Are you trying to figure out how much it costs to ship a car? If so, you’ve come to the right place!
There are a lot of factors that will impact your overall shipping prices and services, and we have a handy breakdown of all the things that will affect your prices. So read on, learn about how much it costs to ship a car, and get a free quote to ship your vehicle with us via our online form or by calling us toll-free any time.
Factors That Affect the Cost of Shipping a Car
The total cost you pay to ship your vehicle will vary based on a number of different factors. Where are you shipping from or to? What kind of vehicle are you shipping? What condition is it in? All of that and more will determine your specific car transport price. Luckily, with Grey Transport International, we can offer you the best quotes completely free of charge.
Distance: Where are you shipping from and to?
The distance between your pickup and delivery locations tends to be the #1 most important factor in your auto transport price. The further you ship, the more expensive it is. Most companies will price shipments on a per-mile basis, and the price per mile tends to go down for longer distances. Short distances are cheaper, but cost more per mile, while longer shipments are more expensive, but cost less per mile.
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Vehicle Type: What are you shipping?
What you’re shipping is almost as important as where you’re shipping from and to. Shippers need exact information regarding your vehicle so they know how much space to allocate for it. Larger vehicles cost more to ship for this reason. For most vehicles, dimensions are already known. However, if your vehicle is a van or a pickup truck, carriers may need the dimensions of it. This is true for any larger-than-average vehicle, really.
Maneuverability: Does your vehicle run?
Shipping inoperable vehicles costs more because it requires extra tools and labor for car shipping companies to accommodate the cargo The condition of your vehicle will also play an important role in how much it costs to ship your car. If your car doesn’t start, but it can still roll, brake, and steer, a winch can be used to load and unload it. While vehicles are usually loaded via driving them onto the truck, that can’t happen if they aren’t running. Winches are not used by all carriers, and those that do have one tend to charge a bit more for the hassle of using it.
Seasonality: What season is it?
You’d be surprised, but the seasons can and will affect auto transport services and how much it will take to ship your car. Fall and spring are considered the “stable” seasons, while summer and winter tend to be more volatile in terms of the cost to ship a car. Summer shipping sees a huge spike in demand for shipping services, which will increase prices along major routes. During the winter months, demand goes down, which tends to result in lower prices for transporting a vehicle.
The bigger the car, the more it will cost to ship. For every car size you jump up, you add another $100 (approximately) to the price tag. Roughly estimated, an average car will cost you about $850 to ship. An SUV requires around $920, while a truck is charged nearly $1,100 to transport. Of course, enclosed shipping increases the total cost by around $200 on average.
It should also be noted that the car shipping cost is also affected by whether the transport distance involves in-state or cross country trips. Surcharges, such as charges for overnight trips, charges for leaving the state, toll roads, and gas play a role in the final quote you will receive.
Also, if a shipment is to or from a location that is difficult to reach (i.e., a place remote from an interstate), this automatically makes the shipment more expensive than shipments to major cities with easy access. So, the average cross-country cost to ship a vehicle is $1,300, while an in-state trip will set you back $500 on average (covering 150 miles or less).
Shipping a car VS Towing a car:
An overview of shipping a car vs towing a car
Both towing and shipping a vehicle involve moving said vehicle from one location to another without driving that vehicle. But that’s about where the similarities end.
Shipping a car involves hiring a transportation to load, transport, and unload your vehicle. Of course, carriers come in many different shapes and sizes; they range from small, 2-3 car haulers to large ten-car carriers.
While most leave the vehicle open to the elements, there are also some that will move them inside enclosed trailers at a higher price. These enclosed haulers can typically take 2-6 vehicles at a time.
When you tow a car, you’re calling a local company to come and hook your vehicle up to a tow truck. Tow trucks are usually reserved for vehicles that have broken down or can’t otherwise move under their own power.
More than that, though, towing services are mostly used for local movements, typically within 50-100 miles. Shipping a vehicle with a transport company is best reserved for shipments that go further than that.
What to know about towing a car
As mentioned, towing a car is typically useful when you don’t have to take your vehicle all that far. Most often used by stranded motorists whose vehicles have given up on them, towing services are great for local moves where pickup and delivery can happen within an hour or two. Towing services will almost always be cheaper than using an auto shipping service to move your vehicle the same distance.
What to know about shipping a car
Shipping a car, though, is a much different thing. While it is the same as towing in that you’re using a truck to move a vehicle, the services provided by a shipper are much different than those provided by a tow company.
To start, auto transporters focus on nationwide shipments – interstate, not intrastate. So they’re most useful for people who are looking to move their vehicle longer distances than just within a city or a county.
Auto transport services are most often used by people who are moving to another state or another part of the country. They are also useful for when you buy a vehicle online in another state and need it delivered to your door.
Many people use auto transport services. Whether they’re relocating themselves, relocating for work or because of new military orders, or if they just bought or sold a car online, auto transportation is designed for people to move vehicles long-distance at lower prices.
Ship your next vehicle with Grey Transport International
If you’re interested in shipping a vehicle, make sure to give us a call! We are a premier nationwide car transportation company. We can help you ship your vehicle to or from anywhere in the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii. We only use top of the line trailers and equipemt to haul all vehicles so you’re in good hands from start to finish.
If you’re interested in shipping with us, give us a call to speak to a representative. They can answer your questions, give you a quote, book your shipment, and much more. You can also get a free quote right on our website by filling out our free quote request form. From there, you can book your shipment right then and there if you’re ready to commit.
No matter what you’re shipping or where you’re shipping from, Grey Transport International offers competitive pricing and customer service. We’re here to help you ship your vehicle, so let us help!
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Difference Between Open and Enclosed Auto Transportation Services:
While all of them will provide you door-to-door auto transportation, the protection that your vehicle gets from an open carrier as opposed to an enclosed carrier will be much different, and carrier availability will depend very much on where you’re shipping from and to and also the time of year and what type of vehicle you are shipping.
The main difference between open and enclosed, aside from the price, is the level of protection they give the vehicles that they transport. Though open carriers expose the vehicles that they ship to the elements, they do offer some basic protection, along with the fact that you won’t see any mileage or other wear and tear put on the vehicle’s engine.
Most any problems that come with open transport will be cosmetic in nature – dents, dings, and scratches from spending five or ten or fifteen days on the road. Enclosed carriers prevent a lot of those minor dings and dents by putting walls and a roof over the vehicles. Damage is fairly rare on an open car shipping carrier anyway, but there are some vehicles where even the risk of damage isn’t worth it, and it would be better to spend a bit more money to ensure no damage will be done to the vehicle.
Most regular cars, though, can be shipped via a standard open carrier, since their values are still fairly low (remember, cars tend to depreciate in value before they start appreciating, and not all vehicles appreciate in value) and damage, if any, will almost always be minimal and cosmetic in nature.
Open carriers are standard in the industry because they’re so much cheaper than any of the alternatives. Enclosed transportation is used mainly be people who need transportation services for really rare, nice, or expensive vehicles (or a combination of all three), as enclosed transport trucks help to protect the vehicles they are hauling much better than open services. Enclosed transportation literally takes place on a truck that encloses all the vehicles in a trailer, to protect them from the elements.
