The difference between a consumer move and a corporate one is not the truck, it is the paperwork and the number of people involved. A company shipping an employee’s vehicle needs consolidated invoicing, a defined approval path, a single point of contact who is not the employee, and clean documentation for expense and tax treatment. Get those four right and the transport itself is unremarkable. Get them wrong and HR spends the relocation chasing receipts.
Decide Who Books and Who Pays
This sounds administrative and it is the most common source of friction. Three models are normal, and each has consequences.
Whichever you use, name one person on the company side who owns the booking. When a driver needs a decision about a delivery window and the only contact is an employee mid-move with a disconnected phone, the shipment stalls.
Volume Changes What You Should Ask For
Moving one vehicle is a retail transaction. Moving twenty a year is a relationship, and it should be priced and handled as one. If you relocate people regularly, ask for a named account coordinator rather than whoever answers, consolidated monthly invoicing instead of per-shipment billing, agreed terms rather than card payment at delivery, and reporting you can hand to finance.
Ask also whether rates can be agreed on your common lanes. Auto transport pricing moves with the market, so a fixed annual rate card is rarely realistic, but a company that knows your recurring routes can tell you honestly what each typically runs and flag when a season will move it.
The Timing Problem Nobody Plans For
Relocations have hard dates and transport does not. A carrier collects when a truck is routed through the area, so pickup comes as a window rather than an appointment, and transit counts from collection rather than from booking.
The practical consequence for an employer is that the vehicle frequently arrives after the employee does. Build that into the package: either fund a few days of rental at the destination, or start the transport earlier than feels necessary. Two to three weeks of lead time is comfortable on most lanes, three to four in summer, when relocation demand and general moving season peak together.
Who Signs at Each End
Someone has to walk the vehicle with the driver and sign the condition report at both pickup and delivery. On a corporate move this is worth deciding explicitly, because the employee is often flying separately.
A spouse, a colleague, a property manager or a relocation agent can act, provided the carrier is told in advance who it will be. Make sure they understand what they are signing: a clean bill of lading is a formal statement that the vehicle arrived undamaged, and it is very difficult to revisit afterwards.
Give whoever receives it the pickup photographs so they have something to compare against.
Tax and Expense Treatment
Worth flagging to finance rather than assuming. Relocation benefits, including vehicle shipment, are generally treated as taxable income to the employee under current federal rules, with limited exceptions such as certain active-duty military moves. Many employers gross up the payment to offset that.
What that means operationally is that your invoice needs to be clean and itemised: what moved, between which addresses, on what dates, at what cost. A vague invoice creates work for payroll later. We are not your tax adviser and the treatment depends on your circumstances, so confirm with yours, but ask your transport provider for documentation that supports whatever treatment you apply.
Employee Vehicles Vary More Than You Expect
A relocation policy written around “a car” meets reality quickly. Employees own full-size trucks, which cost meaningfully more than a sedan on the same lane. They own electric vehicles, which are heavier and need a 30 to 50 percent charge rather than a full battery. Some own two vehicles, and shipping both on one carrier is usually cheaper per car than two bookings.
Set the policy in terms of what is covered rather than a flat figure, or expect regular exceptions. Asking for the year, model and curb weight at the point of request removes most of the surprises.
International Assignments Are a Different Service
If the assignment is overseas, road transport is the simple part. The vehicle travels by carrier to a port, then by vessel, and the schedule is set by customs documentation and sailing dates rather than driving time. Destination countries vary enormously on duties, emissions rules and vehicle age limits, and some make importing a personal vehicle impractical.
Start that assessment before promising the benefit, because the answer occasionally is that shipping the car is not worth doing.
Common Questions
Can you invoice our company directly? Yes. Consolidated invoicing and agreed terms are standard for employers moving vehicles regularly.
How far ahead should we book? Two to three weeks on most lanes, three to four in summer when relocation season peaks.
Can someone other than the employee receive the car? Yes, with advance notice of who it will be. They sign the condition report on the employee’s behalf.
Is vehicle shipment taxable to the employee? Generally yes as a relocation benefit under current federal rules, which is why many employers gross it up. Confirm with your tax adviser.
Do you handle multiple vehicles for one employee? Yes, and quoting both together is usually cheaper per vehicle than two separate bookings.
Get a Quote
Call Ship A Car, Inc. at (866) 821-4555 to set up account handling, or read more about corporate relocation transport.
