How to read a car shipping quote you already received

Read a car shipping quote for the price, what the price leaves out, the deposit, and the company name. Then read whether the price is allowed to change. Do that before you pay. A quote is an offer to arrange or to haul the car at the terms on the page. It is not a receipt, and it is not a rate that stays put unless the change clause says so.

RideShipper's range is a different piece of paper. It is an estimate. The quote in your inbox is the company's. We do not set it.

Step 1. Name the company#

Write the legal name, the USDOT or MC number, and whether the quote says broker or carrier. A broker may not represent itself as the carrier, and the advertising has to show broker status (49 CFR 371.7). If the quote says "your carrier" and the company is a broker, ask them to correct the words.

Look the name up before you reply with a card number. The path is how to check if a carrier is licensed. FMCSA's advisory, updated February 10, 2015, says to check the MC docket and to avoid a company that hides it. A quote from a name you cannot find is not a quote to accept. Use the company check if you want the federal record in one place, then match it to the quote yourself.

Step 2. Read the price and the exclusions#

The number should say what it buys. Open or enclosed. Door to door or terminal. First available date or a window you chose. A running car or a car that does not run. If those words are missing, the number is not comparable to another quote.

Then find what is not in the number. Common extras, which the quote should name if they apply, include a non-running fee, an oversized or lifted vehicle, a residential or remote address, storage, and cancellation. The list of names is fees added to a quote. What a typical quote includes is what a standard quote includes. If yours says "insurance included," ask for the cargo limit, the deductible, and the exclusions. The 750,000 dollar figure in 49 CFR 387.9 is public liability for the truck in the for-hire nonhazardous row. It is not a cargo limit. The reading is insurance on file.

Step 3. Read the deposit#

Amount, when it is due, whether a carrier is already named, and how a refund returns. A deposit before any carrier is named, especially by a payment app, matches the pattern in the BBB alert of July 21, 2023. That alert describes a low price, a deposit of a few hundred dollars by digital wallet, and a pickup that does not happen. It tells you to pay by credit card if you pay, and not by wire or prepaid card.

Write the refund sentence in the margin of the quote. If there is no sentence, ask for one before you pay. The red flags are deposit red flags.

Step 4. Read the change sentence#

Find whether the price can move after a carrier accepts the load. That single question is the price-subject-to-change clause. If the quote does not contain the sentence, it is not the whole offer. Ask them to send the contract page. How to read the contract is the longer pass. Do not pay a deposit to "see the contract later" if the change clause is the thing you are worried about. Later is how the first number wins.

Step 5. Compare the number with the range#

Enter the company, the price, the route, the vehicle, and the deposit terms. The checker compares the number with the current range and flags warning signs. It does not call the company and it does not mean the quote is fair in every clause. A number inside the range can still hide a type-two change clause. A number under the range can be real if the date is flexible and the car is an ordinary sedan on an open trailer. The BBB alert's point is the number that is far enough under to be the bait for a deposit. See also when a quote is too cheap.

If you have three quotes, line them up on those same fields. The scorecard is how to compare three quotes. Drop the one whose company you cannot look up. Then choose between the ones whose price clause you have actually read.

A quote you only emailed to yourself from RideShipper is not one of these. It has no deposit and no carrier. Do not confuse that estimate with the email a broker sends an hour later.