Is Car Transport Right for You?

If you are moving cross-country or buying a car several states away, you may be able to benefit from using a car transport service.  The transport service will pick your car up and deliver it to your destination within a certain time frame.  Usually you will be given a window of several days.  This is an excellent service for anyone who wants to save their car from the wear and tear of highway miles, or who cannot afford the time to drive their car cross-country.

If you still cannot decide whether car shipping is the right decision for you, here are a few questions to ask yourself.

Is your car valuable?

If you have, for instance, a low-mileage collectors vehicle, having your car transported cross-country on the back of a truck should be the obvious choice.  Not only are highway miles exceptionally hard on a car, with the risk of rock damage, flat tires, etc., collectors cars are also more valuable based on the original miles on the vehicle.  A car transporter will enable you to preserve your vehicle's low mileage and its value.

Is the savings in gas worth the wear and tear of driving cross-country?

Highway miles take a toll on your vehicle.  Not only do you run the risk of overheating, blowing a hose, breaking a belt, or getting a flat tire, you also get chipped paint and cracked windshields from rocks.  Plus, you are putting another thousand or so miles on your car, depending on how far you are traveling.  And with gas prices the way they are, you could be looking at spending a couple hundred dollars or more.

Car transport, on the other hand, saves the wear and tear and the cost of gas.  And because the expense of gas is shared by all the vehicles on the truck, shipping a car costs less than you might think.  Get a few quotes from car shipping companies, and compare that to an estimate of the cost of gas and maintenance (having your car tuned up before the trip, oil change and air filter, etc.).  Chances are you will find that it's worth the extra to save your car from the hard miles.

Is it worth your time to drive?

Driving just a couple of states over can eat up an entire day.  Driving across the country takes several days -- which means a couple of nights spent at motels on the road.  If you are starting a new job right away or if your time can be better spent settling into your new home, it may be worth paying a little extra to have your car delivered to you.  As they say, time is money, so you may find it is worth paying some money in order to free up several days of your time!

Are you buying a car from another state?

Buying an out-of-state car is another reason why many people opt to go with a car shipping service.  If you go get the car yourself, you will need to pay for a plane ticket as well as the gas to drive the car back.  The expenses add up quickly, and you will probably find that it is actually more economical to have the car shipped to your door.

There are a lot of factors to consider when trying to decide whether to use a car transport service.  Try to look at the big picture, instead of the immediate cost.  Will your decision have potential repercussions further down the road, such as more maintenance needed, or a reduction in value?  These are the kinds of concerns that make car shipping worthwhile.