Why You Should Leave Motorcycle Transportation to the Pros

1. How Are Motorcycles Shipped?
2. What Is the Importance of an Accessible Delivery Address?
3. What Factors Affect the Overall Price of Shipping a Motorcycle?
4. How Can I Prepare My Motorcycle for Shipping?
5. How Long Does Motorcycle Transportation Take? 
6. How Can I Identify a Reputable Motorcycle Transportation Company?

It's smart to leave motorcycle transportation to the pros because it's what they're trained to do. Quality motorcycle transportation should consist of your bike arriving at its destination quickly, safely, and at a fair price. If you take on the task of transporting your motorcycle, you'll increase your risk of falling short in one of these three areas.  

Several scenarios require motorcycle transportation. Perhaps you just scored a killer deal on your dream bike—but it's across the country. Maybe you're moving to a new residence. No matter your need for motorcycle transportation, professionals can apply their resources and experience to your specific needs. 

We're here to talk about what motorcycle transportation pros do so you can understand the value that these services present. Let's begin by discussing how a team of professionals go about transporting a motorcycle. 

How Are Motorcycles Shipped?

If you're shipping your motorcycle through a land route, you can choose open carrier shipping, enclosed carrier shipping, or airfreight shipping. When you're in a situation where your motorcycle is being shipped overseas, you can select air freight or sea freight shipping. Transporting your motorcycle overseas through a cargo vessel is performed by either crating the bike within a shipping container or securing the bike in an open-air environment on a freight forwarder. While open-air motorcycle shipping is less expensive than an enclosed shipping service, bikes are more susceptible to damage during open-air shipping than cars. 

It's natural for the carrier transporting your motorcycle to encounter some turbulence during travels. Whether you select an open-carrier or an enclosed carrier shipping service for your motorcycle, your bike will be secured before transit to avoid any unnecessary damages occurring. 

People who are transporting their motorcycle overseas often select a roll-on, roll-off service. During roll-on, roll-off, a motorcycle will be driven onto the transport vessel and secured via skids and tie-downs before being transported to the destination port.

Choosing a delivery service when transporting your bike is just as important as selecting a transport method. Door-to-door delivery is going to be the most convenient delivery service when hiring professionals to transport your bike.

Why?

A door-to-door delivery service for motorcycle transport consists of professionals picking up your bike at your home, loading the bike, securing it, and delivering the motorcycle to either its land route destination or port of origin. If a motorcycle is traveling overseas, it will be picked up by at the port it arrives at before it's delivered as close as possible to your desired destination. Port-to-port is less expensive than door-to-door delivery and consists of you providing your bike to its departing port and then picking up the motorcycle at the port it arrives at. If your destination is fairly close to the port that the bike arrives at, port-to-port delivery shouldn't be as big of a hassle. Destinations that are located away from ports further inland in more remote areas can inconvenience the party shipping their motorcycle. 

Providing an accessible delivery address is key during the planning phase of motorcycle transportation.

What Is the Importance of an Accessible Delivery Address?

When thinking about the importance of providing motorcycle transportation specialists with an accessible delivery address, it's helpful to think about the delivery process from the transporter's perspective. Most motorcycles during a door-to-door service are delivered through an 18-wheel truck. If you provide motorcycle transport specialists with a delivery address that features tight roads, inaccessible paths, or other various obstacles, it will make the transporters' job much more difficult. When you find yourself in an instance where your ideal delivery destination is considered inaccessible to motorcycle transporters, do your best to find a location nearby that's more convenient for the employees delivering your bike. 

Hiring a team of professionals to transport your motorcycle may appear to be a more attractive prospect at this point. If you're interested in learning about important motorcycle transport aspects, including how these services are priced, preparing your motorcycle for transport, and how long the overall process can take—then keep reading!

What Factors Affect the Overall Price of Shipping a Motorcycle?

Every person considering hiring a motorcycle transport service should be looking for a company that provides professional and reliable service at the most affordable rate. The three main factors that affect how much or how little you pay for motorcycle transport are the bike's make and model, the shipping method you choose, and how much distance the bike is traveling. You can find yourself paying more money for motorcycle shipping if you request extra insurance coverage and expedited delivery of your bike. 

Your motorcycle's size often has a big impact on how much you pay for insurance during transit. You might've figured that you'll be paying more the bigger your bike is. The reason that you'll pay more to have a larger bike transported has to do with the fact that large motorcycles require bigger crates, extra tie-downs, and other additional accommodations to secure the bike. 

People may wonder if certain times of year are less expensive to ship a motorcycle than others. Generally speaking, you're not going to save yourself a lot of money shipping your motorcycle during a particular season over another season. Please keep in mind that it's often less expensive to have a motorcycle delivered to an urban area over a remote location. The reason for this is that delivery routes often run through Urban areas. 

Extra costs associated with hiring professionals to transport your motorcycle include: 

• Insurance
• Express shipping
• Added space
• Failed delivery
• Fuel charges

Motorcycle shipping costs often differ from one company to another. When you're looking for a way to gain an idea of how much shipping your motorcycle will cost, consider getting an instant quote from A-1 Auto Transport. 

While motorcycle transport specialists will perform the heavy lifting when it comes to shipping your bike, there some steps you should take to prepare your motorcycle for shipping. 

How Can I Prepare My Motorcycle for Shipping?

If your motorcycle's tires are low on air, do your best to fill them up before the bike is sent off. Thoroughly cleaning your motorcycle before it's transported will allow you to note any pre-existing damages on the bike and make it easier for you to spot damages to the bike upon its arrival. After you've done the preliminary inspection of your bike, make notes recording what you saw and give those records to your motorcycle transport company. Your motorcycle transport provider will perform a thorough examination of the motorcycle before it's sent off to note any damages. 

A common question that people looking to transport a motorcycle ask is if they can leave any of their possessions to be shipped with the bike. A couple of personal biking property examples a person might want to have shipped with their motorcycle include a riding jacket or a helmet. It's advised that motorcycle owners remove additional personal property pieces from their bikes before shipping since extra personal items won't be covered by insurance. 

One of the primary reasons that people enlist the help of a professional transport service to move their motorcycle is that these organizations can save people vast amounts of time and stress. 

How Long Does Motorcycle Transportation Take? 

The amount of time it's going to take for your motorcycle to be delivered to its destination primarily has to do with the distance it's traveling. State-to-state travel for motorcycles usually takes less than two weeks, while coast-to-coast shipping can take up to one month to complete. Most professional motorcycle shipping services will offer tracking so you can check in on your bike's status while it's in transit. 

Booking ahead will play a big part in your ability to have your motorcycle arrive at its destination at an ideal time. If you go to book at the last minute, you risk the motorcycle transport service you're working with having limited availability or no availability at all. 

Working with a reputable motorcycle transport company does wonders in mitigating the stress that a person can experience during shipping their bike. Every customer wants to know that their motorcycle is in good hands. Let's talk about how you can identify whether a motorcycle transport service is worth working with. 

How Can I Identify a Reputable Motorcycle Transportation Company?

An exceptional motorcycle transport company make you feel as comfortable as possible with the prospect of entrusting them to ship your bike. Two of the most important aspects to examine when considering a motorcycle transport company is the extent of their experience and their insurance policy. If you're comparing a handful of equal companies in expertise and quality insurance, start comparing rates. 

When you're consulting a company offering motorcycle transportation, be sure to communicate whether you need open or enclosed shipping and confirm that the company is verified by the Department of Transportation. 

A-1 Auto Transport offers domestic, international, and daily direct motorcycle transportation services. Suppose you're looking to evaluate some price estimates for domestic and international motorcycle transportation to popular spots. In that case, A-1 Auto Transport provides tables for site visitors with price and time estimates for ground and ocean shipping.