How to ship a car from an auction

Auction car shipping is four steps in order: you win, you pay, the yard releases the car, and a truck takes it. Skip the release and the driver sits at the gate. Ignore the storage clock and the yard's daily charge can cost more than a day of transit. The buyer-fee schedule, the gate fee, and the storage table belong on the auction's own site. This page does not copy them, because they differ by company and by yard, and a copied table goes stale.

RideShipper is not an auction and not a carrier. It shows a transport range and requests quotes. It does not bid, pay your invoice, or pull a car through a gate. Companies that receive a request may pay RideShipper. See how we make money.

What should I do between the bid and the truck?#

1. Pay the auction on the deadline in your member terms. Late payment and a relist are auction rules. Read them on that site. We are not restating a dollar late fee.
2. Open the yard's location page and write down the storage start date for this purchase. If the page says the clock varies, use the date on your invoice, not a rule of thumb from another yard.
3. Read the release instructions while you are logged in. The credential may be called a gate pass, a PIN, or a release number. Send it only to the carrier or driver who will pick up. Do not put it in a public form, a text to a stranger, or a review.
4. Book transport with the yard address, the lot number, the hours, and the last free storage day. A pickup window of several days can run past that day. Tell the company the deadline.
5. Describe the car as it is: runs, rolls, steers, brakes, missing wheels, or sitting in a row that a large truck cannot enter. Auction pickup fails when the condition was a guess.

The auction cost tool is for lining up the transport range with the deadlines you type in. It does not scrape a yard directory, and it is not the auction's invoice.

Why is this car different from a driveway pickup?#

The car is often a salvage or insurance unit. It may not start. It may not steer. The photos on the listing are the condition you bought, and they may be days old. Tell the carrier the three loading facts on shipping a car that does not run. A driver who arrives with a standard trailer and finds a car that will not roll can leave. You then still own a car that is accruing storage.

Yards also control the load. Some require their own staff to bring the car to a loading area. Some ban the buyer from driving it out. Some limit the hours a transporter can enter. Those rules are on the location page. A quote that says "door to door" does not override a guard shack.

Title timing is its own risk. You might want the car moved before the title arrives, so a shop can start, or you might be required to wait. Read the auction's title FAQ for your purchase. Do not promise a buyer of your own a date the yard has not confirmed.

What does the transport quote include?#

It includes the trip from the yard to your address or to another yard you name, on the contract you sign. It does not include the hammer price, the auction's buyer fee, a gate or loading fee the yard charges, or storage. Add those from the auction's current pages. If a broker's quote says "all in," ask which of those lines are actually in the number.

A running sedan range is only a starting comparison. A non-runner from a rural yard will not match it.

Say "auction pickup," name the yard city, and say whether the car runs. If the auction is Copart, the sequence with Copart's own pages as the fee source is on shipping from Copart.

How do I check the company that offers to pick it up?#

The same federal check applies. FMCSA's advisory says interstate auto brokers arrange transportation and transporters haul the car, and both should be registered. Look up the MC or USDOT number on the company check before you pay. Match the legal name.

Auction buyers are a common target for a quote that is too low to attract a truck, because the storage clock makes people hurry. The BBB's 21 July 2023 alert describes low quotes and deposits by wallet app that never produced a pickup. Hurry on the yard's deadline. Do not hurry past the registration check. When a quote is too cheap is the short list of warning signs.

Get the carrier's name onto the release the way the auction's current screen asks. A pass in your own name, with no driver named, can be refused at the gate. If the screen is confusing, call the yard from the number on its location page. Do not rely on a third-party blog's screenshot of an old menu.

What should the driver and I record?#

You may not be at the yard. Ask the carrier for pickup photos: VIN plate, all four corners, and the odometer if it can be read. Those photos are your record that the car loaded was the car you bought. The bill of lading should still note existing damage. Auction cars are often already damaged. If the paper says "clean," later damage is harder to separate from the wreck you purchased.

At delivery, compare the car with the lot photos and the pickup photos before you sign. New damage from the trailer goes on the delivery receipt. RideShipper does not adjust the claim.

If you bought the car to register and drive, the title, any salvage inspection, and plates are state steps after the truck. Start with paperwork when you buy out of state. A salvage brand is the state's process. We are not describing one state's rebuilt-title inspection here.

What to send the carrier, and what not to send#

Send the yard name and city, the lot number, the hours, the last free-storage day you found on the yard's own page, and the three loading facts. Send the gate credential only to the driver the company assigns, through the channel the auction's screen describes. Do not paste a PIN into a group text, a load board post, or a review.

Ask the company, before you pay a deposit:

• Have you picked up at this yard, and does the yard bring the car to you or do you enter the rows?
• What truck will you send if the car does not roll?
• What do you charge if the yard turns the driver away?
• Will you send me pickup photos of the VIN and the corners?
• What is the pickup window, and does it end before storage starts?

If they cannot answer, you do not have a plan. You have a price. A price without a release is how the car sits and the daily yard charge continues. The auction's fee names stay on the auction's site. When a broker says the quote is "all in," ask them to point at the line that pays the yard. If they cannot, the yard will bill you separately.

Dealer auctions and salvage auctions do not share one gate. A members-only dealer sale can require a dealer or a broker license you do not have. Read that auction's buyer rules before you bid, not after you have won a car you cannot remove. This page cannot list every auction's license rule. The auction's membership page can.

Storage, titles, and a truck that arrives too early#

The storage clock and the title clock are not the same clock. A yard can release a car to a truck while the title is still in the mail, or while a salvage brand is still being processed. That is useful if you have a shop waiting. It is a problem if you expected to drive the car the day it arrives and the state will not register it yet. Read the title status on the invoice before you promise anyone a drive-away date.

If storage starts before a carrier can reach the yard, you pay the yard. A truck booked for a later week does not freeze the yard's calendar. Move the pickup window earlier, or ask the yard, on its own page or phone line, whether it offers a hold and what that hold costs. Do not invent a free week. Do not ask the carrier to "cover storage" unless that sentence is in the contract.

If the title is delayed and you no longer want the car moved, cancel the truck in the way the transport contract describes, and tell the yard. A truck that shows up after you have decided to leave the car is a dry run you may owe. The amount is the contract's. RideShipper does not pay the yard and does not cancel a Copart or other auction invoice for you.

Keep the bid, the invoice, the gate credential, and the lot photos in one folder until the car is registered or sold again. The driver will not have that folder at delivery. You will.