How to Negotiate Your Auto Transport Quote

Is the cheapest quote the best value deal? The first thing you look for when shopping around for a suitable car shipping company is a price quote. This auto transport quote is easily obtained from online pricing calculators from transport company websites.


While you normally get the cheapest quote, you may not really have the best value deal. It pays to know the specifics of a price quote to make a more informed choice. And once you’ve made your choice and get send a copy of the contract, you can enter into negotiations with the right information to bring the quote further down.

Understanding Price Quotes

An online auto transport quote differs from one carrier to another. Here are some things you should check in a quote:

  • For your specified origin and destination points, as well as other details called for in a price calculator form like the car model or make, the auto transport quote can have multiple options. You can have priority shipping for 1-3 days for expedited moves, but will cost $50 or more on top of its standard rates. You can also go for the standard rate, which will often take about a week or more.
  • Some standard quotes are inclusive of general insurance that covers road accidents whiles others offer different optional insurance covers. In addition, some quotes can include discounted shipping options if done at certain days of the year, or with longer delivery lead times.

Know What to Negotiate

It’s important that you get hold of their proposed shipping contract for your review.  If you can get a lawyer-friend to help, that would be better. Negotiating with a shipper requires that you know even a little of how they do business, and this can be a challenge. Unless you want to take their quote at face value, you may need to do more research. Consider the following:

  • To start with, these computer generated online quotes are merely indicative and are based on computational data that may not reflect the real thing. To get the real quote, you need to talk directly to the shipping company.
  • Depending on your destination, shipping and delivery dates often require prior schedule of, at least, a week or two. This is one talking point in negotiation if you need the job done earlier.
  • The auto transport quote is computed based on a number of factors like the car’s weight, size, make, model year, basic insurance, mode of shipment (e.g., RORO, multicar transporter, containerized), as well as date of move. All these can be negotiated to bring down the total price.
  • You can ask to take out the clause on a cancellation fee, which may not be necessary in your situation.
  • Most shippers will include a guarantee to commit to the date pick-up and destination delivery. Negotiate to get a penalty you can take for failure to do so.
  • Finally, any negotiated settlement in your auto transport quote or in any part of the contract should be confirmed in writing.  Get all their promises written down and signed by both parties to make sure that future disputes don’t happen.