If the driver wants more money at pickup

Do not sign a new price at the curb until you have checked it against the contract. A driver who wants more money before the car is loaded is asking you to change the deal. You can pause. The truck's presence is not, by itself, a new contract.

This page is practical steps from public rules and from the paperwork you already have. It is not legal advice. If money has already moved and you are being told you cannot have the car back without a new payment, talk to a lawyer in your state as well as using the steps below. Your contract still controls. That is why this page is marked for expert review.

Do these steps in order#

1. Do not hand over the keys. Do not let the car be loaded "while you think about it." Once it is on the truck, the conversation is the one on a price increase when the car is already on the truck.
2. Open the signed order and the dispatch. Find the price, what is included, and the clause that says when the price may change. If you cannot find a clause that covers this demand, say that out loud and write it down.
3. Ask what fact changed. A car that will not start, a meeting point far from the address you gave, or a vehicle that does not match the order can be a real reason for a new price. "The carrier wants more" is not a fact about your car. Write the driver's stated reason in a note with the time.
4. Call the company on the contract, using the number printed on that contract or on the dispatch you already verified. Do not rely only on the person at the truck, and do not call a number that arrived in a new text today. Ask them to confirm whether they authorize the new price.
5. If you agree to a new number, get it in writing on the bill of lading or a change sheet before the car moves. Include what the old price was and what the new price covers. Keep a photo.
6. If you do not agree, say you are not releasing the car at the new price. Ask what the cancellation clause does with any deposit. Do not assume the deposit returns to the card. Deposit red flags is the background. The clause in your contract is the answer.
7. Do not pay a second amount that is not on the paperwork. A side payment in cash leaves you without a record. That pattern is paying the driver off the paperwork.

The quote checker compares a number you already received with RideShipper's range and with warning signs. It does not force the driver to accept the old price. It is a way to see whether the new ask is an outlier before you agree.

The moving-company rule is not an automatic cap#

Household-goods brokers operate under 49 CFR part 371, subpart B. 49 CFR 371.115 requires a written agreement before that broker gives an estimate for the carrier. The agreement must state that the estimate will serve as the carrier's estimate for part 375, including the part 375 rule that the carrier relinquishes possession when the shipper pays no more than 110 percent of a non-binding estimate at delivery. 49 CFR 375.103 defines household goods as personal effects or property used, or to be used, in a dwelling, when part of the equipment or supplies of the dwelling.

An ordinary auto-transport contract is a different paper. Do not tell a car-hauler that federal movers' rules cap your bill at 110 percent unless your contract is actually a household-goods bill for that car. Read the title of the document you signed. If you are unsure, that is a question for a lawyer, not a sentence to invent at the curb.

If the demand is tied to a real change#

Sometimes the order was wrong. The car does not run. It is a different height than you described. The only street the truck can use is miles from the house, and the contract priced a different meeting point. In those cases a new price can be a correction. You still do not have to accept the first number spoken. Ask for it in writing, from the company on the contract, and decide with the car still in your possession.

If they will not name the company on the truck#

Match the carrier to the dispatch before any money talk. If the driver will not give a legal name and an MC or USDOT number you can check, do not pay and do not load. 49 CFR 371.3 requires a broker to keep the carrier's registration number, and each party to the transaction may review that record. Ask the broker for it. How to do the match is in how to verify the driver at the curb.

What to write down before anyone leaves#

• Date and time.
• Driver's name and phone, and the truck's company name as lettered on the door.
• The price on your order and the price they want now.
• The reason they gave.
• Whether the car was loaded. If it was not, say so.
• Photos of the truck, the dispatch, and any new form they asked you to sign. Photograph a form you refused as well, if they will let you.

FMCSA's consumer advisory lists a complaint line for automobile transporters and brokers: 1-888-368-7238, Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Use it for an interstate problem. Also tell your card issuer if a charge does not match what you authorized. The advisory tells consumers to watch that the amount taken is the amount they approved.

The BBB's July 21, 2023 alert describes both a no-show after a small payment-app deposit and a version in which the vehicle is moved and then held for more money. Pickup is the time to refuse a new number, while the car is still yours. Delivery hold is the other page.

RideShipper does not set the carrier's price, does not take the deposit, and cannot order a driver to honor a quote. The contract you signed is the document. Bring a copy to the curb so you are not negotiating from memory.

Words that keep the car in your hands#

You do not need a speech. You need a few sentences you can say without arguing about the driver's day.

• "I am not releasing the car until this matches the order I signed."
• "Read me the clause that allows this new amount."
• "I am calling the company on the contract. Please wait."
• "I will not pay a cash amount that is not on the bill of lading."
• "If the car does not run, say so. If it runs the way the order says, the condition has not changed."

Then stop talking and make the call. A long debate on the sidewalk is how people sign to make the moment end. The driver is allowed to leave if you will not agree. Letting them leave with the car still in your driveway is a better outcome than a price you did not read.

A real condition change versus a new ask#

Split the moment into two piles.

The car will not start, will not steer, or will not brake, and the order said it would. Or the only legal meeting point is not the address you booked. Those are facts. A new price can be a correction. You may still refuse it and keep the car. If you accept it, write the new number and the reason before loading.

Nothing about the car changed, and the driver says the broker's pay is too low. That is a dispute between the broker and the carrier, or a quote that no carrier would accept. It is not automatically your bill. Call the company you paid or promised to pay. Ask whether they will cover the gap they created. If they will, get that in writing. If they will not, you are looking at a new contract, and you can decline it. How a broker finds a truck explains why a posted pay that no carrier takes does not become a pickup. It does not oblige you to fund the difference at the curb.

Either way, photograph the order and the new figure together in one shot so the two numbers are in the same frame. That photo is what you will want if a card charge later does not match either number. FMCSA's advisory tells you to watch the amount that posts. Do it the same day, not at the end of the month.