In the auto transport industry it’s hard to guarantee that a car picked up in one location will arrive at delivery within a specific amount of time. With all the things that auto shippers have to content with while they’re out on the road, it can be difficult to guarantee a pickup or delivery date and really difficult to guarantee both. Generally they’ll give you pickup windows or delivery windows, generally 24-48 hours long, that the carrier may arrive in. If you’re busy and can’t just sit around and wait for two days for your shipper, talk to your representative about it and they will likely work with you in order to make sure you and the carrier will be able to have the time to dedicate to pickup and delivery.
But after pickup and before delivery the truck is considered in transit, and that’s generally the hardest time for many car owners because that’s when they don’t have their car. Being without a vehicle for any length of time is difficult, particularly if you’ve been reliant on your car for many years. Transit time is what it is; generally, coast-to-coast transport takes anywhere from 10-14 days on average, but some routes can cause delays for shippers and some shippers may run longer routes because of the loads that they have on their truck. Your carrier will likely let you know of the route they intend to take and how long it will take from pickup to delivery, but you must be at least understanding of the fact that shippers run on public roads and are subject to the same driving conditions as everyone else, and there are some areas – particularly now – that are seeing huge delays due to severe weather. So keep that in mind when you’re discussing transit time with your representative and you’ll be just fine.
