How to Choose a Car Shipping Company
You can separate a legitimate auto transport company from a bad one in about five minutes, using public records rather than reviews. Everything else, the website, the testimonials, the promise of a guaranteed date, is easy to fake. Federal registration, insurance on file and a safety record are not.
Check the Registration First
Every company moving vehicles across state lines must be registered with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, and the record is public.
A carrier owns trucks and holds a USDOT number. A broker arranges the move and holds both a USDOT and an MC number, plus a surety bond that exists to protect customers and carriers if the broker fails to pay.
Ask for the number rather than accepting a company name, because names change and numbers do not. Then confirm three things: that the authority is active rather than pending or revoked, that the insurance on file matches what you were told, and that the safety record does not show a pattern of out of service violations.
A company that hesitates to give you its number has answered your question.
Broker or Carrier
Neither is inherently better; they solve different problems, and most people booking a single vehicle are talking to a broker.
A carrier can only offer you where its own trucks go. That is ideal if one of them is going your way, and a dead end if none is. A broker posts your vehicle where hundreds of carriers can see it, which is what you want on a busy lane, in a peak season, or to an awkward address.
What to expect from either: a written quote, the name and USDOT number of the carrier once assigned, and the cargo insurance certificate on request. A broker who will not name the assigned carrier before pickup is worth stepping back from, because that carrier is who signs your bill of lading and who a claim sits with.
Ask About Insurance Specifically
“Fully insured” is not an answer, because there are two different policies and only one of them covers your car.
Liability insurance covers damage the truck does to other people and property, and there is a federal minimum for it. Cargo insurance is what covers the vehicle riding on the trailer, it is a separate policy, and it has a per-vehicle limit.
Ask what that per-vehicle limit is. For an ordinary car it will never be the binding constraint. For anything valuable it can be, and the gap should be closed before the vehicle moves rather than discovered afterwards. Ask for the certificate; a legitimate operator produces it without fuss.
Read the Quote, Not the Number
A quote worth comparing states four things plainly: what is included, whether it is door to door or terminal and open or enclosed, what the pickup window is as a range of days, and when payment is due.
Be wary of a price well below every other quote. Carriers choose loads from a live digital board, and a rate below market for that lane simply sits unaccepted while your dates slide and you have stopped shopping. A realistic price assigned in three days beats an optimistic one that never assigns.
Be equally wary of a large deposit taken before any carrier is assigned. A modest booking fee is normal; most of the money should be due at or near delivery.
And treat a guaranteed delivery hour on a long lane as a claim rather than a service. Federal hours of service limit driving time and are recorded automatically, so nobody can promise an hour without pricing a dedicated truck.
Warning Signs Worth Walking Away From
A few patterns come up repeatedly in complaints, and each one is visible before you pay anything.
A price that changes at pickup. This is the most common single complaint in the industry, and it usually traces back to a quote given on an incomplete description. It can be your fault or theirs, which is why declaring modifications, a non running vehicle or a tight address up front protects you as much as it protects them.
Pressure to book immediately at a rate that expires today. Real capacity does move, but urgency used as a closing technique is a sales tactic rather than a market condition.
No physical address, no named carrier, and a phone number that never reaches the same person twice. Also a company that quotes you without asking whether the vehicle runs, because that single question changes the equipment required and anybody who does not ask it is not planning the move.
And an unwillingness to put anything in writing. A verbal price with nothing stating what is included is not a quote, and it is the position you least want to be in when the truck arrives.
What Reviews Are Actually Good For
Reviews are worth reading, but not for the star average.
What is informative is whether complaints describe the same failure repeatedly, a price changed at pickup, a vehicle that sat for two weeks unassigned, a claim that went unanswered, and how the company responded when something went wrong. Any company with volume has unhappy customers; the pattern is the signal.
Read across more than one platform, and weigh the detailed accounts over the one line ones in both directions.
The Questions Worth Asking on the Call
Five questions will tell you most of what you need.
What is your USDOT number, and MC number if you are a broker. What is the cargo insurance per-vehicle limit. Is this quote door to door or terminal, and open or enclosed. What is the pickup window, as a range. And when is payment due, and how much before the vehicle moves.
Then one more, specific to your situation: can a 75 foot truck actually reach my address. An honest answer, frequently no with a suggested meeting point nearby, tells you the person understands the job. Our guide to FMCSA and USDOT numbers explains how to read the record you find.
Common Questions
How do I check a company is legitimate? Get the USDOT number, and the MC number for a broker, then confirm the authority is active and the insurance on file matches what you were told.
Is a broker worse than a carrier? No. A broker has access to far more trucks, which matters when capacity is tight. Ask for the assigned carrier’s details once booked.
What insurance question should I ask? The cargo policy’s per-vehicle limit. Liability cover is a different policy and does not cover your car.
Should I take the cheapest quote? Rarely. A below-market rate sits unaccepted on the load board while your dates slip.
Can anyone guarantee a delivery time? Not on a long lane without a dedicated truck. Driving hours are federally limited and recorded automatically.
Get a Quote
Call Ship A Car, Inc. at (866) 821-4555 with both zip codes, the vehicle details and your date range, or price the move with the instant calculator.
