How to choose a car shipping company

Choose a car shipping company by the record and the contract, not by the first price in a text message. Match the legal name to a federal registration that is still in force, read whether the insurance on file is liability or cargo, and do not pay until you know who shows up with the truck and when the price is allowed to move.

RideShipper is a comparison and quote-request service owned by World Media Group LLC. It shows a price range before it asks for contact details. Company profiles show federal licence data and reviews. If you ask for quotes, you give your name, email, and phone and tick a consent box. Licensed auto transport companies that serve the route then contact you. It does not take a deposit or insure the vehicle. Companies that receive a quote request may pay for that introduction. The hire is still yours. You can also ask for quotes by phone at (800) 989-8833, 24/7.

Start with the company that will sign#

The name on the ad, the name on the invoice, and the name on the truck door are often three different businesses. A broker arranges transportation by a motor carrier for pay. A carrier is the company that hauls. Federal rules say a broker may not represent its operation as that of a carrier, and its advertising has to show that it is a broker (49 CFR 371.7, opened November 10, 2026).

FMCSA's consumer advisory on automobile transporters, last updated February 10, 2015, says the same thing in plain language: know whether you are dealing with a transporter or a broker, and be wary of a site that does not make the role clear. The advisory says both interstate brokers and interstate transporters must be registered with FMCSA, and both are issued an MC docket number. It also says to avoid a company that does not put that number on its website.

A number on a website is the start of the check, not the end. Open the SAFER Company Snapshot and search by USDOT number, MC/MX number, or company name. The page describes the snapshot as a free one-company record of identification, size, commodity information, and the safety record, including the safety rating if any, a roadside out-of-service summary, and crash information. Then open the Licensing and Insurance carrier search. That search takes a USDOT number or a docket number (MC, FF, or MX), or a legal name or "doing business as" name plus a state. FMCSA's own note on that page, dated in the footer November 10, 2026, says new applications do not show in results for 24 hours after filing.

Read the legal name on both results against the name on the quote. If the digits match and the name does not, you are not looking at the company that wants your money. The 2015 advisory describes a six-digit MC number and a seven-digit USDOT number. Number length can differ from that description. Type the number you were given and match the name. Do not treat a familiar digit count as proof.

The company-check tool runs that lookup and shows authority and insurance on file. Use it, then still open the federal pages if a result looks off. A RideShipper company directory listing is a folder of records. It is not a rank, and it is not a statement that one company is safer than another.

Read authority before you read reviews#

Authority is the grant to haul, or to broker, for hire across state lines. The Licensing and Insurance search is the public place FMCSA describes for interstate for-hire carriers that have been granted authority or have an application pending. If the result says the authority is not in force, stop. Do not send a deposit while you "wait for them to fix the filing."

A safety rating, when the snapshot has one, is a separate fact from authority. Many carriers have no rating on file. No rating is not a clean bill of health, and it is not a failing grade. Read it as "no rating on file," then look at the out-of-service summary the snapshot includes. An out-of-service order is a reason to pause and ask what it covers. It is not a star rating.

Separate the liability filing from the car#

People say a carrier is "insured" because a filing shows on the federal screen. The filing you are most likely to see first is public liability. Under 49 CFR 387.7, a motor carrier may not operate until it has the minimum financial responsibility in 49 CFR 387.9. For for-hire interstate or foreign carriage of nonhazardous property in a vehicle with a gross vehicle weight rating of 10,001 pounds or more, that table lists 750,000 dollars. The security pays final judgments for bodily injury or death, and for loss of or damage to property of others, from the negligent operation, maintenance, or use of the truck. That is the truck hitting someone, or the truck damaging someone else's property. It is not a check for the value of your car.

49 USC 13906(a)(4), in the 2023 U.S. Code edition on GovInfo, says the Secretary may require a security that pays a shipper for damage to property the carrier was given to transport. "May require" is not a dollar limit for your sedan. The cargo limit that matters is the one on the certificate the company sends you, and the same number in the contract. If those two numbers disagree, do not pay until they match. The insurance-on-file guide walks the screen. Proof of the public-liability minimum is public information, and 49 CFR 387.7(e) says the carrier must produce it on a reasonable request. Ask.

A broker's filing is different again. 49 CFR 387.307, which the eCFR page says is effective January 16, 2026, requires a property broker to keep a 75,000 dollar surety bond (form BMC-84) or trust fund (form BMC-85). The bond pays shippers or motor carriers if the broker fails to carry out its contracts for supplying transportation. It is not insurance on the car, and 75,000 dollars is not your car's value.

Read the deposit and the price line before you pay#

A deposit is not, by itself, a scam. It becomes a bad trade when it is the whole offer: pay now, and the truck will be named later. The Better Business Bureau's July 21, 2023 alert describes a pattern in which a low quote is followed by a deposit of a few hundred dollars, often through a digital wallet, and then no one arrives. One consumer quoted on that page paid 50 dollars through PayPal, heard nothing at pickup, and later wrote that the company did not appear on the USDOT site. A harsher version in the same alert is a car that does move, then a demand for more money before it is released.

Before you pay anything, get four answers in writing.

1. The legal name, MC or USDOT, and whether this contract is with a broker or a carrier.
2. When the carrier that will load the car will be named, and that you may check that name the same way.
3. Whether any deposit is charged to a credit card, what cancels it, and whether a refund goes back to that card.
4. Whether the price can change after a carrier is assigned, or only before. The sentence is usually near the price. Read it. A first number that is allowed to move is an estimate, even if the email calls it a quote.

Compare that number with the range for your route, vehicle, and open or enclosed transport. A figure far under the range is the pattern the BBB alert flags as a price that sounds too low. Use the quote checker for the comparison. RideShipper's range is an estimate with a date. It is not the price a carrier must accept.

Use reviews for the pattern, not the stars#

Stars without a route, a date, and a price are a weak signal. Read for the same story told more than once: the price rose after a deposit, the salesperson stopped answering near pickup, or a damage claim stalled. One angry review is not a pattern. A pattern of price changes, or of silence after payment, is a reason to pick a different contract, not a reason to leave a one-star rating and hope.

Paid placement is advertising. A label that says a company paid to be shown is not a quality score. RideShipper's ranking method and advertising disclosure are the pages that say how a list is built. Do not treat a "top company" headline, on this site or any other, as a federal finding.

What you still decide at the curb#

The choice is not finished when you pay a booking fee. On pickup day, the name on the truck and on the bill of lading should be the carrier you were given, or a carrier the contract told you might be substituted. If a new name appears and you were not told, pause and look that name up before you hand over the keys. The questions to ask before you pay is the short list to keep next to the phone. The broker and carrier comparison is the longer explanation of who you pay and who arrives.