How car shipping works: questions and answers

You get a price, a company accepts an order, a carrier is assigned, you meet the truck, the car travels, and you inspect it at delivery. The quote is not the truck. A carrier is assigned when one accepts the load. For transportation covered by federal law, the carrier issues a receipt or bill of lading. RideShipper shows a price range before it asks for contact details. The contract is with the company you hire.

Booking is a signed order, not a truck on the way. The company you hired still has to get a carrier to accept the car. You should receive that carrier's name and its MC or USDOT number before pickup. An adult with the keys then meets the truck, walks the car, and signs the condition record. If the date on the order was only a first available day, that day is the first day the car may leave, not a morning appointment.

Treat the first figure as a range or an estimate until a carrier accepts the job and the contract states the price. A broker's opening number is what that company hopes a carrier will haul for. If no carrier accepts it, the number can change before pickup. Read the price-change clause before you pay anyone. RideShipper's range is dated. The price you pay is the one in the contract. The carrier or broker you hire sets the price you agree to in that contract.

The first available date is the earliest day you can release the car, not a morning appointment. A carrier may arrive that day or later, inside the window in the contract. Transit time starts at pickup, not on the date you typed. If you need one fixed day, the contract has to say so, and that tighter window is often a different price. Name an adult with the keys before the window opens. The timing questions cover rush and a fixed day in more detail.

Plan two clocks: days until a carrier accepts the car, then days after pickup. A quote that names only the driving time leaves out the wait. The hour limits for a property-carrying driver, and why this site prints no average, are on the timing questions. Hawaii, Alaska, and Puerto Rico are ocean trips, so that highway plan does not cover them. A shared trailer also stops for other cars. Ask the company you hire for the window it will actually run.

Book when you know the cities and the first day the car can leave. There is no federal deadline and no measured week-count on this site. A flexible open shipment is easier to place than a holiday, a fixed day, enclosed transport, or a car that does not run. Have the lane, the vehicle, and that first day ready before you compare prices. Any week-count you hear is planning practice until a company writes the window. The timing questions go further on season and rush.

Expedited and rush are labels for a harder search and a tighter pickup window. They do not repeal the hours a driver may drive, and they do not turn a shared trailer into a private trip. Same-day service is real only when a suitable truck is already near the car and agrees in writing. A rush fee does not create a truck in another state. Ask what is different in the contract. If the only change is the word, you are paying for a word.

It is a real promise only when the contract names the day and says what you are owed if that day is missed. A text that says the word is not the clause. The date does not, by itself, promise the delivery hour or freeze the price unless the same contract says so. Expedited service is a faster search. A named date with a remedy is a different product. Only the company that signs the contract can make that promise.

A vehicle identification number identifies the car. Under 49 CFR 565.15 it uses 17 characters, with a check digit in position 9. It is not a GPS device, a truck number, or a driver name. A company can show a status next to the VIN on your order. That status is only as current as the last update, unless the carrier you hired is actually sending location data.

A bill of lading is the carrier's receipt for the car. For carriers subject to 49 CFR 373.101, the receipt shows the consignor and consignee, origin and destination, and a description of the freight. The order confirmation is not that paper. You can hold a confirmation and still have no carrier. At pickup and delivery, read the condition marks before you sign. A blank damage section signed in a rush is the record a later dispute will be judged against. Keep a copy.

Keep the signed order, the dispatch sheet with the carrier's name and MC or USDOT number, your photos of the car, and both copies of the bill of lading. You will want them if the price, the pickup day, or the paint is disputed. A broker must record the carrier's name, address, and registration number, and each party may review that record under 49 CFR 371.3. A status text is not a substitute for those papers. RideShipper is not on the bill of lading.

The carrier's truck moves the car. A broker, for pay, arranges that transportation by an authorized motor carrier. You can pay a broker and still meet a different company at the curb. A broker may not present its operation as a carrier's, and its advertising has to show broker status. Some companies hold both kinds of authority. The contract should say which role applies to this order. The name on the truck should match the carrier assigned to the pickup.

No. RideShipper is a free comparison and quote-request service owned by World Media Group LLC. You see a price range before you give contact details. If you request quotes, you give your name, email, and phone and tick a consent box. Licensed auto transport companies that serve the route then contact you.

Yes. The route and the vehicle are enough for a price range, and the range appears before any name or phone number. You can email that range to yourself. That email is not a quote request. A company is contacted only if you later request quotes, with your name, email, phone, and a ticked consent box. The range is a dated model. The price you pay is the one in the contract you sign.

A quote request asks companies to contact you. You give your name, email, and phone and tick a consent box. RideShipper then sends the route, the vehicle, the date, and those contact details. Licensed auto transport companies that serve the route contact you with their own offers. Nothing is scheduled until you sign one company's contract.

No. A deposit, if you agree to one, is charged by the company you hire, under that company's contract. A text that tells you to pay RideShipper by Zelle, wire, gift card, or card is not this service. The Better Business Bureau's July 21, 2023 alert warns against wallet, wire, and prepaid-card payments for vehicle transport. Pay the company named in the contract, by a method you can dispute, after you match the name to the federal record.

The contract you signed says who is paid, and when. Some orders collect a broker fee up front and say the carrier is paid at delivery. Others bill one total. Match any amount a driver asks for to that contract before you pay. A balance at delivery can be legitimate. A second price that is only spoken, and is not on the paperwork, is a reason to stop and call the company on the contract.

The broker looks for a motor carrier that will accept the lane, the vehicle, the dates, and the pay. The truck exists for your trip when a carrier accepts, not when the quote is emailed. If no carrier accepts, the first number can fail, and the contract is where you read whether the price may change. Ask for the carrier's name and its MC or USDOT number when one accepts. Publishing a load listing is not the same thing as being the company on your contract. The broker questions page covers the licence check.

Get the carrier's legal name and its MC or USDOT number before pickup, on a dispatch you can check. A quote normally does not include that name, because no truck has accepted yet. It becomes a problem if you are asked to pay and the company still will not name the carrier. Look the number up on FMCSA's Company Snapshot before you share a gate code. A broker must keep the carrier's registration number, and you can ask to see that record.

No. If you are the customer, you do not shop a load board for your own car. You compare a price and, if you want, request quotes from licensed companies. The broker or carrier you hire is the one that offers the load to trucks. A missing carrier name after you have paid is a reason to stop, not a reason to join a board.

Yes. State-to-state shipping uses the same path everywhere in the contiguous United States: a price, a registered company, the carrier's name before pickup, and a bill of lading. The carrier that hauls the car for hire across a state line needs federal operating authority you can look up. The truck does not title the car, register it, or pay the new state's tax. Hawaii, Alaska, and Puerto Rico add a ship or a border. They are not a longer version of this highway trip.

Someone has to meet the truck at pickup and at delivery. That person is you, or an adult you name in advance, with the keys and the authority to sign the condition record. Do not leave the car with a note. Federal rules require a receipt. They do not require the registered owner to be the one holding the pen. A lockbox works only if the company agrees in writing and tells you who will sign. Most curb pickups need a person. Send the stand-in's name before dispatch, not when the driver is on the street.

Yes, if that person is an adult you named in advance, with the keys, a working phone, and authority to release or receive the car. Do not leave a minor as the only person. The signer agrees to the condition notes and, at delivery, often to the payment the contract requires. Tell the company the person's name and phone before dispatch. If the car is at a dealer or an auction, the yard's release process may replace you. You still want photos and a copy of the condition report.

Door-to-door means the carrier meets you as close as the truck can legally and safely get. That may be your driveway, or a wide street, a parking lot, or a nearby truck route. It is not a promise that a long trailer enters a narrow court. FMCSA's auto-transporter advisory does not define the phrase. The contract and the dispatch do. Agree the meeting point before the driver is waiting, and put it in a text the person with the keys can show. A clock time is a separate promise.

Yes, if you book terminal-to-terminal service. You bring the car to a lot or meeting point the carrier names, and you collect it the same way at the other end. The spot is often a truck stop, a wide street, or a lot near an auction, not a staffed depot that stores the car for days. The price is often lower because the driver stays closer to the highway. You still sign a condition report at both ends. Ask, before you pay, exactly where each meeting point is.

Only what that carrier's contract allows. The usual practice is a small amount in the trunk, under a weight the carrier writes down. There is no single federal pound limit to quote. If the contract is blank, treat items as not allowed until the company writes a number. Personal items are often excluded from cargo coverage. A car carrier is hired to haul a vehicle, not a household. Household goods move under different federal rules. If anything stays, list it on the bill of lading.

Wash it enough that you and the driver can see chips and cracked glass in daylight. Fix or report leaks before dispatch, because a carrier can refuse a leak at the ramp. Leave the battery securely installed unless the carrier's written instructions say to disconnect it. Take out loose items the contract does not allow. Then photograph every panel, the roof, the glass, and the odometer. Tell the company if the car does not start, steer, brake, or roll.

Ask the carrier, and follow that instruction. A quarter tank is a common habit, not the federal highway rule. For a motor vehicle transported as cargo, 49 CFR 173.220 allows more than 500 milliliters of flammable liquid to remain if the tank is securely closed. The carrier can still require less so the car can be driven on and off. A government POV turn-in is a different program. Military OneSource says that program wants one-quarter tank or less. Do not mix the two rules.

Yes, if a carrier accepts it. The quote depends on three facts: does it roll, does it steer, and do the brakes work? "It does not start" is not enough. A car that rolls can often be winched onto a trailer. A car that will not roll or will not steer needs a different plan, and some carriers will refuse it. Say which part failed before anyone is dispatched. Any extra charge is that carrier's rule. This page does not print a dollar fee.

There is no universal inch count on this page. Ground clearance is the space under the lowest part of the car, and trailer ramps need that gap. Measure the car you are shipping, including a front splitter or a side skirt, and tell the carrier before dispatch. A car that drags on a multi-car ramp may need a flatbed or an enclosed trailer that can load it. A top deck does not fix a car that will not clear the ramp. Get the plan in writing.

Inspect the car before you sign and before you pay. Write new damage on the delivery copy as an exception, in words, not only a check mark. Then pay only the balance the contract already states. A balance due at delivery can be legitimate. A new total that is not in the contract is not automatic. Do not sign a clean bill for a mark you can see. The person receiving the car needs the same authority you would have had. Keep the signed copy.

Yes. Name the receiver before pickup, with a phone that works the day the truck arrives, and authority to inspect, note damage, and pay what the contract says is due. Hauling the car does not retitle it or insure the person who will drive it. Handle the state's transfer with the motor vehicle agency, and ask your insurer before a relative drives a car that is still in your name. Tell the receiver not to sign a clean inspection they did not do.

Ship the car on its own calendar. The household mover, the closing, the flight, and the car carrier are different schedules. The car's first available date is the first day it may leave, not the morning you fly. Plan the flight from the last day of the pickup window plus days on the road. Name a person with keys at each end. Ask, before you book, where the car can sit and who pays storage if you cannot meet it. A household-goods rule does not automatically cap the car bill.

Most personal cars inside the continental United States ride on an open trailer with other vehicles. Enclosed trailers, a single-car truck, a flatbed, and a terminal drop-off are different trucks and different prices. Hawaii, Alaska, and Puerto Rico add a ship or a barge. Amtrak's Auto Train is a separate passenger route between Virginia and Florida. You do not ride on a hired car carrier. The driver loads that trailer.

Open transport leaves the car outside, the way a daily driver sits in weather and road grit. Rain by itself is what the car was built for. The damage people argue about is usually chips and scrapes, not rainwater. This page has no count of how often chips happen. Whether a chip is paid for is the bill of lading and the cargo terms, not the trailer type. A spot on the top deck can miss some splash from the lower deck. It is still open. It is not enclosed transport.

It is worth it when the car's condition, ground clearance, or paint would make an open trailer a poor tool. There is no dollar value that flips the decision by itself, and no federal rule that sets a model year for enclosed service. A roof does not set the cargo limit. Compare that limit with the car. Measure mirrors, antennas, and bumpers so the car fits the box. Covered trailers are fewer than open trailers, so the offer is usually higher. The carrier that accepts the load sets the price.

A top-deck spot keeps the car farther from some road spray off the lower deck. The car is still in sun and rain. It is not enclosed transport. The driver assigns the spot from weight, height, and the other cars already planned. A request is not an order the driver must follow. If a carrier charges for the upper deck, the charge and what happens if that deck is full belong in the contract. Write the request down before you pay. Do not treat a verbal promise as the booking.

Inside the United States, the ordinary covered option is an enclosed trailer, not a shipping container. A container is a separate booking, and only if a company offers it for that car. Ask whether the offer is a container or an enclosed trailer, and measure the car before you commit. A foreign export leaves under U.S. Customs rules. For a used self-propelled vehicle, Customs describes presentation of the vehicle and the ownership documents at the port.

No. A driveaway sends a person to drive your car. The odometer rises, and the driver is in your car. An open-transport estimate does not price that job. Ask whose insurance covers a stranger operating your car, and get the answer in the contract before the keys move. Federal rules use "driveaway-towaway" for specific commercial moves of an unladen vehicle. A household move with a hired driver is not automatically one of those cases. Compare the two products separately.

A rental auto-transport trailer is a different product from a hired carrier. You supply the tow vehicle, the driver, the fuel, and the insurance question. The rental company's current instructions cover hookup, loading, and weight. This page does not copy those steps. A hired carrier sends its own truck and driver, and you meet that truck at each end. Compare a current rental quote with a shipping range for the same cities before you decide.

For a household, the passenger option is Amtrak's Auto Train. It runs nonstop between Lorton, Virginia, and Sanford, Florida, and you travel on the same train as the car. It is not a route a highway estimate can price. Amtrak publishes check-in clocks and size limits, including at least 4 inches of ground clearance, and says personal items left in the car are your responsibility. Freight trains that move new cars for manufacturers are not a ticket you buy the way you buy a seat.

Yes, but a discount is something a carrier may offer. It is not automatic. The cars may leave on different trucks on different days. Ask whether they will ride together before you treat a shared price as one trip. Each vehicle needs its own inspection and its own line on the paperwork. One signature does not describe the second car. A running sedan and a truck that does not run may not fit the same plan. Get the terms in writing.

Compare the cash you would spend either way. Driving cash is fuel, lodging, and meals, plus a separate line for wear. The driver's time is its own line. A tax mileage rate is not that cash total. For July 1 through December 31, 2026, the IRS business rate is 76 cents a mile, and it is a deduction rate, not a receipt for this trip. A shipping range is not a ticket either. Your time at pickup and delivery is not zero. Use the ship-versus-drive tool with your cities, then read the contract before you book.

There is no universal mileage. The costs cross at different distances depending on fuel, how many nights you need, how many people eat and sleep, and what a carrier will accept for that lane. For federal travel in the continental United States from October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2027, the standard lodging rate is $113 and the standard meals rate is $68. Many cities are higher. Two drivers do not cut the shipping price. Run your own cities. A 1,200-mile trip is not automatically one choice or the other.

It depends on the cash you avoid by not driving, the car's condition, and what you would pay to replace it. Shipping is a reasonable cost when the drive's fuel, lodging, and meals, plus the days you cannot spare, add up past a current range for that lane. It is a weak cost when the car is worth little more than the trip, or when you wanted the drive. Get the range before you decide. The price you pay is the one in the contract. The choice needs your own fuel, lodging, and time.

It depends on what the car is worth where it sits, what the same car would cost where you are going, and a current shipping range for the lane. Add any repair the car needs before a carrier will load it. This page does not invent a cutoff such as a percent of the car's value. Price the shipment, price the replacement, and include tax and registration in the new state, which the carrier does not pay. If you still want that car, the range tells you the freight. It does not tell you to sell.

The usual lower-cost path is open transport, a car that runs and fits a standard trailer, and several days of flexibility after the first available date. A single day, a holiday, enclosed transport by default, or a car that does not run tightens the search. Compare any quote with a current range for the same cities, vehicle, and dates. A price far under that range is a reason to check the company, not an automatic win. Read the deposit and the price-change clause before you pay.

Storage and shipping are different contracts. A one-way shipment delivers the car. It does not leave the car in a warehouse for the season unless the company writes storage into the order. Seasonal storage prices belong to the facility, and this page does not invent them. On a military move, government storage of a privately owned vehicle is a transportation-office question, handled through the government program, not through a private quote.

No. Southbound in the fall and northbound in the spring are different lanes. A month that is easier in one direction can be the busy month on the way home. Book each leg when you know the date. Florida and Arizona are common warm-weather ends, but the price depends on the city pair, the date, open or enclosed, and whether the car runs. This page will not invent a national percent off in winter. Price the return as a new shipment.

A coast-to-coast haul is a multi-day trailer trip, and the car often waits until a truck already going that direction accepts it. Eastbound and westbound are different truck supplies. Do not assume the reverse trip costs or moves the same way. There is no single national coast-to-coast price on this page, and no published count of a current national bottleneck. Ask how many days are for finding a truck and how many are for driving after pickup. A second driver or a mid-route handoff is common. Ask who has the car at the swap.

Three things have to be true. You have a title or a bill of sale the carrier will accept. Someone at the seller's location can release the car and hand over a key. You have a plan for plates and registration at home. The driver does not turn a bill of sale into a title. NHTSA says a written mileage disclosure is required when ownership transfers, with exemptions it describes. Pay the seller and the carrier separately. Do not hand the purchase price to the driver.

Pickup is often the first time anyone on your side stands next to the car. Match the VIN to the listing, photograph every panel, and write existing damage on the bill of lading before the car is loaded. The driver records condition for the carrier. That walk is not a mechanic's pre-purchase inspection. The seller and the shipper are two contracts. Paying one does not pay the other. A paid invoice is not a release. Confirm who will meet the driver. Look up the shipper's MC or USDOT number before any deposit.

Only if the lot agrees, during its open hours, through a person allowed to release the car. If the driver arrives after the gate closes, the car does not load. Put the hours and the release contact in the booking. The salesperson who sold the car may not be the person with the keys that day. A store-to-store move and a delivery to your house are different stops. Funds-clearing rules are the dealer's, not a national shipping rule. Ask the dealer what paper the driver must show.

They are different products. A dealer or online store that brings a car it sold is using its own delivery process. Hiring a carrier for a car you already own, or for a car the seller will release to your driver, is a separate contract. Read the seller's delivery terms before you assume a private truck is required. If you do hire a carrier, name that company to the seller before the truck arrives. A surprise driver gets turned away.

Yes. The lessor owns the car. Get written permission that names the car and the VIN before a truck is booked, and keep it with the pickup papers. Your name on the registration does not replace the lessor's name on the title. This page does not paraphrase your lease. One lessor's public steps are an example, not your contract. If the lease restricts where the car may go, shipping first can put you in default, and the carrier can refuse a car you cannot show you may release.

No. The carrier delivers the car. You title and register it with the state, on that state's clock, with the proof of ownership and insurance that agency requires. California, Texas, and Florida do not share one deadline. Those clocks, and the other states, are on the title and registration questions and on each state's registration page. Confirm the current rule on the agency site before you drive on old plates. Shipping the car does not start that filing.

Name who signs at each end before dispatch. A parent often has the car and the key, while the student is already on campus. Many schools do not allow a large truck at the dorm. Ask the school where a carrier may stop, then tell the carrier that meeting point. Move-in week is when everyone wants the same days. A few days of flexibility is easier to place than a dorm check-in hour. A parking permit is the school's rule. Shipping the car does not create one.

Yes. It ships on the same kind of truck as any other car. No federal rule sets a model year that forces enclosed transport. The useful facts are whether it runs, how low it sits, what sticks out, and whether you will accept open-trailer exposure. Tell the carrier those facts before dispatch. The carrier that accepts the load sets the price. At pickup, mark existing flaws on the condition report. Marks you do not note are easy to call pre-existing later. Check the company's MC or USDOT number before you pay.

Tell the company before dispatch. A car that starts is not the same as a car a carrier will drive onto a ramp. The questions that change the job are whether it rolls, steers, and brakes, and whether it leaks. A warning light by itself is not a federal ban this page can quote. Some carriers still refuse a car they do not want to load. Do not wait to discover a refusal with the driver already on the clock. An airbag or engine repair is the shop's work. It is not something the driver diagnoses at the curb.

On most orders inside the contiguous United States, you drive or you pay. Military OneSource says that cost is largely your responsibility, and that exceptions exist. If you cannot drive, or you do not have time to drive and still report as ordered, contact the transportation office. Do not rely on a commercial quote, or on a forum post, to decide an entitlement. This page states no dollar allowance.

Start at your transportation office. Military OneSource names PCSmyPOV, run for the government by International Auto Logistics, as the place for a government privately owned vehicle shipment. Appointments are at a vehicle processing center. OneSource says to use the turn-in and pickup sections there for documents, and that you have 21 days to pick the car up once it is available. Use PCSmyPOV for the appointment and that pickup clock. A RideShipper quote request is a separate private shipment.

The published baseline is one privately owned vehicle at government expense on the overseas patterns Military OneSource describes. A second car is usually the one you pay to move yourself. On a typical stateside PCS, one or more vehicles ship at your expense if you do not drive them. OneSource says a civilian CONUS move of more than 600 miles may allow shipment of up to two POVs. Confirm with the personnel or transportation office. A motorcycle is not automatically a free second car. No dollar allowance is printed here.

Military OneSource defines OCONUS as Alaska, Hawaii, and international locations. CONUS is the 48 contiguous states and the District of Columbia. The government may ship or store one POV on the OCONUS patterns OneSource describes. Whether your orders authorize that shipment is still a question for the transportation office, because location limits exist. Some countries do not allow a POV at all. Ask before you decide to ship a car to a place such as Naples or Okinawa.

It depends on the orders and on whether an exception applies. Ask the transportation office what, if anything, those orders cover, and which receipts they require. This page does not state an appeal deadline, a mileage rate, or a dollar allowance. A temporary-duty trip is not a permanent change of station. Do not assume the PCS rule applies to TDY, to a separation, or to an early turn-in at the end of service. Ask which documents that office wants before you pay a private carrier.

Ask the company that has the car. For a government POV shipment, Military OneSource says PCSmyPOV is where you track it. For a private ocean booking to Hawaii, Alaska, or Puerto Rico, the ocean carrier you paid is the one that can name the sailing. A VIN identifies the car. It does not name a ship. A highway carrier's status page, if it has one, is only as current as that company's last update.

The car crosses the ocean. A truck may bring it to a port, and a ship or barge takes it the rest of the way. Matson and Pasha Hawaii publish their own ports and terminal rules. A mainland open-trailer estimate is not the voyage. Pasha has said residential pickup and delivery is suspended and that the car is dropped at a terminal by appointment. Matson has said it suspended electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids. A sailing cutoff is not a promise of how many days a road carrier needs to reach the port.

They are different trips. Ocean service leaves the Pacific Northwest on a ship or barge. The road goes through Canada, with border and insurance rules that are not a Lower 48 quote. TOTE Maritime Alaska publishes Tacoma-to-Anchorage sailings and, as of August 1, 2025, says it does not accept electric vehicles or plug-in hybrids. Alaska Marine Lines is not door to door. The Alaska Marine Highway is a ferry you ride with the vehicle, and it needs a reservation. Price the option you will actually use.

Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory, and the car still does not get there on a highway truck. You book an ocean carrier from a mainland port, often Jacksonville, and you follow that carrier's size, document, and battery rules. TOTE and Crowley both publish a short sailing. A road quote that ends at the port has not included the ocean fare unless the contract says so. TOTE has said it does not accept electric vehicles or plug-in hybrids, effective August 1, 2025. The operator's current page is the price.

No. A quote request here will not start a shipment to Colombia, India, Portugal, or a similar destination. Those exports leave under U.S. Customs rules. For a used self-propelled vehicle, Customs says the vehicle and the documents must be presented at the port, at least 72 hours before export by vessel or aircraft. A leased car or a car with a lien needs a separate writing from the owner or lienholder. Hawaii, Alaska, and Puerto Rico are separate ocean pages.

Only if that installation allows it. Gate rules, sponsor requirements, and where a large trailer may stop are the post's rules, not a national shipping policy. Ask the visitor center, then tell the carrier the gate, the hours, and the meeting point before dispatch. A government vehicle processing center is a different door. Do not send a private carrier to a VPC for a car already in the government program.

A normal car on an open trailer is exposed to weather and road grit, like driving. That is a damage risk, not a prediction that the car will be harmed. The failures that hurt people are a company that never comes, a delay, and a damage dispute with a thin inspection. Check that the broker or carrier is registered, get the carrier's name before pickup, and write the car's condition down before you sign. No site can call every shipment safe.

Ask for the USDOT or MC number, then look it up. FMCSA's Company Snapshot searches one company by DOT number, MC number, or name. The Licensing and Insurance search is the authority screen. The legal name on both has to match the contract and the name that asked you to pay. FMCSA's February 10, 2015 advisory says interstate auto transporters and brokers must be registered, and tells you to avoid a company that hides its MC number. Registration is not a promise of good service. A missing number is a reason to stop.

Get six answers in writing. The legal name and the federal number. Whether the company is the broker, the carrier, or both on this order. The cargo limit on a certificate, which is not the $750,000 public-liability minimum in 49 CFR 387.9 for many large for-hire trucks. The deposit, and how a refund returns. When the carrier will be named. And whether the price can still change after that. If a line is blank, do not send the money. A broker's $75,000 bond is not insurance on the car.

The Better Business Bureau's July 21, 2023 alert describes two patterns, not a list of brand names. One is a low quote, a deposit of a few hundred dollars through a digital wallet, and no truck. The other is a car that does move, then a demand for more money before it is released. BBB says to pay with a credit card, not by wire or prepaid debit card. Check the USDOT record before you send anything. Compare the price with a current range.

Three different policies get mixed together. The carrier's cargo terms pay, up to the limit in the contract, for damage to the car in that carrier's care. Your personal auto policy may or may not apply while the car is on a truck. Ask your insurer. An extra plan sold at booking is a third contract. The $750,000 figure in 49 CFR 387.9, for many for-hire trucks at or above 10,001 pounds hauling nonhazardous property, is public liability for operating the truck. It is not a stated value for your paint.

It can promise a price range with a date, a way to ask licensed companies for quotes, and a lookup of public authority records. The truck, the contract price, and any payment for damage come from the company you hire. RideShipper shows the range before contact details. If you request quotes, you give your name, email, and phone and tick a consent box. Licensed auto transport companies that serve the route then contact you.

Use the recommendation as a name to check, not as proof. Get the legal name and the MC or USDOT number, and match them on FMCSA's Company Snapshot and the Licensing and Insurance search. Then compare that company's written price, deposit, pickup window, and cargo limit with at least one other offer and with a current range. This page does not grade individual transport brands. A company that will not show a federal number, or that asks for a wallet-app deposit before naming a carrier, is a reason to stop regardless of who suggested it.

Compare the figure with the contract before you pay or sign. A balance the contract already states can be legitimate. A new total, spoken at the curb with the car on the truck, is the moment a price change hurts most. Call the company on the contract. Do not pay a second amount that exists only in conversation. The BBB's July 21, 2023 alert includes reports of a vehicle held for more money than agreed. Note the car's condition before you sign, even if the money argument is still open.