So, what exactly goes in to the prices that you get from Car Shipping companies?

Size of the vehicle, that’s obvious to most, but for those that don’t understand why that would affect your price, keep in mind that car carriers have a finite amount of space on their trucks. If a car carrier were to want to load a couple of F350 Pickup trucks, he might be able to fit a couple, or maybe even a few, but they’re going to take up a lot of space so it won’t be many. If he decides to load some Honda Civics on there instead, well he’ll be able to add many more of them.

This affects the prices charged for each vehicle in the following way; the truck has to (or at least expects to) earn a certain amount for each particular run, let’s say that for this run Carrier A expects to make $4000. (You can feel the high school math question coming, can’t you?) Carrier A has the option to take a full load of 10 Honda Civics and charge $400 each for them to make his goal. However, Joe Customer needs his F350 moved to and from the same cities. Well, carrier A can do it, but that would mean he would have to take two less Honda Civics, SO Joe Customer would need to pay him $800 if he wants him to take the Pickup instead of the 2 civics. See how that works?

Next time you are sitting in traffic (& we are based in Los Angeles so I get to do this A LOT) and you see a Pickup truck next to a Honda Civic you will see what I mean about the size difference. (and, yes, you may have a point if you are thinking that a pickup of this sort is not quite as long as two cars end to end, perhaps it is only about a car length and half, but how likely is it that Carrier A will find a half a car to take with it? Joe Customer has to compensate for both spots.)

Other factors include: how many miles your car is moving, car carriers like to get a minimum price per mile on most moves and it can vary; how far off of a major highway your pickup or delivery cities are, if either is far your mileage rate to and from the closest major highway can sometimes double; whether or not the vehicle runs, non-operational vehicles are typically $100 to $150 more; and of course your brokers fee, current industry standard for this fee is $150.

So, what happens if an auto transport broker has not properly factored in all of these elements and he comes up with a price that is too low? (and it happens with us from time to time) That’s easy, no car carrier will pick up the vehicle.

And how do you now when your price is too low? If your car has been available for pickup for a couple of days (REALLY available, as in a truck can come get it now, not your order is placed but you are not making it available for pickup until the middle of next week) and no carrier has been scheduled for a pickup, then 9 times out of 10 it’s because your price is too low, simple as that.