The reason why a high percentage of people request a car transport service is because they are relocating from place to another. Most of the times their new address is a couple hundred or thousand miles away and driving their car such a long distance is out of the questions. Gas, lodging, tire wear, breaks, fluids and overall car maintenance comes to be more expensive than booking with a company to ship the car for you.
During this relocation, furniture and personal belongings need to also be moved to the new address and moving companies are hired to the job for you. They will pack up your whole house, put in the truck, drive the long distance and deliver at your new place.
Now here is where customers pop the questions: “Can I put my stuff in the car?”, and most likely the answer to that question will be: “No”. Here is why.
First off we need to take a look at the names of both of these services, one is a car transport service, and the other is a moving service. A car transport company specializes in only transporting your vehicle, any other request is not part of the service, they do not provide proper equipment to do so or either know how to handle these items properly. A moving company specializes in moving your things, they know how to handle these items and also provide proper equipment. As far as car shipping goes, some moving companies will offer the service, however most will tow your car to be pulled by the truck and this will wear your rear tires, besides increasing probabilities of scratching and denting your car.
You might think, “It’s my car why can’t I take whatever I want inside it?” Well, beside the fact that a car transport company is not a moving company, you have to think that carriers are not only taking your car. They have to mount between 4-9 cars on a hauler to take to different destinations along the way. All these cars including the carrier itself have to add to a certain amount of weight or driver will not be allowed to operate by regulations from the Department of Transportation (DOT). Excessive weight on carriers can sink the street they go over on the highway or in the city. This can cause accidents and inconveniences for smaller cars. Carriers must go through several weigh stations along the way to make sure their weight is within range. Having a loaded car will avoid that from happening.
Also adding weight to a single car means other cars need to weigh less, this means less spots will be filled on carrier, and meaning less money to cover for expenses is available. Long distance trips that carry only a fully loaded car and 2 other cars due to weight restrictions are simply not worth it for the driver. Therefore, your loaded car will not even be looked at as a possibility.
Along the way drivers have to go through inspection points as regulated by the DOT. If driver has a loaded car mounted, this car has to be unloaded to be fully inspected by law to make sure no illegal items are being carried. This is too much hassle and time consuming for driver. Just like you expect to have your car delivered at a certain date, drivers also expect to stick to their schedule to make that happen.
However, DOT regulations allow up to 75 lbs of soft goods in the trunk of the car only. Make sure you ask your carrier what are their policies regarding these regulations as car transport companies are not obliged to follow this rule. If they do not wish to honor this possibility they are entitled to do so. Also these items if allowed, are not covered by insurance provided for cars, in case of loss or damage to these items, it strictly runs by customers responsibility.
Here is a little story we want to share from a past experience we had with one of our customers. He was relocating to a new state and need the service. We booked him up and confirmed the driver. We received a call from customer on pickup date furious stating the driver had just cancelled on him and had left. We called our driver to ask what happened as this is not a sign of good customer service. Reason why: car was loaded from back to front from side to side, including bottles of alcohol and house hold goods; the only space available was the driver’s seat. We called our customer back and asked him why he had not mentioned that small gigantic detail that his car is loaded. Customer stated its his car he should be able to fill it up with whatever he wants. We explained this is not a moving company and carriers have weight restrictions and due to not mentioning this detail, we just lost a driver. However, we decided to help this customer. We informed him that the car will be sitting for a while and that cost’s to move this car will be higher as drivers have to make up for the cars they will not be able to take due to the weight. Only after 2 weeks, a driver came around for an extra $400 and car was able to be moved.
Customer went through all this hassle for such a small gigantic detail. Don’t assume your car transport agent knows all that is going on with your car, give him as much details as possible and ask about carrying things in your car to avoid inconveniences like these. It will save the stress not only for you but for your agent as well.