Five Tips to Find the Best Car Shippers

Customers are flooded with a lot of needed and unnecessary information when they search for the best car shippers online. While some of the information may be useful, the sheer volume of the information may side-track them away from what they are really looking out for. So here is a compiled list of things that customers will find useful when checking out a car shipping company.

Quality Based Infrastructure

Not all who talk about quality services are quality-centred companies. To make it a truly quality-driven company, check whether the company has the following –

A comprehensive fleet - Most companies will only have one or two carriers that make regular trips on common routes and they depend upon car shipping company brokers to bring in the customers who want a carrier for that route. While there is no harm in that, a good company should have a comprehensive fleet that can manage to take any type of car and if need be, be able to take multiple cars at the same time. That will enable you to choose the same company again if you are satisfied with their services. So look out the following in their fleet –

• Enclosed carriers
• Open carriers
• On-road service - There is sure to be a few mishaps which a carrier might face while going on a long journey. Therefore, the company should have a good network which can bail out the truck which is in trouble in as short a time as possible.
• Experienced team - it starts with the person handling your car from your doorstep to the one who delivers it.

Quality Based Services

There is another vital aspect that separates the best car shippers from the rest of the taskforce and that is the additional value added services that they provide which makes car shipping an easy task for both the company and the customer.

• Good tracking system - shipping cars from one coast to another may take a few days and when it happens to be from one country to another, it may even take a few weeks. In this era where technology rules, the savvy customer will want to know exactly where his car is at the moment and will want it at the click of a button.
• Appropriate materials used - Expensive cars will require a lot more care and attention and so would require additional packing materials. A good company should have a stock of various kinds of materials for all types of cars and emergency situations.

Before You Take the Plunge

You have the responsibility of finding the best company and not Google. So it is necessary for you to do your own research with the help of Google and the following –

• Check Better Business Bureau office - This is also an essential step when you only want to deal with the best car shippers. The BBB office will tell you whether the company has any outstanding issues and their ratings. To locate the BBB office near your house check http://www.bbb.org/bbb-locator/.
• Check Federal Motor Carrier Safety Association – The FMCSA is all about promoting better and safe driving and so you can access their carriers’ safety records by visiting http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/.
• Check reviews – This is a good way of getting to know the inside story and after you have used a company, be a responsible citizen and leave your honest opinion about them online.
• Check with friends, family, and colleagues- You are sure to get a few good recommendations from them when you ask them. Some companies may not have advertised extensively and this is a good way to choose such companies.

Do Your Homework

There are a few more things that you need to do before you make the decision.

• Compare quotes – different companies will give different quotes and while that is not surprising, it will surely come as a surprise to know why the rates differ so much. Most companies will not take your requirements into concern and will book you into the first vehicle carrier that is available. That might not be the cheapest option for you and you must be sure to specify that you can wait till the cheaper carrier gets free.
• Talk with the company- there is nothing like taking the information right out of the horse’s mouth. The employees of the company will be able to tell you a lot about their services and the company which may not be available online.

Trial Round

The only way you are ever going to know is when you use them and if you are in a business where you have to move the car on a regular basis, try out the company for a short trip. Do not commit to them for a long trip or sign on the dotted line for a long-term contract without having a trial round. Once satisfied, your search will end and your journey to a long successful partnership will start.