Car shipping

Car shipping is the transport of a vehicle from a seller in one place to a buyer in another place. This includes country to country shipping as well as state to state shipping. Car shipping and transport is a rather recent addition to the automotive industry. The Internet has allowed this niche growth to occur. Prior to the Internet, car shipping was normally conducted via freight companies, which was both expensive and time consuming.

Before The Internet

Prior to the Internet, people had to purchase cars from local dealers due to the difficulty in transporting a vehicle from its point of origin to the purchaser's place of residence. While freight businesses did exist, this method of transporting a vehicle was generally expensive and not cost efficient. Freight shipping is still based on increments of weight, and can cost you quite a bit more than a specialized car transport company that charges based on distance or other basis. Due to this cost, the shipment of automobiles was restricted to those who had the money to purchase both the car and the transport.

Advances From The Internet

This car shipping industry has grown explosively since the advent of the Internet. [Root, K. "Website Strategies that Sell More Used Cars" http://www.dealix.com/Corporate/shownews.aspx?pressID=389, 2005] People are now able to purchase cars from anywhere in the world and have them shipped to their doorstep. In fact, more and more dealerships are marketing online towards people from all over the world. Even the small used car dealers are selling cars online. These businesses are finding that these online sales are accounting for more and more of their profits.
Ebay and other online marketplaces have provided customers with an endless supply of choices. People can now search online to find the perfect car, both new and used. Collectible cars make up a large portion of the cars that are purchased via the Internet. Because rare and collectible cars are limited, people have turned to the Internet to find the car of their dreams. In most cases, the car that they want is not local, and the person must find a way to transport the vehicle. Because of this need, car shipping companies have come into the picture.

Market Expansion

Car shipping companies and online marketplaces have given people the power to shop for the things they want in a new way. No longer bound by the regional borders, people can now shop online for rare and unique items as long as they are willing to pay for the shipping. Because of the rapid growth of this market niche, the cost of shipping a car has dropped dramatically from the time when freight was the only option. Many companies are in competition with each other today to get the most customers. Because there are many different companies, a person shipping a car needs to take a few steps to ensure that the car arrives at its destination in a single piece.

Moving A Car

[http://www.autotransport101.com/car-shipping/top-10-auto-transport-tips Autotransport] explains that there are basic steps that each consumer must take when moving a car. When a car is shipped, it is loaded onto a carrier. This carrier is what transports a vehicle to a new place. ["Helping You Move Your Vehicle" http://www.transportcompanies.com/moving_company13.html, 2008] . Before shipping, each car must we subjected to records and inspections. Records of damage and other markings of a vehicle are kept so that a company is not liable for damage that did not occur during transport. ["Shipping" Buyclassiccarsonline.com, 2008]

Customer service as well as reputation are two things that are very important to car shipping companies. Most companies will make sure to post the information regarding how long they have been in business and how many customers they have served. There are also umbrella companies who can work to point consumers to various transport companies that they work with. This is one way that consumers find information about different companies.

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