4 Tips to Prepare Your Vehicle for Shipping

Shipping your car can be a bit of a daunting experience. You have to secure the right shipping company, and then you need to make sure that the dates they have available work with your other plans related to your moving dates. After these details are sorted out, you might be wondering how to prepare your vehicle for shipping.

Thankfully, it is not that hard to prepare your vehicle to be sent on its journey to your new home. When you use these tips and tricks to prepare your car for transport, you will have a good experience every time. These are simple tasks that you can take part of a day to complete and that will ensure that your car arrives in great condition at your new home.

If you are ready to learn more about the tips that you need to use to prepare your vehicle for shipping, you need to read on!

Tips to Prepare Your Vehicle for Shipping

1. Wash Your Car

You will want to make sure that you wash your car before the shipping company comes to get it. This will help both of you to be clear about the condition of the vehicle when it is picked up and when it arrives at your new home. You will want to be able to compare any dings or dents that were noticed at the time of pickup with any new blemishes that might have happened during transport.

Washing your car can also make sure that the paint does not get damaged by friction or handling of the car during transport. There is a surprising amount of damage that can be done by hands rubbing against dirty paint and car covers being pulled on and off. Sending a clean car with a shipping company is always a good idea to prevent confusion or dispute over possible damages that could happen during shipping.

2. Take Out Personal Possessions

The shipping company that you work with will probably ask you to make sure that your personal possessions are removed from the car before they pick it up for a few reasons. First of all, you will not be able to make an insurance claim for theft or loss of personal items that are stolen while the car is with the shipping company. Second of all, loose items that are rolling around in the car can cause damage to the vehicle while it is being moved from one place to another. The last thing to consider is that your personal items themselves could be broken or damaged while the car is not in your possession.

Make sure that you look through all the various spaces where you might have left personal items and remove them before you give your car to the shipping company. This will save both you and the shipping company time and headache when the car is being picked up, and it will prevent damage to your car or loss of personal items that matter to you.

3. Do Not Get More Gas

Shipping companies will require that your gas tank is half full or less. This is because of safety and weight during transport. You will want to try and keep your gas tank around a quarter full or less right around the time that your car is supposed to be shipped to a new location. Make sure that it is not on fumes since you will need to be able to move it onto the car trailer and off of the car trailer, but keeping your gas tank fairly empty is a requirement that you can plan in advance to take care of.

Making sure that your gas tank is not full will prevent added charges or a reschedule of your car’s transport to a new location. You will easily be able to do this if you plan in advance the week that your car is going to be moved to a new location.

4. Remove Custom Items

If you have a radar detector or some other kind of custom technology or items that are inside your car, you will want to remove them before the shipping company takes possession of the vehicle. These items are just like other personal things that might be in your car at the time of pickup, and the shipping company cannot replace them if there are issues with them becoming lost or being stolen.

Making sure that any added technology or personal devices or items are not in the car when it is picked up can actually be mandatory for some shipping companies. If the device or personal upgrade is not simple to remove, you will risk having to reschedule your pickup date to a time when the car is ready for pickup. Custom items that cannot be removed readily might be acceptable for some shipping companies, but you might want to verify with them in advance that these items are allowed. There can be extra charges for custom interior and exterior items that cannot be removed.

Preparing to Ship Your Car Can be Easy

When you use these tips and tricks, you should have no trouble at all with your car shipping experience. Preparing in advance for your car to be moved to a new location will eliminate delays in your transport dates and help make sure that your car arrives in good condition. You will be glad that you took the time to prepare your vehicle for transport, and the shipping company will be grateful as well.

If you have prepared your vehicle properly for shipping and done with condition report procedure & checklist, you will not have to worry about lost items, damage to your vehicle, or issues with scheduling. This preparation process will save everyone time and money and make sure that your car shipping experience is easy and painless from start to finish. Always make sure that you read the information that the shipping company provides to you about shipping preparation as well so that you do not miss any critical steps in the process.