The auto transport industry is chock full of different companies – thousands upon thousands of auto transport companies are scattered across the globe, and they come in all different sizes and types. There are auto transport companies that only ship to Canada; some that only ship within certain states, and still others that only service Alaska or Hawaii. Finding the right auto transport company can be a major challenge, but there are two different types of auto transport companies you can choose from – and we’ll explain them, and why it’s best to pick one over the other.

The first type of auto transport company out there is the auto transport carrier. The auto transport carrier is the actual auto transport truck and driver – they physically load your vehicle onto an open, ten-car auto transport truck and drive it to wherever it needs to go. Some auto transport carriers have a central office where they use a dispatcher to find them loads – however, almost every single auto transport carrier utilizes auto transport brokerages to find them freight, which is why it is always best to book with an auto transport brokerage as opposed to an auto transport carrier.

Another major reason why it’s best to book with an auto transport brokerage as opposed to an auto transport carrier is that auto transport carriers often are hard to even get a hold of. Look at it this way: auto transport brokerages operate strictly out of an office. They handle customers all day long and facilitate the process between the customers and the auto transport carriers. They contact auto transport carriers with potential loads and will also post their loads onto an online load board. They help facilitate the process. Auto transport carriers, on the other hand, operate on the road – they don’t have the time or the money to handle advertising their services when they could simply call an auto transport brokerage and have them find their customers for them. It’s a symbiotic relationship: auto transport brokerages need the auto transport carriers to actually move the cars for their customers, and auto transport carriers need the auto transport brokerages to help them find the cars for them to ship.

Therefore, bypassing the auto transport brokerages and going directly with the carriers is usually not the best way of going about finding an auto transport. Many times auto transport carriers will raise prices on unsuspecting auto transport customers knowing that they don’t know they can get a better rate by going through an auto transport brokerage. It’s a common tactic, to be sure, but one that is not necessarily a bad one – auto transport carriers (at least many of them) spend the majority of their time on the road. Therefore, they need all the money they can get in order to fuel and maintain their truck and make sure they have food and all the rest of the stuff one needs.

At the end of the day, the best auto transport company isn’t necessarily the one you were thinking of. By bypassing the auto transport brokerages, you open yourself to price-gouging and, truthfully, worse customer service – remember, auto transport brokerages facilitate the communication between the customer and the carrier, and oftentimes auto transport carriers won’t talk to customers except at pickup or delivery, and can never talk while driving – it is always best to ship your vehicle through an auto transport brokerage instead of a carrier.

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