over delivery time and assume more responsibility in the event of damage or an accident. On the other hand, brokers have access to more options for a quicker delivery. Consumers should double-check all references to help avoid fraud or an unpleasant experience.

Transport companies are quick to stress that they can transport only the customer’s vehicle. Customers are not allowed to pack their cars with clothes, small appliances or even spare parts. The fuel tank cannot be completely full, and owners are usually required to be present when the vehicle is picked up or delivered to complete the inspection.

As you can see, there is a lot of information out there, and it would be best for you to do your homework.  Something like having your car transported cross-country has the potential to be highly worrisome, but that shouldn’t dissuade you from hiring Auto Transporters.

Make sure you check out their Better Business Bureau rating and visit TransportReviews.com.  A smart consumer is our favorite customer.

Personal Items: Do not leave or transport anything valuable in your vehicle. AM Express Auto Transport or its agents is not responsible for anything loose inside your car, including cell phones, radar detectors, removable radios, household goods. 

Clean Car: In order to expedite origin inspection by your carrier, please provide the vehicle in clean condition. This allows for quick and fair evaluation of the vehicle prior to shipment, and establishes the standard for condition of delivery. 

Antennas: Antennas should be lowered or removed. Temporary antennas for cell phones or CB radios should also be removed. 

Racks: Remove any luggage, bike, or ski rack that is not permanently attached to the car.  

Keys: U.S. Department of Transportation requires that one set of all keys for the vehicle is provided to the carrier, including the ignition, trunk, and glove box keys. 

Spoilers: Spoilers, fairing, air dams or other low hanging items should be removed, or sufficient clearance assured, to expedite loading on the rail and truck ramps. 

Canopies/Caps: Caps and canopies on pickup trucks must be properly bolted to the box of the truck to ensure safe delivery. 

Personal Items: Do not leave or transport anything valuable in your vehicle. AM Express Auto Transport or its agents is not responsible for anything loose inside your car, including cell phones, radar detectors, removable radios, household goods, sunglasses, 

Car Alarms: Alarms should be turned off for transport. If there are special instructions required to start a car in order to disarm the alarm, please inform your carrier picking up your car. AM Express is not responsible for drained batteries resulting from an alarm that has not been turned off. 

Cracked Glass: Should the vehicle glass have a nick, scratch, chip, crack, or other imperfection, AM Express Auto Transport or its agents will not be responsible for damage caused by any pre-existing condition 

Here is also a list of 10 Tips fo Preparation:

This article from Edmunds.com, is a great guide to online car buying:

Auto Shippers Deliver for Long-Distance Car Buyers
By Vivian Blackwell

Car buyers search to the ends of the earth via the Internet for the auto bargain of their dreams. Last year, USA Today reported that nearly 75 percent of cars sold on eBay were interstate transactions. A growing number of consumer-oriented auto shippers are eager to help online car buyers retrieve their purchases from distant cities.

“Visitors to our site have grown tremendously over the years,” said Wayne Harris, president of MoveCars.com, “especially since popular sites like Auto Trader and eBay emerged, allowing people to buy cars anywhere in the country — or the world. Then they turn to the Internet like the Yellow Pages to find companies to ship those cars back home.”

Finding a slot
Auto shippers wait until car carriers are full before dispatching them, and depend on “transport brokers” to quickly fill any empty slots on a transport truck. Car buyers can work directly with the shippers or through the brokers to find an open slot. A broker may be able to negotiate a lower price for you, but doesn’t offer direct contact with the car carrier during the car’s shipment — which can provide a certain peace of mind.

MoveCars.com, an online directory of auto transporters founded in 1996, offers more than 50 listings with direct links or online forms to request bids from brokers and auto shippers in the U.S. and Canada. Harris recommends contacting the auto transport companies via their toll-free numbers if you have questions. “They consider people who take the time to make a call to be serious customers and give them more attention than all the e-mails crammed in their in-boxes,” he said.

Using an enclosed truck to protect your car costs some 60 percent more than open trucks, but auto shippers recommend it for new or high-end vehicles.

Handling the details of your car shipment
Kenneth Resnik discovered some of the complications of shipping a car when he and his wife moved from New York to Nevada last year. “I was surprised to call one day and find out my car was in Dallas,” he said, “but the guys I worked with were up front about the process.” They explained that cars are transported between major hubs around the country and sometimes have to wait at a terminal until a carrier is full. Dependable Auto Shippers, the company Resnik chose, required an 18-day window for delivery.

** Note: At AM Express Auto Transport we never place your car in a terminal. We will never give you an 18 day transport window for delivery. We provide a door to door service, that allows you to feel confident that your car will be delievered in a timely manner and by a single driver that you can trust.

Personalizing your shipment experience
Customers can connect with a wide variety of car transporters at uShip, a Web site founded by Matt Chasen in 2003 as an interactive shipping marketplace similar in format to eBay. Members, who can join for free, list automobiles or other large freight they need to have shipped. Then shippers — including transporters, van lines, freight brokers and smaller independent delivery services — bid for the jobs. They can offer low shipping rates because they fill remaining slots in existing shipments.

Chasen explained that in the past, customers had to search for good rates, but in the uShip system, the companies search and compete for jobs. “Essentially, the right shipper comes to you,” he summed it up, estimating that on average uShip saves users 60 percent as compared to traditional transport services.

Vehicles are by far our largest category,” Chasen said. One-time shipping customers and wholesale vehicle dealers like Online Vehicle Exchange use uShip’s highly adaptable system. Recently, uShip launched a new estimator tool on the site for free price estimates based on similar shipments. Soon, a checklist of steps to take before shipping a car will be available.

Tips for shipping a car
The following tips could save you money and improve your peace of mind if you decide to ship a car:

• Compare companies: The provider directory on uShip includes user comments and ratings, and ratings Web sites like Epinions evaluate auto transporters. Matt Chasen pointed out that uShip’s ratings highlight smaller companies with good personal service and responsiveness. Factors to compare include price, insurance coverage and time required for delivery as well as quality of service.
• Ask Uncle Sam: The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration maintains a hotline (888) 368-7238 for consumers to check on a shipper’s license and insurance record as well as whether any complaints have been made about the company.
• Location, location, location: A delivery between two major cities may be cheaper because more carriers cover that route.
• Size matters: Bigger cars take up more space in the carrier and heavier cars add more cargo weight, making them more expensive to ship.
• Season matters: Fewer cars are transported in winter, so rates may be lower then. If you ship a car north from Florida or Arizona in April or May, you may get better rates from transporters who have dropped off cars for “snowbirds” (retirees who move south during the winter months) and need to fill slots for the return trip.
• Value matters: New or high-end vehicles should be shipped in an enclosed carrier, which could cost 60 percent more than open carriers.
• Stay cool: “Be patient,” Kenneth Resnik advises. “Shipping a car is a big operation and not something you go through every day, but it’s worth it.”