Welcome to a helpful page to help you figure out if you should “Ship it or Drive it”. Generally, if it’s a larger/oversized vehicle like a Sprinter Van or Bus you should find or hire a driver. If it’s a smaller vehicle like a Mazda Miata or Mini Cooper you’ll save time and money shipping it. Sometimes you don’t have a choice but we can help with that as well. We’ll give you an honest answer to the “Ship it or Drive it” question.
Hot-rods and flat roads – American culture has, for most of the 20th century, included a heavy helping of the mystique of a cross-country drive. The experience has been sung in ballads and shown in films as an escape, a rite of passage, or a trip of self-discovery.
But what if rites of passage aren’t your main concern, and you just need to get your car from point A to B, and the points happen to be separated by 2,000 miles of highway?
Should you combine the promise of pleasure and fun with the reality of spine-deforming pain and frustration, and embark on a cross-country drive? Or should you farm the job off to an auto shipper and kick back in an airplane seat, which, while narrow and uncomfortable, is only that way for a few hours.
Many people may think that they stand to save a lot of money by driving the distance themselves. Their spirit is to be commended, but the savings may be much smaller than you think. First, gas prices being what they are, a car that gets 30 miles per gallon will still burn through $300-400 worth of fuel.
Then, you have to factor in the expense of getting yourself across that whole distance – 15-20 dollars a day for roadside food is a reasonable allotment, which leaves you with a budget of at least $100 for a five-day drive. (depending on fuel etc)
Unless you have the rare constitution to sleep in the car, you should budget 300-400 dollars on motels, depending on your tolerance for dirt and bugs. All of this doesn’t include wear and tear on your car during the long drive; between 700 and 900 dollars up front is the typical cost of a cross-country excursion.
How much would shipping run, then? Quotes vary widely, so it’s hard to give a firm estimate, but they range from a rock-bottom low of $600 to over $1000 for the deluxe treatment. The savings of driving yourself are not very likely to make up for the hours that you will experience on the long and open road. Just pay an auto shipping company and save yourself the trouble.
So, should you ship it or drive it? Use our quote system to get a free quote here
Story Time
Here’s an interaction with a customer calling to find out more info about shipping that relates to this topic. Read the story below.
We received a call from a customer in need of shipping across the country, which is pretty normal. But, because of high fuel rates the customer was almost out of his budget for auto shipping costs. So, skipping some of a long phone call discussing details for his move we got to the end of the call where the customer was ready to book the transport. Then suddenly the customer said “and I’ll use you to ship it back in a few months” a light bulb went off.
He was shipping from Boston, MA to the Bay Area in CA. Currently, CA has a ton of people leaving the “Lockdown State” for other areas in the US. So this basically doubled his shipping rate to ship it out of CA and back to MA. Houston we have a problem!
Now a 25-minute conversation was about to start round two but then our transport specialist suggested renting a vehicle, which the customer already researched and said was also too expensive.
Then the transport specialist suggested buying a vehicle for the 2-4 months he’d be in the area and then selling it when he moves back. The customer couldn’t believe we basically turned him away from shipping, which is all we do to not use our services at all.
The customer was very happy with the way we handled looking out for the customer’s best interests. Call today we can help you as well with “Ship it or Drive it” Questions.
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For our visitors’ convenience, here are some automotive-related industry links:
Car from USA – AuctionExport.com is a web portal to the world of North American wholesale auto auctions. This innovative technology allows international buyers to search, buy and export any vehicle of their choice.
Auto Shipping HUB | Ship it or Drive it
