Car Shipping Pick up Times, Waiting for the driver

When you schedule your vehicle shipment, a truck driver will be assigned the load by your carrier or broker. He or his dispatcher are asked by the broker to give you a call so that they can schedule a 1-2 hour window to meet you and load your car. On occassion; Hours, perhaps a day elapses without hearing from the driver. NO FAULT TO THE DRIVER, your car is usually 1 of 8 on his total haul. This represents seven other customers that he is also trying to cooridinate with. If 1 or more people don't answer their phones, the driver has no choice but to wait on them. Of course, this throws his schedule off. Out of courtesy to the customer, he wants to wait to set a time that he knows he will not change. Communication with your broker is key. A good one will make sure that your are in the loop.

Timing of transport

One of the most frustrating elements of shipping your vehicle for some would be transit time. Transit time is always an estimate and cannot ever be guaranteed. Anyone that guarantees a specific pick time will more then likely use terminals, which is not a service you want. Terminals are basically huge lots where cars are stored and wait till a carrier is hired to transport it. Once vehicles are taken to terminals the chances of damage to the vehicle is greatly increased.

Here is a good view of transit times once your vehicle is booked with a transport company. For across country transports the amount of time needed for transport will be b 10-12 days, for mid-America the time needed will be between 5-7 days, and for instate transports the time needed will be between 1-3 days. These times may very depending on the state to state. This is because some states have more carriers traveling through them compared to some others. Keep this information handy next time you want to transport you vehicle.