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For most car owners, their vehicle is their baby. When you think about how much time you spend in your car and about how much you rely on your car to take you everywhere you need to go, it’s easy to understand. And if you’re moving or going away from home for an extended period of time, you want your car with you. The trouble is, shipping a luxury car can be a huge headache. Find out how to make it easier on yourself, and determine exactly what you need to do to make this process as painless as possible — both for you and your vehicle.
The Best Option
When you start trying to learn more about the process of shipping cars, it’s easy to start getting overwhelmed. There are multiple options available to you when you want to move your vehicle from one place to another. There are even moving companies who will do this for you.
If you’re not going to drive your car, you need to figure out how to get that vehicle to where it needs to be. Your best option for doing this is to hire a dedicated car shipping company. Even reliable and experienced moving companies are not your best option. Moving companies may move cars, but they’re not dedicated to the business of exclusively moving cars. When you want to ship a luxury car, choose a company that specializes in this service. They’ll have more equipment and dedicated containers built just for the purpose of transporting automobiles.
Choosing a Transport Vehicle
Even among dedicated car shipping companies, there are multiple options for moving a car. One of the biggest decisions you’ll make is choosing between open or enclosed auto transport. Enclosed is by far the safest option. In an enclosed unit, your car will be protected from oil leaks and road debris while it’s being moved. Ask about the tie-downs used for the car, because you’ll want something that’s made with materials that will not scratch the car.
Enclosed transport is the wisest choice when you’re shipping a vehicle by land; however, you may be forced to go with an open transport option if you have a larger vehicle. Big SUVs, for example, are a little more difficult to ship because of their size and may require a container without a roof. Long cars, like some classic models, may be so big that a back or front cannot be placed on the container. Ask about the dimensions of transport containers, and know the dimensions of your car, to find out what options are available to you.
Longer Trips
If you are shipping a car across an ocean, your shipping options change. Clearly, land-shipping won’t work if you’re going outside of North America or to an island. This means you will have to choose between air or water freight, also known as ocean freight.
Ocean freight is the most common method for shipping vehicles overseas. You can opt for container shipping here as well, and keep your car enclosed for the duration of the trip. Clearly, this is what you want to do for your luxury car, because this is the safer option. Otherwise, you will roll your car onto the ship so it can be stored below deck for the entire journey.
Air freight shipping is the faster option. You can make the entire process even speedier and easier by hiring a charter plane that provides shipping services. This can be expensive, but it can also save you the headache of commercial passenger travel for your vehicle.
Shipping Your Car
Avoid the headaches when you’re shipping your car. Know what your options are so you can make the right choices; then, you can start making things happen. It can be overwhelming to ship a car across a long distance, but it can be done without a lot of pain and trouble.
