* Expect to pay more for convenience. Shipping companies have routine routes and terminals they use for regular loads. If you are happy to drop off and pick up your new car from a designated terminal in a major metropolitan hub or port, that will be cheaper than hiring the company to pick up the car from your backwoods driveway.
* Assume that the bigger the car, the higher the expense.As with parking garages and the gas tank, if your rig takes up more space than the average sedan and/or it’s heavier than the average sedan, you’re going to pay for it. For instance, it will cost more to move the lumbering Legacy Jeep Scrambler than it costs to move a tiny open-top Superformance Shelby convertible. For what it’s worth, sea-going shipping containers charge by volume, while airplanes charge by weight. So you could purchase the use of a 40-foot shipping container, split the cost with a buddy, and fit both new cars in the same container.
* Prepare to wait. Most transport companies run their trucks and boats on a predetermined schedule. When you contact a provider, it will reserve the spot for whenever the next load goes out. As a general rule, deliveries in the U.S. have roughly a month-long window from when the car is picked up until it is delivered. International deliveries take closer to eight weeks.
* Determine when you will need your new baby.Wintertime shipping generally costs less than shipping during summer months because fewer people buy and sell cars at that time.
* Inspect the car before you ship it and after you receive it. Most shipping companies will do a thorough walk-around of the car before it is loaded onto the truck. Insist that yours does, too; if it's at all possible, be there. Make a note of any scratches or dents in any paperwork you sign, and snap some photos. Do the same thing when you receive the car. The documentation will become important evidence in case something happens to your car during transport.
* Shipping overseas? Expect complications—and go with the pros.“Customers usually come to us and say: I need this car picked up there and then, and I want it to arrive overseas, ready for my arrival on this specific day. This is where the puzzle starts,” Shibarshin said. His company works to ensure that everything is in order for the shipment, from the enclosed transporter collecting the vehicle to the necessary export paperwork, plus any legal wrangling for a car to be allowed into a new country.
* If you are shipping the car across oceans, decide whether you’ll ship by air or water.Shipping by ocean cargo is by far the most popular route—83 percent of Hagerty customers do it, Klinger said. It costs a third of the price of shipping by air: General rates for sending a car from the East Coast to Europe run $4,000 to $5000 per ocean container vs. $15,000 to $20,000 by air. (For cars that are worth more than $1 million, most insurance companies require air freight.)You can even do the super-budget option called “ro/ro,” which stands for roll- on/roll-off a floating parking deck that workers literally roll your car onto and off. That costs as little as $800 and should be reserved for cars that are worth not much more than $10,000. Sending by sea takes longer—four to six weeks, compared to a few hours by plane. The likelihood of damage to your vehicle is much higher in a sea container.“Things happen when cars are shipped by sea,” Klinger said. “We’ve had cars come back completely totaled because the container was dropped. Shipping by air is exponentially the safest option.”
* Get the insurance.Every reliable shipping company has its own insurance policy to cover the cost of your car, should something happen. You should also purchase an insurance policy from your own provider, to be doubly safe. “If you are shipping a car, you should have your own coverage in addition to whatever is provided by the carrier,” said Klinger (who—remember—sells insurance). “That way you have your own policy that will protect your own best interests and your own property.”