Over the years we have heard clients ask why there is such a huge variety of pricing as they call around to get quotes from multiple companies.  We are also confused by this…but for a different reason than most of our clients.  Typically when you call the companies listed on the front of a Google or the Yellow Pages, they are brokers.  This is not necessarily a bad thing for you, if you get a good broker.  Like in all industries, there are good/bad and reputable/non-reputable service providers.  Brokers lacking in the reputation department try to compensate by giving consumers a great auto shipping price and hope they won’t do their homework.  Typically you will find that the pricing of reputable companies will be similar and the same is true for non-reputable.  The variance will be based partially on the price their particular carrier expects on that given route and the fee the broker will charge for that service.  Like most things, you get what you pay for in the auto transportbusiness so do your homework before you ask a company to handle your car transport.

Recently there have been companies that have been conducting themselves in an unethical manner and we at American Auto Movers felt it was important to make consumers aware of it.  In an effort to lock up business, some car shipping brokers have started to bid low on relocations and then required the consumer to prepay a deposit to “reserve space on the truck.”  In some cases, because these companies quoted the customer so low, they have a hard time finding a carrier to move the vehicle.  Since the customer has already paid a deposit, they feel obligated to stay with the company as they do not want to forfeit the deposit they paid.  Unfortunately, the consumer can sometimes end up waiting weeks for their car to load.  The difference they could have saved in car rental fees could have been put towards using reputable auto shippers and the entire problem could have been avoided.

Most people rarely use an auto transport service more than several times in their life.  The lack of understanding of the business is typically what results in them choosing a poor company and therefore becoming a skeptical consumer with regards to the industry since auto shippers typically leave people feeling upset.  One of the main issues is people are asking the wrong questions when they call in to get a quote and fail to do the proper homework.  At American Auto Movers, one of the most common question we hear is “Are you insured and bonded?”  We are, and most of the companies are, and besides that, it would be a simple lie for them to say they were if they weren’t.  A better question would be to ask them about their rate, ensure that it is all inclusive and be sure to get something in writing from them before they load your vehicle.  After you have spoken with a representative at the company and you feel comfortable with them, it is imperative that you go online and do your homework on the auto transporter.  Look to see how many complaints they have against them on the Better Business Bureau.  If in the last 36 months they have 4 or 5 complaints it is really not a major concern and is to be expected.  However, when they have 70 or 100, you are most likely playing with fire, so buyer beware.

Motorcycle shipping can be handled a few different ways.  The two obvious options are if you want to transport the motorcycle on an enclosed trailer or an open trailer.  We always advise our customers to transport any motorcycle on an enclosed trailer for several reasons.  Our two biggest concerns are damage from road debris and theft.  On an open trailer motorcycles are strapped down in a similar fashion as on an enclosed trailer, the main difference being, everyone can see it.  To remove these straps and steal the bike isn’t likely, but we feel it isn’t worth the risk to save a few hundred dollars.  Most people are very finicky about how clean their bike is kept, and that is another advantage of enclosed transport.  When you ship it on an enclosed trailer it will come as clean as it was when you gave it to us.  On enclosed transport, you can have the motorcycle crated, as is required by some carriers, or just strapped down.  Both are safe options as both kinds of carriers are prepared to properly handle how they move the cargo.

As we break into another year, we are hoping the auto transport business this year will be an improvement over last year.  Many people in our industry went out of business last year, and not surprisingly some of those were carriers with bad reputations.  We at American Auto Movers are excited as we have some exciting developments coming up in 2010 and we will be releasing them here on our car shipping blog as they become official.  To everyone we wish a Happy New Year!!!