Shipping a Classic Car: A Collector's Guide

Standard cargo insurance pays what a vehicle is worth, not what you spent on it. For a restored car those are very different numbers.

Shipping a Classic Car: A Collector’s Guide

Standard cargo insurance pays what a vehicle is worth, not what you spent on it, and for a restored car those are very different numbers. A carrier’s policy is written around ordinary vehicles at ordinary values. Put a car with a six figure restoration on that policy without saying anything and you are underinsured by the difference. Establishing the declared value in writing, before the car is collected, is the single most important thing a collector does on a transport booking.

Antique cars and a vintage pickup loaded on a car carrier

Settle the Insurance Before the Truck Arrives

Ask for the assigned carrier’s certificate of insurance and read the cargo limit rather than being told it is covered.

Then compare that figure against a realistic value for your car. If the limit is below it, the options are additional coverage arranged through us, a rider on your own collector policy, or a carrier whose limits actually match the vehicle. All three are straightforward when arranged in advance and impossible to arrange afterwards.

Have documentation ready to support the value: a recent appraisal, an agreed value policy, auction records or restoration invoices. A claim on an undocumented car becomes an argument about what it was worth, and that argument is much harder to win once the car is damaged.

Enclosed, and Usually With a Lift Gate

Enclosed transport is the default for anything collectible, and the reasoning is not only weather.

An enclosed trailer means no road debris, no salt, no prying eyes at truck stops and a car that arrives clean rather than needing detailing. It also tends to mean a driver who handles this kind of vehicle regularly, which matters more than the trailer itself.

Ask specifically for a lift gate rather than ramps. Many classics have low ground clearance, long overhangs or exhaust systems that a ramp angle will find, and a hydraulic gate lifts the car level rather than dragging it over a break in angle. For a lowered car or anything with a front air dam, this is not optional.

How It Should Be Secured

Soft straps over the tires, not chains over the suspension or axles.

Wheel straps hold the car by its contact patch and leave the suspension to work normally. Chains or hooks attached to control arms, axles or frame rails load parts that were never meant to carry the car’s weight in that direction, and on an original car they mark or bend components that are difficult to replace.

If your car has period correct or fragile bodywork, delicate chrome, or an unusual chassis, say so. A driver who knows will strap accordingly and take longer doing it.

Collector vehicles awaiting enclosed transport

If It Does Not Run

A great many classics do not, and that is completely normal on this kind of booking. It just has to be declared.

A non running car needs a winch, and a car that will not roll or steer needs more than that. Say specifically whether it starts, whether it rolls freely, and whether it steers and brakes, because a car that rolls but will not steer is a different loading problem from one that does neither.

Mention seized brakes, a locked steering column or a missing key. All are workable with notice and all stop a collection when discovered at the curb.

Preparing the Car

Keep fuel low, around a quarter tank, and disconnect the battery unless the car needs it to be moved. Close and latch everything, and if the car has a soft top, put it up and secure it.

Do not add a car cover for the journey. Covers flap at highway speed even inside a trailer and they sand paint over hundreds of miles. If the car normally lives under one, it travels better without it.

Remove anything loose from the cabin and trunk, including tools, trophies and paperwork. Personal items are not covered by cargo insurance and they move.

Classic vehicles secured on an enclosed style deck

Document It Properly

This matters more for a classic than for anything else, because the condition of the car is part of its value.

Photograph in daylight from every angle, then go closer: existing stone chips, chrome pitting, panel gaps, the interior, the engine bay and the underside if you can. Date the images. Walk the car with the driver at collection and get every existing mark written onto the condition report before it moves.

At delivery, inspect thoroughly before signing. A signed clean report is your acknowledgement that the car arrived as it left, and on a collectible that acknowledgement is worth real money.