How to get your car transported

There are times when you can’t get your car to another location and need it transported. Buying a car in another city or state can sometimes be the best way to get a good deal, or to buy that rare model that simply isn’t available anywhere else.

While COVID-related border restrictions are easing at least across most of Australia, given the fluid nature of the situation, car transport may be the only reliable way to get your car transported as it is deemed an essential service and is not effected by border rules as you might be.

Depending on where you live, travelling interstate to collect a car and bring it home can be dicey at the moment.

So when you need to have a car relocated but it either can’t be driven or you can’t drive it yourself, there are many options to consider when getting someone else to move it for you.

Most companies and individuals transport cars by road, but sea, rail or air freight is also possible.

While car companies often air-freight vehicles to Australia for evaluation, development and demonstration purposes, or even to satisfy wealthy customers, car air freight is not popular within Australia.

That’s because it is much more expensive and not always much quicker once you factor in road transport to and from an airport with large freight capacity and preparation requirements for aircraft transport (security clearance, processing queues and so on).

Air freight for a rare, high-value classic from overseas might make more sense than shipping if you’re in a hurry, but you’ll need to have deep pockets. For example, air-freighting a car just from the UK to Hong Kong costs more than $10,000.

Roll-on, roll-off sea freight (for cars that are in good running condition) can make economic sense for a move from the eastern states to the west or vice-versa, but can involve lots of paperwork.

And depending on how busy the ports are and whether the shipping timetable and your timetable match, it can end up taking longer than road transport. Unless the car is near a main freight port for drop-off and you also happen to live near a port for pick-up, the vehicle still needs to be transported by road, costing more time and money.

Rail transport is a viable option and can work out cheaper than road transport. However, like air or sea freight, your car has to be transported by road to and from the railway hub, which might not be practical. Then there’s the question of how exposed the car will be during rail freight – secured in a container is safest but adds cost.

That’s why the cheapest, easiest and most popular way to transport a car without a driver is via road.

Car transport dos and do nots checklist

There are two things to consider when choosing road transport: the type of transport that will carry your car and where the car is collected from and delivered to by the transport company.

Generally speaking, your car can be transported on a dedicated car carrier (with a single or double-deck open or partially/fully enclosed trailer), on the tray of a dedicated table-top truck (or on a car trailer towed by that truck) or on a standard car trailer towed by another vehicle such as a large SUV or ute.

All options contain a certain degree of risk of damage, but generally the (usually more expensive) enclosed transport, door-to-door options are safer.

What can happen to a car when transported? There’s a chance that road debris can damage a car on an open transporter, or if on a lower deck a vehicle above can leak oil or other contaminants onto your car.

Even a transporter with a gantry or empty upper load deck can leak residue oil onto your car, especially in cases of dew or rain. The more that a car is moved around (from local pick-up to depot, or depot onto an interstate transporter and so on) the more chances it can get inadvertently damaged, too.

Typically, the safest (and most expensive) way to transport a car that’s precious to you is in a fully enclosed truck, delivering door-to-door.

If the car is to be picked up or dropped off in a particularly narrow street, it can reduce your options. You need to flag this when getting quotes; you may need a smaller tow truck to collect or drop off your car if the transporter can’t easily access local streets.

A two-deck car carrier is often the easiest and cheapest for main transport routes, for those of us who are not too fussed if their car might get a little road grime and possibly a stone chip or two when on the transporter.

In all cases, you need to check with the transport company that the car will be insured by them when transported (and for how much), and that if any belongings or parts loaded in the car will be insured or not.

Often transport companies require that all personal belongings are removed from the vehicle, and won’t cover any such items that might be stolen out of the vehicle.

The cost of road transport generally comes down to the type of truck used, since a fully enclosed truck that’s able to carry one or two cars at a time costs more than an open, multi-car transporter, or a guy operating with a ute and car trailer.

Other factors include whether you require an express service or not (it costs less if the transport company can drop your car at their depot and slot it into the next available interstate run, which might be a week away), and whether the service is door-to-door or involves a depot drop-off or collection.

Other cost factors can come down to just how busy the operator is; for example, a small operator might offer you a reduced transport rate if your booking will save him from returning to his home depot empty.

Then there’s where the truck collects and drops off your car. Most major transport companies have a depot that operates as a collection hub in key urban centres; if you can have the car dropped off and/or collected from a depot, it’ll be faster and cheaper for you.

Otherwise, a smaller truck needs to be dispatched to the collection and/or drop-off address, adding to time and costs.

Before making an offer on a car for sale interstate, especially if you want it delivered in a hurry, first check transport availability. At the moment, with a busy used-car market and COVID-related supply chain issues, it might take weeks for the transport company to get to your car.

There are a few ways of getting transport quotes; search for car transport online and fill out the online forms for each transport company, or call them.

Otherwise, you can search for ads placed on various online advertising platforms or open a quote request on dedicated transport quote sites such as truckit.net.

It pays to check online reviews of car transport companies, but be aware that the quality of the reviews can vary as much as the quality of the transport service. But it makes sense to avoid those companies with consistently bad reviews.

Don’t discount the guy in the classifieds towing a car trailer with his ute; he may be the quickest, safest and cheapest option – but also don’t trust an expensive classic with someone nobody has heard of. Do your background research.

A recent ring-around and online search to obtain quotes for a door-to-door transport of a mid-size sedan from a mid-eastern Melbourne suburb to an address in Sydney’s inner-west came up with a huge variety of prices.

The cheapest was $600 and the most expensive was close to $2000. The cheapest quote was for a spot on an open car carrier and the most expensive a bespoke enclosed single-car carrier.

A depot-to-depot option instead of door-to-door would save roughly $200 with the open transport option, meaning it could cost you just $400 in the Melbourne-Sydney scenario above.