Different types of car carriers

 
You can choose to have your car shipped with several different types of car carrier trucks. They include open-air car carriers, enclosed car carriers, flatbed vehicle carriers, and car carriers with a winch. Each has a unique purpose, advantages, and average price points.
 

Open-air car carriers

 
Open-air car carriers are the car carrier trucks that you will frequently see out on the road, typically delivering cars at dealerships. They consist of two decks with no walls or roof. Each deck has two flat metal treads wide enough to accommodate most of the tires found on passenger cars. They cannot ship oversized vehicles such as RVs or busses, nor can they ship two – or three-wheeled vehicles such as motorcycles or trikes. There is usually room for 9 to 12 cars on these carriers at any time.
 

Advantages of open-air car carrier trucks

 
One distinct advantage of shipping a car on an open-air car carrier is that it is the cheapest option compared to shipping a car on any other carrier. Another distinct advantage of shipping your car on an open car carrier is that they always have a maximum amount of shipping availability because they are the most common type of auto carrier. Just about every four out of five car shipments are made with open-air car carriers. So, you will have the least difficulty getting preferred pick-up or delivery dates if you ship your vehicle on an open carrier truck.
 

The cost of shipping a car on an open carrier

 
The following are the estimated prices of shipping a car on an open carrier along popular routes in 2023:
 

 
The above prices are only estimates and are subject to change at any time based on many factors, including shipping demand, fuel prices, vehicle type, and more.
 

Enclosed car carriers

 
Enclosed car carriers differ from other car carriers because they have walls and a roof. They might have only one deck, but some larger ones have two. Enclosed carriers, or covered carriers as many call them, can ship any vehicle that is not oversized, such as a passenger car, motorcycle, or trike. An enclosed car carrier truck can usually hold between 2 and 10 vehicles during shipments depending on the carrier truck’s overall size and whether they have a second deck. Shipping a vehicle on an enclosed car carrier will usually cost an additional $400 to $700 depending on how much notice you give for your shipment, what time of year during which you are shipping and fuel prices at the time of shipping.
 

Advantages of enclosed car carrier trucks

 
When you ship a car in an enclosed car carrier, you are choosing to ship your car with a maximum amount of protection from outdoor elements, including tree branches, powerful UV rays, rain or hail, and small rocks that can shoot up off the highway while your car is in transit. This is a clear advantage over shipping your car on any other car carrier, including an open carrier, as those carriers will not offer any protection from these things.
 

The cost of shipping a car on an enclosed carrier

 
The following are the estimated prices of shipping a car in an enclosed carrier along popular routes in 2023:
 

 
The above prices are only estimates and are subject to change at any time based on many factors, including shipping demand, fuel prices, vehicle type, and more.
 

Flatbed car carriers

 
Flatbed car carriers are used primarily for shipping oversized cars or vehicles. Some vehicles considered “oversized” are Humvees, buses, recreational vehicles or trailers, commercial trucks like 18-wheelers, tractors, boats, and more. You have almost certainly seen a flatbed hauler on the highway sometime in your lifetime. They are often tagged with large signage that reads “Caution: Oversized Load.” So, if you passed a very large boat being hauled or even a house being hauled, it was inevitably on a flatbed car carrier trailer.
 
The flatbed carriers that will be used in car shipping are comprised of the tractor, which is the front part with the engine and cabin for the driver as well as the trailer (hence the name tractor-trailer), which is the back “flatbed” part. Flatbed vehicle carriers always only have one deck and can typically only carry one or two vehicles at a time unless they are shipping motorcycles, at which point they can typically ship 4 to 8 at a time.
 

Advantages of flatbed car carrier trucks

 
The primary advantage of shipping a vehicle on a flatbed car trailer is that these car carriers give you an option for shipping that vehicle at all. In the vast majority of cases, flatbed carriers are used for oversized vehicles when it comes to auto transport. Most flatbed carriers used for shipping vehicles can haul between 40,000 and 50,000 pounds. If a motorcycle is being shipped on a flatbed trailer, it typically means the overall cost will be lower because you will not be getting all the bells and whistles of enclosed shipping.
 
There are several types of flatbed trailers, all with unique advantages and differences:
 

• Flat-deck – Flat-deck trailers are the most common type of flatbed trailer, but not when it comes to car shipping. They are simply a flat and level platform where cargo is placed. You will rarely see oversized vehicles shipped using a flat-deck trailer, as the trailer’s higher clearance off the ground causes issues for shipping larger vehicles in terms of loading/unloading and overall height restrictions. Motorcycles are semi-frequently shipped on flat-deck trailers.




• Lowboy (Drop-deck) – A lowboy trailer is a flatbed trailer that has the vast majority of the trailer that is between the wheels drop down to as close to the ground as possible. This allows for more clearance, which could be the difference between a taller vehicle being legally shipped or not due to height restrictions. It can clear up enough clearance so certain tunnels can be driven through and/or bridges can be driven under. If your vehicle needs to be loaded onto a trailer via forklift, lowboys make it much easier and quicker as the vehicle will not need to be lifted that high to be placed on the trailer.




• Gooseneck – Gooseneck trailers offer the advantage that they provide a more secure transit for the cargo at a bit of a quicker speed due to their reliance on only a back axle rather than both a back and front axle.

The cost of shipping a car on a flatbed carrier

 
The following are the estimated prices of shipping a car on a flatbed carrier along popular routes in 2023:
 

 
The above prices are only estimates and are subject to change at any time based on many factors, including shipping demand, fuel prices, vehicle type, and more.
 

Car carriers with a winch

 
Car carriers with a winch are almost exclusively used to ship inoperable cars. An inoperable car is any car that is not running at all or well enough to be safely/easily driven on or off a more typical car carrier truck. This means these carriers can ship scrap or junk cars and brand-new cars with temporary engine issues. They are also used occasionally to ship travel trailers.
 

Advantages of car carrier trucks with a winch

 
The advantage of shipping your car on a carrier with a winch is that it will be much cheaper than having a non-running car towed a longer distance. Also, when you ship a car on a carrier that uses a winch to onboard the vehicle, your car will likely be the only car in the shipment which will mean a slightly faster transit time.
 

The cost of shipping a car on a car carrier with a winch

 
The following are the estimated prices of shipping a car on a car carrier with a winch along popular routes in 2023:
 

 
The above prices are only estimates and are subject to change at any time based on many factors, including shipping demand, fuel prices, vehicle type, and more.
 

How cars are loaded onto car carriers

 
You might have wondered at one point how cars make it onto a carrier truck, especially the top deck of open-air carriers. The answer is that cars get placed onto different car carriers in different ways, including hydraulics, external/detachable ramps, winches, and even forklifts.
 

How cars are loaded onto open-air car carriers

 
The vast majority of car shipments are performed using open-air car carriers. These car carriers have two decks, one right on top of another, to maximize the number of cars that can be transported in each shipment, leading to a maximum profit for the car shipping company. Cars are always loaded onto the top deck first. This is because the back half or so of the top deck of these trailers lowers down to the ground forming an upward ramp through the use of hydraulics. So, your car shipping driver just needs to press a button to get this to occur.
 
If cars were on the lower deck’s back part when this happened, they would be damaged because the top deck would partially lower into them. So, not only does the top deck always get loaded first, the cars on it are delivered and unloaded last when the bottom deck is empty. Sometimes the use of an external ramp or ramp extension is needed depending on the specific car carrier truck, but cars are driven onto and off the trailer on two individual metal treads on each deck that are wide enough to accommodate any sized wheels.
 

How cars are loaded onto enclosed car carriers

 
When a car gets shipped on an enclosed trailer, it will also get loaded and unloaded with the help of hydraulics on the truck, but that is where the similarities end with loading/unloading open carriers. Enclosed carriers have a back wall that flattens outward into the space behind the trailer and lowers to the ground via hydraulics.
 
A vehicle is then driven onto the back wall. Then, the wall and car are lifted to the level of the trailer, again using hydraulics, and the car is driven onto the carrier. The reverse happens when cars are unloaded. If an enclosed carrier has two decks, the hydraulics can raise the flattened-out back wall and vehicle even higher to get it onto that deck.
 

How cars are loaded onto flatbed carriers

 
Vehicles get loaded onto flatbed trailers in a variety of ways. If it is a flat-deck flatbed, then an external/detachable ramp can be attached to the end of the trailer, and the vehicle can be driven straight on and off. If it is a lowboy or gooseneck trailer, longer ramps can be attached to the sides, and the vehicle can be driven onto the lower portion from an angle. If that is not possible, a forklift can lift the vehicle onto the trailer.
 

How cars are loaded onto car carriers with a winch

 
When shipping a non-running car, a winch will be used to safely and securely pull it onto the trailer because it cannot be driven onto the trailer. A winch is a tool where a motor or mechanism with an extending cable can extend out and retract back in. When the cable extends out, it is attached to a thick nylon strap that can more safely attach to a vehicle on its underside than if attached directly. At this point, the motor runs, and the car is slowly pulled onto the trailer, or if it is a manual mechanism, the driver will operate it by hand until the car is securely on the trailer.
 

How cars are secured to car carriers

 
After they are loaded onto a car carrier, vehicles must be secured safely to the carrier itself so that they do not move around and get damaged by another vehicle on the carrier or the carrier itself. The way that cars are typically secured to the carrier is with tiedown straps in four different places. These places are the four wheels and/or the corresponding part of the chassis (bottom part of the car’s frame) to each wheel.
 
The straps go over and around the wheel and/or a close part of the chassis or even through the chassis if “tiedown holes” are provided in that particular chassis. The other ends of these tiedowns are securely attached to the carrier itself. Your auto transport driver will ensure that the straps are tight enough to immobilize the car during transport without any possibility of damage occurring from the tiedowns.
 

Conclusion

 
Whenever you ship your car on the ground with an auto transport company, your vehicle will be shipped on one of four different car carrier trucks, depending on the type of car and/or what you choose. These carrier types are open-air, enclosed, flatbed, and with a winch. Each type of car hauler has pros and cons, ways of loading/unloading cars, and different shipping costs. Regardless of which type of car carrier ships your vehicle is shipped on, it will always be safely secured to the auto carrier via a series of straps and tiedowns to ensure it is immobilized while it is in transit.
 

FAQ

How many cars can a typical car carrier hold?

 
A typical open car carrier can hold a maximum of 9 to 12 cars depending on the overall size of the carrier itself and the sizes of the vehicles it is hauling.
 

Do cars ever fall off car carriers?

 
Cars do not fall off of open-air carriers or any other type of car carrier because they are secured to the carrier with extra strong straps in several places on the car.
 

Where can car carriers drop cars off?

 
Car carriers can drop cars off on most streets with a few exceptions. Sometimes streets are too narrow, have no shoulder or place for a carrier to unload, there is a clearance issue on that road or a road leading to it, or local law has imposed a weight and/or size limit on vehicles that can travel down that street. If this is the case, you must have your car dropped off at a nearby area with enough space, away from active traffic, where your carrier can safely and easily unload your car. A large nearby plaza parking lot is one such example of a potential meeting spot for the drop off of your car. This will always be discussed with your car shipping company before booking your shipment.