Ever thought about what you would need to do if you decided to ship your car? While it might seem a bit strange at first to think about transporting a vehicle in this manner in the first place, it’s more common than you think. In fact, it’s a popular way to reduce stress during the moving process for folks headed across state lines.
There are some ways to prepare for the move that is separate from what we’ll be discussing today, of course. Some tips and tricks for the process, in general, can be found on this page. With that said, let’s turn our attention to preparing for transporting your vehicle through a shipping company.
One: Have All Your Documents Ready
Starting off with a step that is kind of obvious, but quite important regardless. You see, most of these depots will do what’s known as door-to-door shipping. So, they’ll send one of their drivers to retrieve your vehicle and then they will drop it off at your destination once it arrives. This certainly makes things easier for us as the customer, but it does require some work still.
Really, our whole guide here today is how to get ready for when the driver arrives, so keep that in mind moving forward. Once they do get there, they’ll be asking for proof of identification as well as some of the paperwork for your vehicle. Now, there’s a high likelihood that you had to provide some of this (if not all of it) information during the scheduling stage as well.
When you’re giving it to the driver, it’s mostly a way to ensure that the transaction is safe and secure. They want to ensure that they’ve got the correct car, after all, and that you’re legally allowed to have it shipped to wherever your destination is. So, while it might be a bit of a hassle, it’s worth it. This page, https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/how-apply/identification.html, can give you an idea of what can prove your identity.
Two: Clean Your Car
Perhaps the most important thing that you can do before your car is picked up, is to make sure that it’s spic-and-span, both inside and out, use JennyChem surface cleaners to get rid of any debris or accumulated dust and mud. Admittedly, the interior is a bit more critical, but there are reasons to do the exterior as well that we’ll get to soon. As far as the inside goes, think of it this way: the cost of the shipping will be influenced significantly by the weight of your car.
Even small things like a portable charger can add weight to that total, costing you money that you definitely didn’t need to spend. The biggest way to avoid this is to clear out everything except the necessities for the transport itself. Ideally, you should remove any personal belongings and even accessories like seatbelt covers or steering wheel covers.
Doing this also protects those things from being lost along the way, which gets us to our next point: take off any bicycle racks (or anything that is similar). Basically, anything that you could potentially end up losing during the shipping process should probably be removed from the car shipping services that you’ve gone with.
Three: Keep Track of Any Damages
The final piece of advice that we’d like to offer you is to catalog the current state of your vehicle before you transport it. This is another reason to wash the exterior of your car – it allows you to get a better visual of any dings, dents, chips in the paint, and more. Why bother with it, though?
If you didn’t know, there are two main types of containers that you can have your car shipped in. These are covered or uncovered containers. The uncovered ones are less expensive but expose your vehicle to the elements. Covered ones are pricier but keep your car better protected.
Generally speaking, it’s not exactly common for there to be damage to a car during the shipping process. That said, it’s usually a good idea to operate under the idea of “better safe than sorry,” especially for this sort of thing. Insurance may be willing to cover any of the damages even if you don’t have a record of before transport and after, but those records can really help your case.
Take pictures of your car beforehand. Write down any damage that is already present. Think of it as a type of insurance for your own benefit because you’ll be able to prove that any new damage happened during transport. Naturally, this gives a higher chance of getting compensation for it.
Thankfully, though, this isn’t going to be something that you’ll have to worry about in most cases. The thought of it is nerve-wracking, of course, but more often than not your vehicle will get to you safe and sound!
