Open, enclosed, and the truck: questions and answers

A car hauler is a trailer, or a truck and trailer, built to carry vehicles. In commercial auto transport, the ordinary version is an open trailer that holds several cars, or an enclosed trailer that holds fewer. The car rides as freight. You are not driving it across the country. A small trailer you tow behind your own vehicle is a different tool, with that trailer's weight limits. RideShipper arranges quote requests for commercial transport. It does not sell trailers and it does not teach you how to load one.

On a commercial shipment, the driver loads the car. Do not climb the ramps and invent a sequence from a video. Hagerty's material-damage specialist says improper loading and securing is the failure they see most, on any trailer type, including too much weight ahead of the axle or behind it. If you are towing your own trailer, follow that trailer's manual and the tow vehicle's hitch limits. This page will not print a step list. If the car is low, say so before pickup so the carrier brings equipment that fits. A scrape on the nose starts as a loading problem.

Open transport means your car rides outside, on a trailer with other vehicles, not inside a covered box. It is the ordinary way a running household car moves inside the continental United States. Rain, dust, and road grit reach the car. The price moves with the miles, the date, and whether a truck is already going your way. The carrier that accepts the load sets the price. A comparison range is not that price. Public liability of $750,000 under 49 CFR 387.9, for many for-hire trucks, is not cargo coverage for your car. Ask for the cargo limit separately.

Enclosed transport puts the car inside a hard-sided trailer, out of rain and road grit. People use it for a new car, a respray, a convertible, or any car they do not want in the weather. Fewer covered trailers run, so the offer is usually higher than open on the same route. Covered does not mean untouched. The car is still loaded, strapped, and driven down a ramp. Soft tops and low cars need the height and the ground clearance stated up front. A car that drags is a different load. The carrier still sets the price.

More than open on the same lane, because the trailer is different and there are fewer of them. There is no single national percent to add, and this page will not invent one. Compare the two ranges for the same cities, the same vehicle, and the same week, and read the date. Treat any percent in an ad as someone else's claim unless it shows a count and a date. A tall or lifted vehicle may not fit an enclosed box. Measure before you commit.

It is worth it when an open deck is the wrong tool: the paint is fresh or fragile, the car is too low to load without scraping, or you cannot accept highway grit. It is not worth it only because the car is worth a round number. No such cutoff is used here. A roof does not set the cargo limit. Read that limit and compare it with the car's value. The car still has to fit the box, including mirrors and bumpers. Price both options. Then decide with the contract in front of you, not with a slogan.

Start with the car, not the price. If it runs, has ordinary clearance, and you accept weather, open is the usual choice. If paint, clearance, or a soft top makes weather a problem, price enclosed. Do not convert one into the other with a percent you found online. Put your cities into both ranges for the same week. Ask the carrier whether that truck can take your height. The carrier that accepts sets the real number, and the contract says whether the price can still move. RideShipper's range is a model with a date.

It 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 multi-car trailer will enter the driveway. Length, low trees, tight turns, a soft driveway, and local truck limits are why the meeting point moves. Agree on that point before the driver is waiting. The other product is terminal to terminal: you take the car to a lot and pick it up at another lot. The contract names which one you bought.

Read the contract for the meeting point, who must be present, and what happens if the truck cannot enter the street. Door-to-door is common industry language. It is not a federal promise of your driveway. Ask the company to write the address it will actually use, and ask what you should do if a gate, a low bridge, or a weight limit blocks the truck. A dispatch call the day before is when that point gets confirmed. If the paper only says "door to door" and nothing else, ask for the sentence before you pay.

They protect different things. Door-to-door avoids you driving to a terminal. It does not put the car indoors, and it does not remove loading risk. Terminal to terminal means you deliver the car to a lot and collect it at another lot. The car may sit, and you need a way to get home from the lot. Neither product is enclosed transport. Enclosed is the trailer type. Safety of the company is the authority check on SAFER and the cargo terms in the contract, not the word door. Pick the meeting style you can actually keep.

Two waits, not one. First you wait for a carrier to pick up, starting at the first day you can release the car. Then the car is on the road. This site has no counted set of observed deliveries yet, so this answer gives no average. A planning floor comes from federal driving limits, including 11 hours of driving after 10 consecutive hours off, inside a 14-hour window. That is not a delivery promise. Hawaii, Alaska, and Puerto Rico are not in the highway model. Door-to-door does not make the miles shorter.

Check that company's current equipment list. A rented hauler is you driving, with your tow vehicle, your hitch, and that rental contract. It is not a carrier shipment and not a quote on this site. If you rent one, follow the trailer's manual and the tow limits. Do not use a loading video as a substitute for the manual. If you would rather not tow, a commercial carrier is the other path, and the carrier loads the car.

Follow the rental company's instructions and the trailer's manual, including hitch class, brake lights, and the weight the tow vehicle may pull. This site will not invent a loading order. Hagerty's specialist says bad loading and securing is the main failure they see, on any trailer. A tow dolly, which leaves two wheels on the ground, is a different tool from a trailer that carries all four wheels, and some cars cannot be towed on their wheels. Read the car's manual before you choose.