Highlights
- Having your car shipped to another state is both easy and hard.
- Easy because all you need to do is hire a top-rated car shipping company to do the job for you.
- Hard because you’ll have to prepare your vehicle for shipping.
- Follow this super-detailed car shipping checklist to prepare your car for shipping in the best possible way.
Moving from one house to another opens up a highly transitional period which will definitely put your decision-making abilities to the test.
While nobody knows or can predict with noteworthy accuracy what exactly will happen during the busy moving preparations or on moving day itself, one thing is crystal clear whenever there’s a house move – there will be an overwhelming number of decisions to be made when moving across the country.
Undoubtedly, one of these decisions will be how you and your family will reach your new home. And in case your informed decision is to fly to the new residence instead of having a long road trip with your family car, then the question How should I prepare my car for shipping? will surely be looking for a good answer.
The following detailed vehicle shipping checklist will teach you what you should do to prepare your car for shipping.
What To Know Before Shipping Your Car Within The USA
The decision to have your car shipped to your new residence should only be made after weighing carefully the options that lie ahead of you.
All in all, you have to choose between two relocation scenarios and should pick the one that will work best in your specific moving case.
Scenario 1: You drive to your new home with your own vehicle
This is a very common relocation scenario where you choose to have your household items and personal possessions packed as an additional moving service, taken out of your current home, loaded, transported, and delivered to your new residence by a team of reliable movers.
After you wave your movers goodbye, you:
- load your pre-packed essentials boxes and valuables into your car,
- call your family members /pets included/ to take their pre-designated places inside the family vehicle, and
- sit behind the vehicle and buckle up your car seat belt, impatient to initiate the long relocation trip to your new home and find out what your new life has in store for you there.
15 Tips for Driving a Moving Truck Cross Country
Scenario 2: You fly to your new home while your car is being shipped
The other standard moving day scenario is to hire the services of a reputable auto shipping company to transport your vehicle to another state while you and your family members take advantage of the fastest transportation mode available and catch a plane to your destination to save valuable time.
After you wave your household movers goodbye, you:
- take the required steps to prepare your car for shipping /described in detail below/,
- take your carry-on bags containing your most valuable and essential items and head to the airport, and
- sit down on your plane seat and buckle up your safety belt, impatient to initiate the short relocation flight to your new home and find out what your new life has in store for you there.
Relocation scenario 1 vs. Relocation scenario 2
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that both relocation scenarios mentioned above have their clear advantages and disadvantages, and therefore the decision to select one over the other must be an informed one – that is, to be made after taking into account all the pluses and minuses of each case.
Whether you realize it or not, embarking on a fun road trip in your family car has a number of pros that are likely to tip the scale in favor of this transportation mode.
First of all, a road trip for the whole family is generally less expensive than a flight across the country although that is not always the case.
Secondly, a cross-country drive gives the unique opportunity to pass through amazing cities and visit amusing local attractions and awe-inspiring historical places that you wouldn’t normally get the chance to see and experience.
And thirdly, a long car journey like that can often end up bringing the family members closer than ever before.
However, if time is ticking away mercilessly or if your new residence is located on the other end of the vast American continent, your better option is probably to board a plane and arrive at your destination in a few hours.
Precious time will surely be saved when flying to your new home but besides paying for your plane tickets, you will also need to dig deeper into your pockets to cover your vehicle transportation costs as well.
As it turns out, convenience has its proverbial price tag too.
Driving vs. Shipping Car: Ship a Car or Drive It When Moving Across Country
very good hints i really help my shipping , many thanks
Great reminders
I appreciated it when you said that professionals who will transport the vehicle have the rights to disable the alarms before the transportation. Of course, I would understand that. I mean, who would want to hear the car alarming during the entire duration of the transport. I will keep this in mind since I intend to rent an enclosed trailer to take my car to my mom’s house a few cities away from here.
Thanks for reminding us that we need to ask for a car shipping estimate to determine the cost of shipping that we may be able to find out if what we are choosing is within our budget. We are planning to relocate and planning to take our vehicles so that is definitely a good reminder since we need to consider our budget as well. However, we need to check also which auto transportation company can serve us well.
This is truly very informative post to learn about basics of logistics sector. Nice suggested steps to have deep insight about logistic sector.
I like your tip about beginning shipping prep early. That makes sense considering you want to have all your ducks in a row. I’ll have to consider your tips when it comes to shipping freight.
Thank you for your tip to disable the alarm system of the car before having it shipped. My sister-in-law is thinking of having her car shipped to her boyfriend who lives in Canada. I’ll be sure to pass this tip onto her to keep her car safe.
I must say that you have really good stuff regarding auto transport but i am willing to get more information more about I must say that you have really good stuff regarding auto transports but i am willing to get more information more about vehicle transport from one state to another state to make vehicle shipping more easy and its methods of auto shipping as well as cheapest way for car shipping auto transport city has some best scratch-less car shipping services in among all the car transport company. vehicle transport from one state to another state to make vehicle shipping more easy and its methods of auto shipping as well as cheapest way for car shipping auto transport city has some best scratch-less car shipping services in among all the car transport company.
Thanks for the tip about how a car owner should disable the alarm system of a car since it might activate once in transit. I’m about to get my uncle’s car shipped to my mom and we’ve been looking for ways on how to prepare the car for transit.
Firstly, must say that your stuff regarding car shipping is interesting. There are a lot of different myths floating around online about how to prepare a car for shipping. These can become Great reminders for people those are planning to own car. When you are arranging an international shipment, there are plenty of things to take into consideration. Dates, documents, pricing for everything – at Willship we do our best to make the whole process as straightforward and easy for you as possible.
I loved that you suggested requesting car shipping estimates so you could carefully compare auto shippers that look like they will do a good job for you. My husband and I need to hire an automobile transportation company since we need to have all of our 3 cars moved to our new place next week. Due to the expenses that we needed to consider for our new house, our budget is restricted. I will do all your tips so we could find a quality yet affordable auto transport company.
It was interesting when you mentioned that it is possible to transport your own vehicle to a new home. It seems like you would need a trailer in this kind of situation. If you don’t want the car on the road, you would need to put it on a trailer.
This post is really helpful. Thanks for sharing your content and thoughts. Moving long distances within the United States, hiring a car transport USA company is a great way to transport your vehicle. Please keep us on your list.
shipping a car can be a trouble without having good transportation system but you done a great work by increasing our information by this blog
It made sense to me when you said that you must carefully compare the offers of auto shipping companies to choose one that is reputable and experienced. This is something that I will share with my sister who is looking to have her new black sedan moved to a new place on the 30th. She would surely find the best possible deal if she could find a car transport bidding platform.
Thank you for highlighting the importance of safeguarding the exterior parts of the car that couldn’t be removed by putting a cover on or bubble wrapping it. The boss needs to ship a couple of our company cars to the other site. Since we will be utilizing the assistance of a freight company for the first time, I think we should take our own safety measures to be sure.
I liked your advice to get car shipping quotes so you can carefully evaluate auto shippers who seem like they’ll do a good job for you. We need to move all three of our cars to our new home next week, so my husband and I need to hire a car shipping company. Our budget is constrained because of the costs we had to factor in for our new home. I’ll follow all of your advice to find a reputable but reasonably priced auto transport business.