What happens after you book car shipping

Booking means you accepted a company's order. It does not mean a truck is on the way. After the signature, that company still has to assign a motor carrier, send you the carrier's name, and set a real pickup window. Pickup is the next meeting you have to attend, or send a named adult to attend.

The sequence below is the ordinary one for a brokered car. If you booked a carrier directly, skip the broker's search and start at dispatch. The inspection at the curb is the same either way.

The hour you book#

You should leave the booking call or the website with a written order. It needs the price, what is included, the vehicle, the origin and destination, the first day the car may leave, and how you pay. It also needs the company's legal name and its MC or USDOT number. FMCSA's advisory on automobile transporters tells consumers to avoid a company that will not show its MC number.

Read four clauses before you put the phone down:

• What can change the price, and who approves the new number.
• The deposit, when it is charged, and what is returned if no carrier is assigned. Do not rely on the word "refundable" unless the contract says where the money goes.
• Cancellation, including a cancellation after a truck has been scheduled.
• The cargo limit for damage to the car, which is not the same as the carrier's public-liability filing.

That order is not the bill of lading. The bill of lading is the receipt the carrier issues when it takes the car. The difference is spelled out in order confirmation versus bill of lading.

RideShipper does not book the shipment. If you used RideShipper, a quote request only introduces you to companies. The booking is the later contract with one of them. RideShipper does not take the deposit and does not set the carrier's price.

From the signed order to a carrier#

If you booked a broker, the broker's job starts now. A broker arranges transportation by an authorized motor carrier for pay. That is the definition in 49 CFR 371.2. The broker offers your car to carriers, usually by posting the lane, the vehicle, the dates, and the pay the carrier would earn. A carrier is assigned when one accepts.

Until that acceptance, phrases like "you're all set" only mean the order is in the broker's system. They do not mean a driver has your address. How that search works is in how a broker finds a truck.

Once a broker has a carrier, 49 CFR 371.3 requires a record of that carrier's name and registration number, and each party to the transaction may review it. Where to look before pickup is in how a quote becomes a named carrier.

Dispatch, in plain language#

Dispatch is the moment a carrier is assigned and you are told. A proper dispatch names:

• The carrier's legal name.
• Its MC or USDOT number, so you can look it up on FMCSA's Company Snapshot.
• A pickup window, as dates, not a vague "this week" unless you agreed to that.
• The price the carrier is hauling for, if it differs from the order you signed.
• A phone number for the driver or the carrier's dispatch desk.

Check the number on company check before you share gate codes or an exact time you will be away from home. The truck that arrives should match that name. If it does not, do not hand over the keys on a verbal assurance.

What the first available date does after booking#

The first available date is the first day the car may leave, not a truck on that morning. After booking, the company searches from that day forward, inside the window the contract describes. The term is defined in what a first available date means.

Stay reachable. Drivers often call the day they are in the area, sometimes with a few hours' notice. If you will not be there, the adult who will be there needs the keys and the authority to sign, and the company needs that person's name and phone before the truck rolls. See who must be present.

If dispatch is quiet#

Set a date to call if you have not received a carrier name. Use a date inside the pickup window, not the day after your flight. Ask three questions and write the answers down:

• Has any carrier accepted the load?
• Is the price still the price on the order?
• What is the last day of the current window?

If the answer to the first question is no, you are still in a search. Review the cancellation clause before the window expires, while you can still change plans. If the answer to the second question is a new number, do not approve it on the call unless you have compared it with the order and with a range you trust. The quote checker is for that comparison. It does not force the company to honor a figure.

A broker that has assigned a carrier must be able to tell you the carrier's registration number. That number is part of the record in 49 CFR 371.3. "The driver will call you" is not a substitute for the name.

The days just before pickup#

Prepare the car while you still have it, not in the street with the driver waiting. Wash it enough to see the paint, remove loose items the contract does not allow, and set the fuel where the carrier told you to set it. A short printable list is the pre-pickup checklist.

Take your own photos in a walk around the car. They support you if the condition report is thin. They do not replace the notes on the carrier's form.

Pickup day#

Someone meets the driver. Confirm the carrier name on the dispatch, the truck, and the bill of lading before the keys change hands. Walk the car together. Mark chips, dents, and cracked glass on the form. Write words, not only a check mark. For an interstate shipment, federal law requires the carrier to issue a receipt or bill of lading, and 49 CFR 373.101 lists what that receipt must contain, including origin, destination, and a description of the freight.

Read the odometer line if there is one. Note personal items only if the contract allows them, and list them. Then sign. Get a copy or a photo of every page you signed. The car is then the carrier's responsibility under that receipt, subject to the liability limit in the contract. 49 USC 14706 is the federal liability statute. It is not a promise that every scratch is paid in full.

While the car is gone#

Ask who updates you, and how often. A broker's job does not end at dispatch if the contract says the broker remains your contact. If the pickup is missed, call the company on the order the same day and ask for a new window in writing. Silence is the failure customers describe most often after a late truck. Write down the name of the person you spoke to and the time.

Do not assume a tracking page that asks for a VIN is a GPS feed. It can be a status the company typed.

Delivery is part of the booking, not an ending you skip#

The person receiving the car inspects before signing the delivery, and before paying whatever balance the contract says is due on delivery. New damage goes on the delivery copy as an exception. A signature on a blank or "no damage" line is hard to walk back for marks you could see. Use the delivery-day checklist.

If the driver asks for a new total that is not on the dispatch, stop and compare it to the contract. Steps are in if the driver wants a price change at the curb. If the car is already on the truck and the price to release it has changed, write down the amount, the time, and the driver's name before you pay anything that is not on the contract.

Keep the papers. The broker's record under 49 CFR 371.3 has to exist for three years. Your claim, if you need one, will ask for dates, the carrier's name, and the condition notes from both ends.