August 2016

You Read All Those Auto Transport Reviews, Now What?

When you intend to ship your car to or from New York, searching for companies that offer auto transport online might actually seem like the easy bit. After this, you’ll be left with the task of trying to find the best company based on what you found. And while online reviews ought to have offered you some insight into which companies seem to bet better, you’re likely to end up feeling like you simply can’t be sure until you have actually taken a leap and went with a certain company to help you ship your car.

But there are ways for you to distinguish the good auto transporters from the bad, even before ever working with them, by asking the right questions, you’ll be able to work through the companies that made your shortlist after reading through the online reviews.

But First – Don’t Just Use Review Sites

If you only made use of review sites to research your favorite companies, one of the first things you can do is to source more customer feedback on the rest of the internet. Do a search of each company from a search engine and try to find comments by customers on social media. Online review sites don’t always paint a realistic picture of a company’s service. Reviews are often slanted towards the negative by customers who wanted an outlet for complaining, or the reviews aren’t even real, in which case they’re always positive.

Once you’ve seen some customer feedback about an auto transport company on social media, there are other things you can take into consideration before working with them.

How Long Have They Been Working?

While the amount of time an auto transporter has been in business might not necessarily mean much in terms of honesty on their behalf, it could help you determine a few things. For instance, if a company has been doing auto shipping for a long time, have any of their customers made use of their service more than once, or do they upset their customers so much that barely any of them ever want to make use of their service ever again?

Do They Have Insurance?

In most cases when a car is transported, it comes back exactly the same as it was before. But nothing can prevent accidents from happening. Even though a professional company will be mindful of not causing any damage to your car, they’ll still have insurance just in case something unforeseen happens. Companies that don’t have insurance won’t be able to pay for any accidental damage to your car, should it occur.

Do They Use Contracts?

Not all auto transport companies approach contracts in the same way and some might not use contracts at all. But if the company you want to work with uses contracts, you’ll have to actually read through the agreement before signing.

Many companies will protect both your rights and their own, while others will try to fool you into thinking the contract protects your rights when it’s really only giving them permission to be dishonest. There’s no use in choosing a company that has insurance, only to find out you signed a contract that indemnifies them from accepting any responsibility for damages during transportation.

It’s also important to note, companies that don’t make customers sign contracts aren’t always bad. As mentioned before, contracts are only beneficial when customers’ rights are also protected. But if you choose to work with an auto transporter that doesn’t make you sign a contract, it would still be wise to ask about how you’ll know what the exact agreement will be and find out who’ll cover expenses if your car is damaged.

How Much Will They Charge?

This might seem like something you’ll already have settled, but don’t be too confident that what you saw online will be the exact price for shipping your car. Depending on the weight and size of your vehicle it could cost more to have it shipped. Ask for an exact quote of what it would cost to ship your specific car model, but always be sure to check that receiving a quote is obligation free and doesn’t cost anything. Good companies will quote for free at no cost to you.

After this, you have to ask whether the price you were quoted is final, or whether the company ever requests additional payments for unforeseen problems. Unfortunately, if the price you were quoted seemed too good to be true, it probably was.

Some auto transporters like to lure customers in with unrealistically low prices, only to charge them extra later on. While they often use unforeseen expenses as an excuse, the additional payments aren’t unforeseen at all. They simply quoted too low and are making their profit by telling their customers they weren’t expecting the expenses. Customers go in thinking they’ll save money by going for the cheapest auto transporter and often end up paying more than they would’ve if they went for a higher priced service.

Don’t be fooled by this trick, go for a company that quotes you once and won’t charge you more further down the line. While it might seem expensive when the price you’re quoted covers the full cost of shipping your car all at once, it’s more predictable than working with a company that owns themselves the right to ask for more payments later on and will probably end up being cheaper.

At the end of the day you’ll have to go with your gut. If you don’t feel comfortable working with a certain company, move on and find someone you trust. Hopefully you’ll have a positive experience shipping your car. Remember, there are many dishonest auto transporters out there, but that doesn’t mean you can’t find a good one. To a large extent, being realistic about pricing and shopping around till you find someone you’re comfortable with will be your first steps in finding the right auto transporter to work with.