A first-time shipper's short course

The first time you ship a car, do four jobs in order. See a price range you did not have to beg for. Check the company in federal records. Read the contract before any money moves. Prepare the car so the pickup is an inspection, not a surprise. Each job has a tool. None of the tools is the carrier.

RideShipper is a free comparison and quote-request service owned by World Media Group LLC. It is not a carrier and not a broker. Companies that receive a request may pay for the introduction. RideShipper does not take a deposit, dispatch a truck, or insure the car.

1. See what the trip costs before you talk#

Start with the route, the vehicle, and the first day the car may leave. Open or enclosed is a choice, not a detail to skip. A car that does not run is a different job from a car that drives onto the trailer.

The figure is a range, dated, from a model. It is not a carrier's offer and not a locked price. How the model is built is on how price estimates are made. You can email the range to yourself. That email does not call a company. The steps are in saving a range without sending it.

If you want companies to quote, the request asks for your name, email, and phone and a consent box you tick yourself. Licensed auto transport companies that serve the route then contact you. You can also call (800) 989-8833 for quotes by phone, 24/7. The steps are in how quote sites work.

When a company names a price, put it in the quote checker. Use the checker to see whether the number sits near the range and whether the deposit terms look like the pattern you should refuse. The checker does not reject the quote for you.

2. Check the company before you pay anyone#

FMCSA's advisory on automobile transporters says interstate brokers and interstate carriers must be registered, and that you should look up the MC number. Search FMCSA's Company Snapshot by USDOT number, MC number, or name.

A record in the file is not a review of manners or of claims. A missing record is a reason to stop. The Better Business Bureau's July 21, 2023 alert describes a deposit to a company that never picked up. Read deposit red flags before you send money.

Know whether you are hiring a broker or a carrier. A broker arranges the truck. The carrier hauls it. You should receive the carrier's name and registration number before pickup. 49 CFR 371.3 requires the broker to record that registration number, and each party may review the record. Where to look on the dispatch is in how a quote becomes a named carrier.

3. Read the contract like a person who has heard the price can move#

The full reading list is how to read a car shipping contract. The first time through, do not leave the page until you can answer:

• What is the price, and what can change it?
• Who do you pay, and when? A balance at delivery can be normal. A new number that is not on the paper is not.
• What is the deposit, and what comes back if no carrier is assigned?
• What is the pickup window, in days, after the first available date?
• What is the cargo limit if the car is damaged? Public liability on file with FMCSA is not that limit.
• Are personal items allowed, and does the contract say they are uncovered?

Do not send a wire, a gift card, or a payment-app deposit to a company you have not checked. The BBB alert says digital-wallet payments are essentially cash, and that a credit card is easier to contest. FMCSA's advisory says that if you pay by credit or debit card, the amount taken should be the amount you authorized.

The order you sign is not the bill of lading. The bill of lading is the receipt at pickup. 49 USC 14706 requires that receipt for interstate carriage the statute covers, and it is the document liability hangs on. Keep both papers.

4. Prepare the car, then be there or name an adult#

Wash the car enough to see the paint. Remove what the contract forbids. Set the fuel the way the carrier's instructions and the highway fuel rule allow. The sequence is how to prepare a car for shipping. Print that page's checklist or use the tool below. You do not need an email to read the list.

You, or a named adult with the keys and the right to sign, meet the truck. Walk the car. Write existing damage on the form. Photograph the pages. At delivery, do it again before you pay the balance. Take a wide shot and a close shot of every mark, in a circle around the car, so you do not skip a corner.

If the driver wants a different price before loading, do not sign it until you have compared it to the contract. Steps are in if the driver wants a price change at the curb.

What this course will not do for you#

It will not pick a company. It will not promise a day. It will not tell you a dent will be paid. Those sentences belong in a contract you can read, if a carrier offers them at all.

If the trip is to another state, registration at the far end is a separate errand with that state's motor vehicle agency. The shipping steps above do not register the car. If the car is traveling with a household, the movers and the carrier are two calendars. Do not set the car's first available date as the morning you fly.

The long version of the industry path, including the moment a carrier is actually assigned, is how car shipping works.

A folder, and the week around pickup#

Make one folder, on paper or in your phone, before anyone calls you back. Put in it:

• The range you saved, with the date it was generated.
• Each company's written quote, the deposit rule, and the window in days.
• The Company Snapshot result for the company you are about to pay.
• The signed order.
• Later, the dispatch with the carrier's name and number.
• Pickup photos and the signed bill of lading.
• Delivery photos and the signed delivery copy.

If a page is only in a text thread, save the thread. A price that lives in a phone call does not exist when the driver arrives.

A calm first shipment often looks like this. None of these gaps is a rule. They are room for the window.

1. You look at the range and check companies before you pay.
2. You book with a window that ends before your flight, your closing, or the day a lot starts charging you.
3. You spend an hour on the car while you still have it: wash, fuel, items, photos.
4. You wait. No carrier name yet means the search is still open. Call on a day inside the window, not the day after you needed the car gone.
5. Dispatch arrives. You check the new number, even if you already checked the broker.
6. Pickup. You sign only what you saw.
7. Delivery. You inspect, note exceptions, then pay the balance on the order.

The failure people describe is the reverse. A very low text, a deposit the same hour, no carrier name, and a new price when the truck is outside. The four jobs above are the defense. They are slower than saying yes on the first call. They are the right speed for a car you cannot replace this week.

RideShipper will show the range and, if you submit a quote request, pass it on so licensed companies serving the route can contact you. It will not do the contract, the prep, or the curb for you. Those happen with the company you hire.

If a step feels rushed, stop on that step. A first shipment does not get safer by skipping the company check to hold a truck that has not been assigned. There is no truck to hold until a carrier accepts, and a carrier's name belongs in the folder before the keys move.