Are you shipping your car? We’re glad you’ve made the right choice! Choosing a professional car transport service will keep your car in great condition over the long distance you need to travel. However, there are some steps that you should take in order to ensure your car is ready for shipping. Here are our expert tips on preparing your car for transport.
A Mechanic Can Do the Bulk of the Work of Preparing Your Car
It may seem like you don’t need to take your car to a mechanic before transport. After all, isn’t the whole point of using car transport to avoid putting miles on your car, thereby keeping it in great shape? While this is true and your car won’t be driving all those miles, it will still be out on the road. Therefore, small mechanical issues like minor leaks can become big problems during transport. Mechanics can fix these problems and leave your car in great condition before you ship it. This way, you can also get a clearer picture of the condition your car was in before you handed it off to the transport company, which leads us to our next tip.
Cleaning Your Car Inside and Out Is a Must
Minor body damage can go unnoticed for a long time on dirty cars. If you don’t clean your car before transport, you may not see any minor dings and scratches on your car. This means that when you receive your car on the other end, you’ll have no idea if any damage you see is the transport company’s responsibility or yours! That’s a big problem. So make sure to clean your car well before you hand it off to your transporter. Cleaning your car thoroughly keeps your transporter honest. And, it gives you a good idea of how well they performed their duties. This also why it’s important to hang onto your bill of lading.
Don’t Forget to Leave the Tank a Quarter Full
Car carriers are incredibly heavy when they have full loads. Transporters do everything that they can to increase their efficiency to keep costs down for their customers. That’s why one of the best tips we can give for preparing your car for shipment is to keep your gas tank only a quarter full. Gas adds unnecessary weight to carriers, causing them to need fuel more often. This can increase the cost of transport as well as the time it takes to get your car back. You can always fill up on the other end, so while your car is on the carrier, keep your tank low.
You can learn more about other ways to prepare for your shipment by reading through our extensive car shipping tips!
