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What To Expect When Shipping a Car
Posted on 02/07/2017
Book your shipment
Carrier assigned
Vehicle picked up
Vehicle delivered

Shipping a vehicle with RoadRunner Auto Transport is a very easy and customer friendly process. We’ve simplified vehicle transportation to 5 steps and we listed them below for you to get an idea of what to expect throughout your shipment.
Before you jump into the actual car shipping process, you should go online and get a free quote. An auto transport quote gives the most accurate idea possible about what your shipment will end up costing and how long it might take to ship your vehicle. You can use these quotes to compare auto shippers so you can choose the best option in terms of both pricing and transit time for your shipment.
It is important to know that automatically choosing the company with the lowest priced quote is not the best way to select a car shipping company. There are other factors to consider such as transit time and online reputation to name a few.
As far as transit time for your car shipment, this can vary from company to company based on the amount of available carriers they have. Companies that offer the lowest pricing might also have some of the longest transit times for your desired route.
When it comes to online reputation, be sure you do a little research on each car shipping company you are considering before you choose one for your transport. You should use sites like Consumer Affairs and Google too see if the company has good feedback and reviews from former customers first.
You can get a free quote from RoadRunner Auto Transport online or, if you prefer to receive a quote by phone, you can speak with a pricing specialist by calling (888)777-2123 today.
Book your shipment
Once you have your quotes and you decide on a company to ship your vehicle, it will be time to book your shipment. You will want to do this as soon as you can because, as a general rule of thumb, the sooner you book the better. There tends to be more carrier availability the further out you book.
Any reputable auto transport company will allow you the option to book online or over the phone.
Either way, when you are booking your shipment you will need the following details:
- The make and model of your car
- Your desired shipping dates
- What additional shipping options you want or don’t want
Once you provide the details of your shipment, you will be able to go over the relevant payment information for that company regarding your shipment. Remember, no reputable company will have you pay the entire cost of shipping up front.
After this, the ball will start rolling on the transportation of your vehicle.
Carrier assigned
An auto transport company will have their dispatch department assign your shipment to a carrier that matches your desired route and time frame. Most companies will send an automatic update of the projected pickup and delivery dates once a pickup has been scheduled.
Once your carrier is assigned, it is time to start preparing your car for shipment. Now, at this point your pickup still might be weeks away but you still need to make sure your car is running properly. If the time comes that your driver arrives to pickup your car and it is not running properly or at all, you might end up being charged an additional fee for shipping an inoperable vehicle or, worse, your shipment might have to be cancelled. You can avoid this by getting your car checked out by a mechanic as soon as you get a carrier assigned.
After that, as you get closer to your scheduled pick-up date, you should remove all personal items from your vehicle, get the car cleaned, and take photos of the inside and outside of the car that have date stamps on them. The photos that you take are just in case your car ends up with any damage, you can prove that it was not pre-existing. This is an exceptionally rare possibility but it is always better to be thorough.

Vehicle picked up
Your pickup driver will make arrangements with you at the pickup location prior to arriving. Usually, the pickup location is your home. However, in certain cases the driver will not be able to drive their auto carrier onto your street. If you know that your street is too narrow or that local laws forbid your driver from driving on your street, you need to make sure that you mention this and that you and your driver decide on a nearby pickup location such as a mall parking lot.
Once you have worked all of that out and your driver arrives on the day of your pickup a thorough inspection of the vehicle will be completed and both the driver and the pickup contact person will sign the bill of lading to verify accuracy of the inspection. The vehicle then is carefully loaded onto the carrier and secured. Your car then begins heading to the delivery location.
Vehicle delivered
Your vehicle delivery will be similar to the pickup in that you will need to make exact location arrangements before the car is dropped off.
When the car is delivered it is then offloaded and a final inspection is completed to ensure that the vehicle was delivered in the same condition it was picked up in. You should visually inspect the car yourself so you can confidently verify accuracy of the inspection when you once again sign the bill of lading. If a remaining balance is due, it is paid to the driver at this time.
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What To Expect When Shipping a Car
Posted on 02/07/2017
Book your shipment
Carrier assigned
Vehicle picked up
Vehicle delivered

Shipping a vehicle with RoadRunner Auto Transport is a very easy and customer friendly process. We’ve simplified vehicle transportation to 5 steps and we listed them below for you to get an idea of what to expect throughout your shipment.
Before you jump into the actual car shipping process, you should go online and get a free quote. An auto transport quote gives the most accurate idea possible about what your shipment will end up costing and how long it might take to ship your vehicle. You can use these quotes to compare auto shippers so you can choose the best option in terms of both pricing and transit time for your shipment.
It is important to know that automatically choosing the company with the lowest priced quote is not the best way to select a car shipping company. There are other factors to consider such as transit time and online reputation to name a few.
As far as transit time for your car shipment, this can vary from company to company based on the amount of available carriers they have. Companies that offer the lowest pricing might also have some of the longest transit times for your desired route.
When it comes to online reputation, be sure you do a little research on each car shipping company you are considering before you choose one for your transport. You should use sites like Consumer Affairs and Google too see if the company has good feedback and reviews from former customers first.
You can get a free quote from RoadRunner Auto Transport online or, if you prefer to receive a quote by phone, you can speak with a pricing specialist by calling (888)777-2123 today.
Book your shipment
Once you have your quotes and you decide on a company to ship your vehicle, it will be time to book your shipment. You will want to do this as soon as you can because, as a general rule of thumb, the sooner you book the better. There tends to be more carrier availability the further out you book.
Any reputable auto transport company will allow you the option to book online or over the phone.
Either way, when you are booking your shipment you will need the following details:
- The make and model of your car
- Your desired shipping dates
- What additional shipping options you want or don’t want
Once you provide the details of your shipment, you will be able to go over the relevant payment information for that company regarding your shipment. Remember, no reputable company will have you pay the entire cost of shipping up front.
After this, the ball will start rolling on the transportation of your vehicle.
Carrier assigned
An auto transport company will have their dispatch department assign your shipment to a carrier that matches your desired route and time frame. Most companies will send an automatic update of the projected pickup and delivery dates once a pickup has been scheduled.
Once your carrier is assigned, it is time to start preparing your car for shipment. Now, at this point your pickup still might be weeks away but you still need to make sure your car is running properly. If the time comes that your driver arrives to pickup your car and it is not running properly or at all, you might end up being charged an additional fee for shipping an inoperable vehicle or, worse, your shipment might have to be cancelled. You can avoid this by getting your car checked out by a mechanic as soon as you get a carrier assigned.
After that, as you get closer to your scheduled pick-up date, you should remove all personal items from your vehicle, get the car cleaned, and take photos of the inside and outside of the car that have date stamps on them. The photos that you take are just in case your car ends up with any damage, you can prove that it was not pre-existing. This is an exceptionally rare possibility but it is always better to be thorough.

Vehicle picked up
Your pickup driver will make arrangements with you at the pickup location prior to arriving. Usually, the pickup location is your home. However, in certain cases the driver will not be able to drive their auto carrier onto your street. If you know that your street is too narrow or that local laws forbid your driver from driving on your street, you need to make sure that you mention this and that you and your driver decide on a nearby pickup location such as a mall parking lot.
Once you have worked all of that out and your driver arrives on the day of your pickup a thorough inspection of the vehicle will be completed and both the driver and the pickup contact person will sign the bill of lading to verify accuracy of the inspection. The vehicle then is carefully loaded onto the carrier and secured. Your car then begins heading to the delivery location.
Vehicle delivered
Your vehicle delivery will be similar to the pickup in that you will need to make exact location arrangements before the car is dropped off.
When the car is delivered it is then offloaded and a final inspection is completed to ensure that the vehicle was delivered in the same condition it was picked up in. You should visually inspect the car yourself so you can confidently verify accuracy of the inspection when you once again sign the bill of lading. If a remaining balance is due, it is paid to the driver at this time.
"Save time looking and just call Roadrunner Auto Transport - they truly helped make my move easier!"
Trish A.
Miami, FL


"When I bought a car out of state I was unsure what to expect with the shipping. RoadRunner made everything so easy!"
Jenna D.
Lufkin, TX


"The RoadRunner agent we spoke with answered all of our questions and kept us in the loop throughout the shipment."
Christopher G.
Cincinnati, OH


"I couldn't have been happier with the service provided by RoadRunner to transport my car from CA to NY"
Deborah B.
Long Beach, CA


Frequently Asked Questions
Get answers to some of the most commonly asked questions about the vehicle transportation process.








