Auto Transport “How it Works”
The process of Auto Transport is for the most part very straight forward. Depending on how you go about your search for vehicle transport services will determine the service, cost and time of the process. The internet has made it possible for anyone with access to a computer to find and compare many different products and services. With many businesses advertising themselves on the worldwide web it is has made choosing a company that much harder. For the most part a search on any popular search engine such as Google, Yahoo, Bing etc. for the key words ” Auto Transport, Car Shipping, Car Transport / Car Transporter “, etc will result in pages upon pages of auto transport companies. Something to understand about the auto transport industry is the key role players.
The types of transport providers
There is 2 key players in the auto transport and car shipping industry. The most important company is the carrier. The carrier provides the physical transportation of your vehicle from point A to B. The second key player in the transport industry is the transport broker or auto shipper. The broker is the person or company that connects you with the transport carrier that will handle the physical transport of your vehicle. Unfortunately transport brokers are much easier to find than the actual carriers that will eventually be doing all the real work. Some brokers do serve their purpose by providing fast and efficient service.
A broker operates by having access to many transport carriers that travel many different routes nationwide. The broker may have worked with these carriers before or has access to new carriers that are willing to handle your transport job. The reason why brokers exist is because it is very hard to find a transport carrier that can handle your vehicle transport job at any given point and time.
Example: Your vehicle is in Miami Florida and it needs to be transported to Houston Texas. The carrier you may have found might be in Houston Texas already so you would have to wait until they reach back to Miami to transport your vehicle. That could take a weeks while your schedule may not allow it. Unless you have access to Direct Auto Transport or a couple of car transport carriers more than likely you will be dealing with an auto transport broker for your relocation needs. As mentioned before the biggest problem will be who you will choose to handle your transport job.
There is a third new player in the auto transport industry that comes in the form of a “FREE QUOTE”. The Free Quote is everywhere on the internet for not only just auto transport and car shipping but for many other services. The top websites on the major search engines for the keywords “Auto Transport” enjoy over 240,000 inquiries per month. At that rate of service inquires it would be impossible to handle each job for just a couple companies. What the big transport companies have done is convert all these transport inquires into auto transport leads. Transport leads are sold to smaller brokerage companies that will then have their professional salesmen and women call you and fight for your business.
If you fill out a Free Quote request form from one of the top of the search engine websites you can expect to get called and sometimes hounded by 10-15 transport brokerage companies. It can get very over whelming because these professional sales persons are very persistent and aggressive. The salesmen at these companies usually only make commission off of each transport job that they book. The problem with this method is that customer service and satisfaction is sacrificed for the cause of business volume. Use you gut when you are offered service from transport brokerage companies. Our future articles will discuss tips on how to choose the best transport service providers.
