Transporting your car these days can be quite a challenging task for inexperienced drivers. Driving the car yourself over very long distances is a bother for most, drivers mostly preferring hiring an experienced driver or transportation company to get their cars to the destination quickly, on-time and without any incidents.

If you choose to have your car transported, it is of vital importance to choose only the best transportation company out there. In this article we will cover the most commonly used methods used in vehicle transport and also we’ll go over some tips about preparing your car before transportation.

Hiring a transportation company can be a great way of getting your car moved around. They will generally pick-up your car using various methods and drop it at the destination point. The most common methods of transporting vehicles are: open trailers, enclosed trailers and self transport. Australia especially has seen much development recently in the industry of car transportation.

The open trailers method is the least expensive but also the riskiest one. Usually 8 to 10 cars get shipped at the same time stopping at various destinations. Since the trailers are open, a risk is present for your car getting damaged by various elements making this method a bit unsafe. Also, because of the trailers’ big weight, they can travel only on roads designed to support that weight. Also the driving experience is limited, since the driver can’t take any sharp turns because of the length of the trailer. This requires a professional driver with much experience in driving such trailers.

A safer yet more expensive method is the enclosed trailers method which is similar to the open trailers method, the only difference being that the trailers are all enclosed. It is a great way of transporting expensive cars which you don’t want getting scratched or damaged by taking the open trailers method. This method is one of the safest and most used methods of car transportation.

The self transport method is a different from the other to, since you are going to drive the trailer yourself. In other words, you are hiring a trailer from a shipping company and drive it to the destination. This method is great for people with experience in driving heavy haulage. If you don’t have any experience whatsoever it is better to just hire a professional to drive it for you, or just let the company handle everything.

After you’ve made your decision on the company and the method that is going to be used in transporting your car, you have to prepare your car well before transporting it.
You want your car very clean, no matter if you’re transporting it using open or closed trailers. You want to remove any personal items from the car, or any other items which might get damaged during the transportation since most insurance policies don’t cover the damage of any personal items. It is recommended to empty your gas tank to the minimum necessary, in order to remove some weight. Also if you have specific alarms such as anti-theft alarms, it is better to just turn them off since they might enable themselves during the transportation.

All accessories and optional features such as spoilers, fog lights, et cetera would be better off removed. Fold the mirrors back and check that all the car equipment such as the tires or the engine is working swiftly. You also want to make sure your battery is well charged. Notify the company about all existing damages to the car. You can also take photos of the car in case you’ll need them as proof for your insurance.

As a conclusion, getting your car transported to different places can be hard, but choosing the right company and method for transporting your car and also being well prepared should avoid most common accidents happening every day.