Thank you for visiting our site. Maintaining mutual business relations with hundreds of carriers afford us the opportunity, in most cases, to meet customer requirements and demands. Our intent is to share valuable information which proves to be greatly beneficial helping you make decisions pertaining to shipping your automobile, motorcycle, boat, and other cargo within the borders of the continuous United States. While we would like to detail the operation of the entire industry, space restraints and other considerations demand conciseness. Therefore, only topics directly affecting the quality of your transport are shared for your examination. Providing your decisions are derived based on good, exact, and honest data your transport should be accomplished according to your directives and or requirements.
By far the most important aspect of any endeavor is pricing. Without knowledge of the transport industry you will probably think pricing is achieved through bidding by brokers and carriers. You submit a request online. Your mailbox is filled with quotes from different entities varying hundred of dollars. Each respondent uses a formula to calculate quotes. Our discussion here will only pertain to the formula we use. Our formula employs market indicators to formulate quotes. Indicators include competition pricing, type of vehicle, condition of vehicle, modification of vehicle, origin, destination, and number of vehicles. Once our selling-contractors determine an amount (total to truck or TTT) they think it will take to contract a carrier to transport a vehicle they add commission (deposit). The total of the TTT and the deposit is the quote amount. Not so simply achieved when the goal of quoting is to have the shipper respond to our quote. Priced too low we lose creditability; priced to high we lose creditability. We try to quote prices that are average in the industry for each request.
Where do we get quote prices? Imagine yourself walking into a restaurant viewing their menu selection deciding what you will order. Carriers go to an Internet menu board listing thousands of jobs. Each posting contains TTT, type of transport, condition of transport, origin, destination, available date, special instructions if any, whether the payment to the carrier is to made cash on delivery (COD) or billing, open or enclosed carrier, and posting entity. Our agents compare your request to similar requests posted on this Internet load board to determine a TTT amount. Then our commission is added to this figure finalizing the quote offered you.
Is the initial quote we offer sufficient to get your vehicle transported? Yes and not necessarily. Yes because your quote contains an average TTT amount which means carriers will most likely have to select your posting to keep working. Of course the selection may be days after the available date. If you are flexible with dates and times the initial quote will undoubtedly save you dollars. Not necessarily if you require your vehicle to be moved within a specific time frame. Carriers making selections from the load board will always be more interested in the highest TTT amounts. This fact teaches us customers with more urgent needs and/or more specific needs, must be priced above average (first car pricing) so carriers will be more interested in their particular jobs.
A just as important aspect of quoting is customer contact. Since our quoted amounts are industry averages, most customers will accept calls and reply to e-mails from our agents. Our agents are trained to answer any transport questions asked. During the telephone conversation or the back and forth e-mail communication special needs and/or special requirements must be surfaced and discussed. Be sure to disclose any specific expectations to your agent to prevent disappointments and inconveniences. Some special conditions require additional funding while some special conditions may be included in the initial quote.
Almost every customer ask when is their transport going to be picked up and delivered. And can we guarantee it. This is not science but the answer is: Most vehicles will be picked up 1-3-5 days after the vehicle becomes available for pickup and delivered from 1-14 days (depending on mileage and carrier commitments) if the transports are not unusual, priced a little above average, and are originating and delivering between spots on a heavily traveled lane. Higher than average pricing is required to move transports originating and or delivering away from heavily traveled lanes within the same time frames. There are too many variables working together which effect transports to offer any guarantees for normal pricing. Not being coy, money makes things happen. The less flexible you are the higher price you will have to pay to achieve your expectations. Instead of you learning this after you have been disappointed and inconvenienced, you now have this knowledge to apply to your decision making.
What if my vehicle is damaged? Each shipper should have the correct and complete answer to this question. Nothing causes more grief than wanting to file a claim for damage and not being prepared. Certain procedures must, I repeat, must be followed to ensure if you have a damage claim, your claim can be validated and processed according to insurance standards. The first question asked and answered is does the carrier or does the broker insure your transport. The answer is no. As you probably know well, all vehicles traveling public highways are required by law to be insured. Contract/property carriers using the highways to transport products, vehicles, etc for money must maintain an adequate amount of cargo insurance by law. The cargo insurance provides protection to cover any damage to cargo directly caused by the driver. Damage caused from vandalism, wrecks, or any and all events not perpetrated by the driver are covered by different types of insurance policies. Make sure your transport is insured just as if you were driving it because if a non-insured driver causes the transporter to wreck, cargo insurance does not apply.
With that being disclosed, let's get back to shippers being properly prepared to file a cargo damage claim. The simple and extremely important procedures preparing you to file ( if required) a valid cargo damage claim are as follow: The person releasing the transport to the driver, along with the driver must perform a complete inspection of the transport before the vehicle is turned over to the driver. Body condition is the main area of concern. As the shipper or an authorized representative of the shipper you must insist the driver gives you a copy of the initial inspection. Which you will retain. If you do not receive written documentation covering the condition of your transport at origin do not release your vehicle to that driver! The person receiving the delivery of the transport should be made aware of the condition of the transport before the carrier arrives. At delivery the person receiving the vehicle must perform along with the driver an inspection of the vehicle. Understand this! The receiver compares the condition documented at origin with the conditions found at delivery and note any differences on the Bill of Lading. Before accepting the vehicle have the driver to sign verifying the damage. The driver should be able to instruct you on the procedures their company require for reporting damage. Do not let the driver leave without performing the delivery inspection. Dark - get a flash light, lantern, cigarette lighter, use car lights. Inclement weather - postpone delivery, accept delivery in a protected area, brave the weather. Hopefully the point is realized no documentation no proof no claim.
Brokers arrange shipments on behalf of their customers and are not present at pickups nor deliveries. Therefore it is impossible for brokers to damage vehicles. Our pledge to you is to only contract licensed, insured, and reputable carriers. To better protect your investment and to be prepared in the event something does happen you must commit to performing both inspections without fail. Knowledge is powerful, necessary, and power! Yes we will work with you by providing insurance and carrier information to you promptly providing you have a damage claim; but, accepting our services you agree to hold our firm harmless in any and all matters concerning damage claims.
Discussion is now turned to paying for your order. We accept MasterCard, Visa, Discover, and American Express. Normally we only process the deposit on credit cards - and only after the job has been contracted to a carrier. Occasionally we are asked to process the entire amount to a credit card which we do gratefully. However, there are two draw backs you should know about: There is a 5% fee added to the TTT amount (only) to defray expenses incurred by credit card clearing houses and the expenses incurred to receive Bill of Ladings, verify safe deliveries, pay carriers, and submit IRS forms. The other negative is the fact that most carriers like to be paid once the delivery is made and some will not consider a job that is not cash on delivery. Which removes otherwise interested carriers from considering your transport job.
Other methods of payment include money orders and checks which are mailed to our home office. We will not accept money orders and checks for the entire amount because the transport will be delayed unnecessarily. The amount for the deposit must be received before the job is contracted with a carrier. Control numbers on money orders/money grams can be remitted to our office by phone or e-mail. They should be made out to Best Rate Freight Services c/o Freddy L. Champion in Norfolk, Virginia. Attaining these funds require added processes but is a service we provide to our customers without any additional charges. Personal checks delay the dispatching process because the funds must be verified before the transport will be dispatched. Business checks are accepted from Dealerships and other business entities (prior approval needed) without delaying the process. Some companies pay the deposits or the entire amount by invoicing. We will on prior individual approval accept this arrangement.
Even though we do not recommend because tracking is made more difficult, payments can be entered on our web-site using credit cards. Some customers find this feature beneficial. Using this feature be careful to only press the submit tab once. Otherwise you will incur multiple charges to your card.
The next topic is preparation of your vehicle for transport. The Federal Government issues basically three different licenses to transport regular cargo (includes automobiles), household items, and passengers. Cargo carriers transporting household items are subjected to a hefty $10,000.00 fine if caught. Understandably, cargo carriers will not knowingly transport household items. Plus weight is a major consideration for carriers. All carriers are regulated by a monitored weight restriction/limit. Fines for being over weight are substantial also. Items placed in transports may decrease the number of vehicles a carrier can haul on one load which decreases their income making ability because they will have empty spots or risk being over weight. Again, answering "can I pack my car with items" no is not science. But the rule of thumb and law.
Be sure to tighten and secure all body accessories if any. Remember carriers are only responsible for the damage they cause. Try to ship with no more than a quarter or so of fuel in the tank. Liquid fuel is heavy and expensive if lost.
Do we offer discounts is the next topic. All of us like sales or the appearance of sales. We consider our company to be a "discount broker firm" because our required deposit/commission is among the lowest in the industry. Each broker must offer carriers basically the same amount to transport a certain job; the difference (sometimes hundred of dollars) in quotes is the commission amount. To maintain profitability and to minimize the possibility of our customers from being disappointed or inconvenienced our firm does not offer discounted rates nor give the appearance of discounted rates. Depending on the degree of complexity particular requests require, our normal deposit may range from $100.00 to one fifty. Shippers shipping more than one vehicle from the same location to the same location are given price reductions for multiple transports because carriers like loads filled with cargo picking up at one location and delivering to one location.
Lastly, why should you consider our firm? We arrange transport of thousand of vehicles annually. Admittedly, we have room to improve our operation in every area and constantly look for ways to do so. Our motto/slogan/words to apply is "CUSTOMER SERVICE IS OUR LIFEBLOOD". Placing your order with one of our agents, we ensure to the best of our abilities your transport will be picked up and delivered within your time frames according to the information we received to price the job. Veterans agents are very knowledgeable. New agents have access to very knowledgeable agents and company officials. Providing you, the shipper, are willing to commit to market prices and a modest commission, we will get your cargo transported without disappointments or inconveniences. For your peace of mind and convenience we do not place any obligations on you until we have entered into a contract with a carrier. This is called no-obligation posting.
Selecting our firm you will have (without obligation) access to honest, correct, and exact data for your decision making presented by a team desiring your business and prepared to earn it.
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