Research is one method of ensuring that people hire only dependable auto shippers. Those trying to get safe as well as legitimate car shipping should check online for reviews of auto transport companies as such reviews will generally provide information about whether companies are dependable auto shippers. Online reviews will also mention companies’ car shipping rates, the quality of car trailer used for shipping, as well as the companies’ records for delivering a car safely and within the promised time frame. Word of mouth is also an acceptable method of research since talking to friends as well as family will give people other avenues of discovering information about dependable auto shippers.

Deciding on a price is another step to hiring dependable auto shippers. Some less than dependable auto shippers will quote customers with a really low price only to tack on additional shipping and handling fees onto the end of the business transaction. Dependable auto shippers, however, often offer several complete packages to customers that outline all shipping related expenses in full detail. Since many of these auto shipping packages deal with cost and time, customers will have to decide which packages from which dependable auto shippers meet their car shipping needs.

Customers also need to make sure that they understand the insurance policies of the dependable auto shippers that they have selected. Most dependable auto shippers at least insure against transport damage and theft, but other auto transport companies may have different insurance policies. Some allow for their customers to put personal possessions in the car during transport, while others say that customers do so at their own risk as these personal possessions will not be insured under the company’s insurance policy. Customers may also want to have their cars inspected before car shipping begins since even the most dependable auto shippers may note damage of some sort upon auto delivery.

Another important factor in regards to hiring dependable auto shippers is to arrange the shipping date as far in advance as is possible. Auto transport companies often use other car trailers and trucks owned and operated by reputable shipping companies, so the quickness with which customers’ cars can be shipped depends largely on car trailer availability and the number of cars to be shipped on a given day from a given area. Dependable auto shippers need time to arrange for reliable car shipping space on car trailers, so customers who know their moving dates should notify their dependable auto shippers as soon as is possible.

Autotransportersonline.com offers all of these services offered by dependable auto shippers while maintaining a reputation of using only reliable auto transport companies. Their car shipping rates are reasonable and varied, providing those who wish to ship their cars with multiple packages and offers that should cater to every customer’s needs and desires. They accept most modern forms of payments, including credit cards, cash, personal checks, money orders, and cashier’s checks. Autotransportersonline.com are dependable auto shippers that will get customers’ cars to their required destinations in timely and efficient manners.

Gas, gold, or cash. Nobody rides or free

There is a well-regarded theory in the gasoline refinery business. It goes something like this:

“As the demand for gasoline increases globally (to drive production), prices will escalate to cool off demand.”

The problem is with this theory is that fuel consumers usually cut back elsewhere instead of driving less. Even with more fuel efficient cars being produced worldwide and an elevated sense of fuel conservation, the use of gasoline seems to increase throughout developed countries and is beginning to rise even in undeveloped countries. That is why the price keeps going up and in addition, gets people to think of interesting ways to make a dollar in a gas based business.

Today, in the USA, car shippers rely on the trusted network of independent truckers (to contract) to pick up and transport vehicles. With the escalating price of diesel going stratospheric, truckers are becoming more focused on profitable gas-conserving driving routes, thus resulting in a shortage of truckers on the ‘perceived’ less-profitable routes.

That being said, car shipping customers (.e.g., those living along/near the less desirable trucking routes) will experience aggravating delays in pickups and drop offs. There is nothing personal, lazy or absent-minded about it. Truckers are simply hedging time and money to the last possible moment with the hopes that higher contract rate for a car pick up will his monthly diesel fuel bill.

To put it more succinctly, truckers are avoiding economy rate shipping contracts as much as possible. At the cost of running a large rig running at about $1 per mile for diesel, don’t expect truckers to transport your vehicle at unrealistically low prices.  They also need to make a living!

Gas prices keep going up, low price car shipping quote contracts are increasingly ignored by the independent trucking community.  Do yourself a favor, don’t be dazzled by low priced online car shipping quotes that appear too good as to be true.  Some brokers are increasingly using these types of contracts to lure the customer into signing a contract, charging a non-refundable deposit and then not delivering on their unrealistic promises of a “quick pick up”.

Today, with a lagging economy, every dollar counts, so why don’t you sit down and review your policy for premium reduction opportunities.

What better way to a get a better car insurance rate than at your keyboard. That’s right, the Internet has created increasing competition between car insurance companies. Today, it is easier than ever for you to shop around for better rates, review coverage policies and compare premiums. Interestingly enough, major studies have shown that on average, people don’t shop around for insurance like the way they do for a new car. Moreover, people tend to stay with the same car insurance company for years. Well, I think it is time to debunk this one, don’t you?

Five simple ways to save on auto insurance:

1. Make sure you uncover and apply all discounts that you qualify for
2. Your driving record, keep it squeaky-clean and up-to-date
3. Adjust insurance coverage to assume more risk
4. Choose and drive a car that qualifies for certain money-saving safety features
5. Shop around for a good, low cost insurance provider

Discounts you might qualify for. Categories:

1. Low-risk occupations
2. Professional organizations
3. Combined coverage
4. Discounts for safety features
5. More risk assumed by driver
6. Discounts for senior citizens
7. Install a Lojack or alarm system.

Low-Risk Occupations
Insurance is about risk. Adjustors review driving related trends looking for what types of people get into accidents. Drivers that work as engineers tend to get into fewer accidents. Why? Can’t really say. Maybe they are more attuned to the machinations of the vehicle, the road, safety, etc. Who knows? All the adjuster knows is that engineers tend to have low accident rates and therefore categorized as low risk. I’ve heard the same for people of the cloth. Priests, Rabbis and Preachers. Too funny!

Auto Clubs
Affiliations (AAA, Good Sam, etc.,) will lower your rates. Check with your company to determine group insurance rates availability.

Combining House and Car for Policy Discounts
Try to insure your car with the same company that insures your house. Simply inquire if combined coverage is available. This will lower your payments on your car insurance and make your homeowner’s policy cheaper too. If they don’t? Time to get a new insurer!

Discounts for Auto Safety Features
Auto safety features will also lower your payments. Antilock brakes, automatic seatbelts, and airbags are frequently rewarded with insurance discounts.

Assume More Risk
Assume higher risk. This is done in two ways.
Drop your collision insurance on an older car. If the car is worth less than $2,000, you’re spending more insuring it than it is worth.

Ask for a higher deductible. In other words, pay for the little dings and bumps and let your insurance company pay for the serious stuff. Remember, just to don’t get the little dings and bumps.

• I wasn’t  driving the car
• You spray reflective materials on your plates
• What if you argue the yellow light wasn’t long enough
• The face in the photo is blurry
• But I was making a right turn on red

it goes on

But from the list above, the one that takes the cake is the reflective spray technique. Photo reflector or “magic spray,” is sold by a number of companies online. According to a 2007 Discovery Channel “MythBusters” episode, as well as the LAPD, the sprays and shields are not effective.

In the LAPD red light ticket test, police tested a product called “Photoblocker,” which is sprayed onto a plate. They also tested a reflective license plate cover that is designed to prevent tickets from red light cameras. They ran each through a red light 160 times (with the intersections closed to prevent accidents). The tests were performed both during the day and at night. The results were then analyzed by the Institute of Transportation Engineers Journal.

The study concluded that the devices are not effective at preventing a red light ticket,LA Weekly reports. In some day time conditions, they did cause a slight reflection, though not enough to distort the picture. However, in some situations the plate shield increased the visibility of the plate. According to the study’s authors, “All rear plate images were clearly legible, with no significant difference between the test plate images and the control plate image. A citation could have been issued in all cases.”

Another point to consider, not only did the devices fail to live up to their claims, they are also illegal. While you are unlikely to be caught using them, they don’t work, so save your money the easy way: don’t drive through red lights.

• Running a Red Light/Stop Sign (Insurance Institute For Highway safety)
• Five Strategies for Fighting a Traffic Ticket (NOLO)
• What to Do During Traffic Stops (Speeding Ticket Central)
• Vehicle Accident Information Center (Consumer Action Website)

1. Always, keep your car well tuned up. Poorly running and maintained cars use more gasoline than the money you spend to keep your car in proper running condition.

2. Take the time to pre-plan trips to find the best driving routes and times to avoid unnecessary traffic.

3. Your air conditioner is blowing cool air, but sucking gas mileage. Use it sparingly. If you need to use it, try a lower setting. Just get the car cool, then turn it off and let the fan circulate the cool air.

4. When traveling at high speeds, keep your windows closed. Open windows cause additional drag and lower gas mileage.

5. Check your tire pressure. Over-inflated tires can actually reduce fuel efficiency, so don’t overfill. Under-inflated tires are one of the most commonly ignored causes of bad MPG. Tires lose air due to time (about 1 psi per month) and temperature (1 psi for every 10 degree drop); under-inflated tires have more rolling resistance, which means you need to burn more gas to keep your car moving.

6. If possible, change your work start time to avoid traffic. Stop and go traffic hurts gas mileage big-time. Another way to save gas is to simply reduce your speed. As speed increases, fuel economy decreases exponentially.

7. Take unneeded items out of the car. You don’t need to carry snow chains in the summer. Periodically go through your car and see what can be tossed into the garage or put in the house. It doesn’t take much to acquire an extra 30 or 40 lbs. of stuff, and the more weight your car tows around, the more gas it burns.

8. Try not to idle your engine for long periods. If you are stuck in traffic and you don’t think you are going to go anywhere in the next five minutes, turn your car off.

9. You no longer need to warm your car up for long periods of time, especially new cars. New cars are made to run when cold.

10. Drive the speed limit. What a concept! Ever notice how, in bad traffic jams, cars seem to constantly speed up and slow down, while trucks tend to roll along at the same leisurely pace? Constant speed keeps shifting to a minimum — important to those who have to wrestle with ten-speed truck transmissions — but it also aids economy. Remember, it takes much more fuel to get a vehicle moving than it does to keep it moving. Rolling with the big rigs saves fuel.

If you drive your car at least once a month for a minimum of a half hour, then you should not pursue a car storage solution. But if you have a car that is of sentimental value but is not seeing much action, or you live in an area that seasonally gets harsh winter weather, then storage is a viable option. If you are still going to store, please check out the following pre-storage list to check off before hitting the lights.

Drive the car (duh). When you get back, add (save 4-6 tablespoons for later) carburetor and valve cleaner to the gas tank, then fill the tank with fuel. This process will ensure  upper cylinder lubricant.

Change the engine oil and filter. If you own a Spica-injected car, the injection pump oil filter too.

Drain/flush the cooling system. Leave the heater valve is open. Refill cooling system with a 50/50 mixture of fresh antifreeze and distilled water.

Top up the trans/differential/steering box. Transmission and differential oil should be changed every 30,000 miles. If your car is due for a change, take care of it before storage.

Top off the brake fluid. Your car’s braking system should be flushed and bled with new fluid every 2 years.

Wash and wax the paint and bright-work. Thoroughly vacuum and clean the car’s interior.

Remove the battery, then clean the battery and battery case with a solution of baking soda and water to neutralize acid. Take battery inside and place on an automatic trickle charger.

Push (or temporarily reinstall the battery and drive) the car into the (hopefully indoor) storage area. If you are storing the car in an area with an earth or gravel floor, lay a big piece of plastic down first, then drive the car onto that. The plastic sheet will provide a vapor barrier and help keep the car from rusting.

Raise the car on jack-stands. Place the jack-stands under the various suspension components so that the suspension is compressed and at normal ride height. Fully extended shocks tend to get stuck in that position, hence the last instruction. If space is tight in your garage, you can rest the car on a set of Auto Dollies, so you can move it easily into a corner.

Slip a plastic baggie over the exhaust tip(s) and snap a rubber band around it to keep it in place. Do the same to the air cleaner inlet. This will help keep moisture out of the engine.

Place a couple of mothballs in the trunk, the interior, and the engine compartment. Hopefully this will dissuade little furry creatures from building nests. A quality car cover will also help keep the animal kingdom out of your car. An even better solution is to cocoon the car and cover in a Car Pocket. If the car is being stored indoors, crack the windows about 3/8″.

Finally, if possible, rotate the drive axles a few turns once a month. This will help to keep the differential gears and transmission main shaft and counter shaft coated with oil.

All these tips should keep your car in tip-top shape while it’s in storage.

(phone) ring… ring…

Arthur: “Good Afternoon, Auto Transporters Online”

Customer: “Uh, Hi, I saw your Website. I was wondering.. (pause) can you ship my car today? Or tomorrow? This Week?”

Arthur: “Hi. Wait a sec, let’s back up second. Why? What’s wrong?”

Customer 1: “Well, because last month I chose the cheapest rate (I could find) with a different broker and well, my car is still parked in my driveway. ”

Customer 2: “I paid a deposit upfront, my car didn’t move, they won’t answer the phone, return my calls and I start a new job in Chicago next week.”

Customer 3: “A broker said I had to pay the full amount up front, (which I did), and my car is still staring back at me from my own driveway. And yes, the broker won’t return my calls.”

Customer 4: “I can’t get my deposit back because they don’t respond to my messages.”

Customer 5: “I tried to cancel my order with them but they won’t respond to me by phone or email.”

Customer 6: “I chose the cheapest rate – and subsequently my car hasn’t moved; and now I am paying storage fees.”

People, beware! A large proportion of people choose brokers offering the cheapest rates without worrying about track records and reputations, BBB ratings, testimonials.

Do your homework or suffer the consequences. Better yet, let me save you some study time. Go with Auto Transporters Online. We have a great track record, impeccable customer service, and a great selection of car shipping services to serve your budget. Get it there on time and under budget.

Best,

Arthur

Criminal gangs are duping car buyers out of millions of pounds each year by using adverts on reputable trade websites. The “virtual vehicle” scam also involves fake shipping websites that promise to safeguard the buyer’s money. The Metropolitan Police say 21,000 advertisments were shut down in the UK last year.The Vehicle Safe Trading Advisory Group said leading used car advertisers were working hard to combat such crime. BBC correspondent Fiona Trott said criminals were placing adverts on reputable websites, such as Auto Trader or E-Bay, for vehicles that did not belong to them.

See the whole story

For example, I recently had a customer who previously bought a mint 56 Thunderbird and then waited helplessly as the car sat in a driveway for two weeks before the trucker picked it up. Remember, to make a living wage, truckers need to fill their trailers fully before hitting the open road. This means cars may wait in driveways. This does not bode well for those who want to receive their car as soon as possible. Sometimes cars are purchased from sellers who provide a few days to move it or they will have it towed.  I’ve had two customers tell me that they chose a cheap rate with another shipper, then paid storage fees because the trucker was days late to pick up.

Make it simple for yourself. If you really want to get your car shipped right and avoid storage fees,  spend a little extra and go with an expedited or enclosed service.

corvette

For some reason, many customers ask if they can ship their car with a car cover on. Well, not usually. Most truckers are not interested in the responsibility and effort to put it on and take it off. Also, you need to think about what a cover can do to a car’s paint job while in transit. It could flap, rub, or scrape the paint. It could also tear, rip, and fly-off (possibly causing an accident). It could get stolen. Moreover, people are always interested in cars under cover. If you are that concerned about your car’s pain job, I would suggest enclosed shipping.

Remember, the only thing your car is going to suffer (upon arrival) is a dirty look. Simply wash and polish her, and she’ll look just as beautiful as she did when you saw her loaded on the trailer.  Besides not covering your car, I would also suggest not to shipping any expensive items inside the car. Wait! Do yourself a favor; leave the car empty. It will save you a lot of worry and headache.