Car shipping for dealerships

A dealership can hand a broker every unit it needs moved, whether inventory coming in, sold units going out, trades, dealer swaps or deliveries to its own customers, and send them all on one request with each car's own route. What makes a dealer move go cleanly is the information sent with each unit: what it is, whether it runs, where it is, when it can leave, and who will hand it over and receive it.

This guide covers dealer moves in general. For cars bought at Copart, IAA, Manheim or OPENLANE, the release credentials and storage deadlines are in shipping cars from auctions and dealer trades.

What kinds of dealer moves does a car shipping broker handle?

For dealers and auctions we move:

• inventory into your lot, and sold units out of it
• deliveries to your own customers, including single unit deliveries
• trade-ins, dealer swaps, and cars sold to out-of-state buyers
• lot to lot and auction to showroom moves

You can put several units on one request, or set up a standing lane you run every week. Either way you deal with one contact who already knows your lanes, rather than explaining your stores and your title clerk's needs to someone new on each load.

What should a dealer send for each car to get an accurate quote?

Send these for every unit. Each one is something the quote or the pickup depends on.

• Year, make and model. On a lifted truck, a dually or anything with a low front lip, say so, because size and clearance change which truck can take it.
• Whether it runs. A car that rolls, steers and brakes but will not start needs a winch. A car that will not roll needs a flatbed or a tow.
• The pickup address and the delivery address. A ZIP is enough for the quote. The carrier needs the full street address to dispatch.
• The earliest date the unit can move. Pickup comes within a window of 1 to 3 days after that date.
• A named contact and opening hours at each end. A driver arriving at a closed lot or a store with no one who knows about the car loses the slot.
• Keys. Say whether the car has them and where they will be at pickup.
• Open or enclosed. Open is the standard. Enclosed suits collector, exotic and low clearance cars.

On our quote form, use Add another vehicle for each unit. Every vehicle block has its own Pickup ZIP and Delivery ZIP, so a dealer swap with cars going in opposite directions fits on one request. Auction units also need their release credential, which the auction guide covers by auction.

How do I ship a sold car to a buyer in another state?

Treat the buyer as the receiving end of the shipment, and set their expectations before the car leaves your lot.

• Someone has to be there. The buyer, or any adult they name, receives the car and signs the Bill of Lading. That signature is the condition report for the trip, so they should walk the car, compare it with the photos you sent at sale, and note anything new on the Bill of Lading before signing.
• The truck may not reach their street. A car hauler runs about 75 feet long and cannot legally turn into many residential streets or gated communities. If the address is tight, the driver calls ahead and meets the buyer a few minutes away at a wide lot such as a shopping center.
• The title travels separately. Tell the buyer how and when the title will reach them, so they are not expecting it in the glovebox.
• Timing has two parts. Pickup at your lot comes within 1 to 3 days of the first available date, and the car covers about 500 miles a day once loaded. Give the buyer a delivery range built from those two numbers, not a single day.

Before pickup, take dated photos of the car on your lot: every side, the roof, the wheels and the odometer. Send copies to the buyer. If the buyer reports damage, those photos and the two signed Bills of Lading are what settle it.

How does billing work for dealer shipments?

Every quote comes as one locked number per shipment, agreed before a truck is booked. There is no fuel surcharge added at delivery and no rate change once a carrier is assigned.

Dealer and auction accounts are invoiced after delivery, with the terms on the invoice. That is different from a private shipment, where the customer pays a deposit at booking and the balance at delivery.

What if a dealer unit arrives damaged?

1. Note it on the Bill of Lading at delivery, before signing, and photograph it there with the driver present. Damage that is not on the delivery Bill of Lading is much harder to claim later.
2. Compare the delivery Bill of Lading with the pickup Bill of Lading and your own pickup photos, to show the damage happened in transit.
3. The claim is made against the carrier's cargo insurance. Every carrier we dispatch has to hold active FMCSA operating authority and cargo insurance on file before your vehicle is assigned.
4. Tell us as soon as the car is delivered, and send the photos and both Bills of Lading. You can also ask us for the assigned carrier's certificate of insurance at any point.

To check a carrier yourself before a unit is loaded, how to check a car shipping broker before you book shows how to read its FMCSA record and certificate of insurance.

How do dealer moves change by season?

Lane prices move with demand, and on Florida lanes demand swings hard with the snowbird season: southbound roughly October through December, northbound roughly March through May. A unit going the busy direction in peak season books up sooner and can cost more than the same unit going the other way. If you are sending inventory up north in April, book earlier than you would in July. Why shipping a car can cost more in one direction explains why.

For a quote on one unit or a full list, send the units and the routes.