Quotes, calculators, and apps: questions and answers

A range, a model version, and a date. Never a single dollar presented as the price you will pay. The method uses distance, vehicle size, open or enclosed, running or not, the month, direction on seasonal lanes, and the current diesel index. Change an input only when the fact changed, or you are looking at a different shipment. The screen should show the model version and the date. The carrier that later accepts the load sets the real price.

RideShipper's iPhone and Android apps are planned and are not released. On the website, you see a price range before you give your name, email, or phone. If you request quotes, you tick a consent box, and licensed auto transport companies that serve the route contact you. You can email the estimate without making that request. Companies that receive a request may pay RideShipper. You are not charged for the range.

No. Emailing the estimate saves that range to an email address. That email saves the range. It is not a quote request. A quote request is a separate step. You give your name, email, and phone and tick a consent box. Licensed companies that serve the route then contact you. If you only want the number, stop at the emailed estimate. Submitting a request is not a booking and not a deposit.

It will not price an ocean leg to Hawaii, Alaska, or Puerto Rico, a non-runner entered as a runner, or a trunk full of personal items as if they were the car. It also cannot see your driveway, an auction gate, storage, or a cancellation fee. Those show up, if at all, in a company's contract. Fuel is an input through the diesel index. There is no federal percent that turns the EIA diesel price into a car-shipping surcharge. Read the date. A foreign export is out of scope entirely.

Usually the two numbers are not the same job. The estimate is a range for the inputs you gave. The quote is one company's price for the truck it can find. Common gaps are the pickup date, enclosed instead of open, a car that does not run, and a thin lane where few trucks are going. An open, flexible, running-sedan band set next to an enclosed or inoperable quote is a false comparison. Put the quote next to a range with the same cities, vehicle, transport type, and week. The contract can still let the price move if no carrier accepts.

A serious quote names the company, says whether it is the broker or the carrier, and says whether the price can still change after a carrier is assigned. A single exact dollar, with no contract sentence, is not more real than a range. The first number is only a price if a carrier will haul for it. Read the line that says the price is an estimate or subject to change. If it can move after you pay, the first number was not locked. Compare it with the current range. A price far under the band is a reason to stop, not a reason to pay the same day.

Ask for each fee by name before you pay, and get the answer in the contract. A comparison range can see distance, vehicle class, open or enclosed, running or not, season, direction, and the diesel index. It cannot see your driveway, storage, auction gates, a cancellation, or a specific truck's empty miles. Fuel is often already inside a carrier's number, and it should be. There is no federal percent that turns the weekly diesel price into a surcharge. Names you should ask about include a car that does not run, an oversized vehicle, a missed delivery, storage, and cancellation. Companies differ.

Put the price next to the current range for the same lane, vehicle, and transport type. A number far under that band, a fee before any carrier is named, or a demand to pay by a payment app or a wire matches the patterns in the Better Business Bureau's 21 July 2023 alert. That alert describes a deposit of a few hundred dollars, usually by a digital wallet, and a pickup that never happens. A low price alone is not proof of a scam, and a high price is not proof of honesty. Look up the USDOT or MC number on SAFER before you pay.

A quote form that sends a phone number to many companies produces a burst of calls. RideShipper shows a range before it asks for a phone. A quote request then goes only after you enter your name, email, and phone and tick consent, and only to licensed companies that serve the route. You can ask RideShipper not to contact you. That request does not erase a number you already gave to other sites or to a company directly. Read the consent sentence. It should be unchecked until you check it.

No. A request asks licensed companies to contact you with their own offers. You see a price range first, without contact details. If you ask for quotes, you give your name, email, and phone and tick a consent box. Licensed auto transport companies that serve the route then contact you with their own offers. Nothing is scheduled until you sign one of those contracts. A text that says pay RideShipper by a payment app is not this service.