Rail Carriers

The auto transport industry has undergone a slow but steady shift away from transportation by railroad and toward auto transport by truck, which is considered quicker, cheaper, easier, more cost-effective and generally less of a hassle than auto transportation by rail.

Overseas Shipping

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Auto Shipping Methods

There are several different methods of auto transport that companies like us can use to move your car, but not all of them offer an equal auto shipping experience. We here at Ultimate Auto Shipping provide open transport services as our standard method of transportation, but there are other methods out there that we may be able to provide. That's why we've compiled this helpful guide to various auto transport methods out there, so you can get a good idea as to what is available and what you can do to tailor your shipping experience to your needs.

For starters, door-to-door auto transport is the standard method of shipping in the industry today. This is where a carrier will pick your vehicle up as close to the pickup address you gave us as possible and then deliver it to as close to the delivery address as they can. Door-to-door auto transport is our standard method because most carriers prefer running their routes on a door-to-door basis as it gives them the most control over route planning and where exactly they run to and from as well as the specific roads and the like they can travel along. Most shipments we do are door-to-door, but an alternative method is terminal-to-terminal.

Terminal-to-terminal transport is a bit cheaper, on the whole, but it is not available along all routes as not all cities actually have a terminal that you can drop your vehicle off at. If you are wondering what a terminal is, or what terminal-to-terminal shipping is, it's where you drop your vehicle off at a terminal where it sits and waits for a carrier to pick it up and deliver it to another terminal at the delivery city. Usually terminal-to-terminal is only available out of major metro areas, though some smaller cities may have terminals you can drop off/pick up from. We generally recommend against terminal-to-terminal shipping because while it is cheaper you could end up waiting a lot longer than you would if you transported via door-to-door shipping.

Standby auto transport services are when you deliberately pay a lower price for shipping and wait for an auto transport carrier to come and pick your vehicle up at the lower price. Generally, it will take much longer to find a carrier with a standby order as opposed to standard shipping practices. We recommend not using standby auto transport services, as they make everyone's life a lot more complicated during the entire process, and you'll probably find that the money that you saved on your shipment wasn't worth the time put into the shipment to begin with.

We typically recommend terminal-to-terminal if you aren't worried about how long it will take for your vehicle to be picked up but you want to ship on a budget. This is generally the most ideal situation because you can wait a while for the vehicle to be delivered while at the same time saving money on your transportation. However, as most customers actually need their vehicles as quickly as possible, we generally recommend against it for that reason. Also, not all cities have terminals, so it does really depend on if there's a terminal even available for you to drop your vehicle off at or pick up from.