If you’re shipping your car, you might wonder whether or not you’re allowed to Ship some Personal Items along with it. After all, you’ll be lugging something very valuable across many miles, so why not save some money by tucking a couple of extra items in it? It’s a warranted question.
But you, like most ordinary people, might have no idea how shipping a car with Personal items works or what rules you’d be required to follow. Here are some of the things you might want to know if you decide to do it:
Can You Ship Stuff With Your Car?
Well, the honest answer is it depends on a lot of things. You will find that some auto shipping companies allow you to ship up to 150 pounds of items inside your car free of charge while other companies frown on the very idea of you shipping personal stuff with your car. And unfortunately for those of us on the thrifty side, most companies have the latter attitude: they simply don’t like the idea of you shipping more than just your car with them.
The problem is that most car shipping companies are licensed to ship cars and not the furniture and appliances that you might want to tuck in your car. So by asking them to ship additional stuff inside your car, you’re asking them to take on additional risk that may land them in trouble.
That said, the best way to go about it is to speak to the company you plan to work with and see what their rules are. They might be lenient, or they might be a little more strict.
What Are The Risks?
If you do find a company that allows you to ship personal belongings along with your car, you should know that there will be some risks involved regardless of what the agent on the phone tells you.
First, you should know that there is a higher risk of theft involved. Car shipping is an arduous process and truckers often take rest stops to stretch their legs every couple of hundred miles. When they do so, there’s no telling whether they will make sure to leave your car and the items inside it attended to by a third party or if they will allow thieves to treat your car like a free buffet table.
You should also think about the damage you might cause to your car if you put loose items inside it. Even if the truck is driving on one of the smoothest routes, chances are your car will vibrate and shift as it gets lugged along on top of the transporting truck. So if whatever you’re transporting has sharp edges, you might end up staring and scratches and tears inside your car on the other end of the journey.
Also, if the drivers aren’t careful to make sure every car they’re transporting is sticking to the weight limit, they might end up weighing more than the allowed limit at the weigh stations. When that happens, the officials there might not think twice about rummaging through your car and tossing all your stuff on the side of the road.
What Are The Usual Rules?
If you do choose to ship your personal items inside your car despite the risks, take note of some of the rules you might have to follow.
The weight limit differs from carrier to carrier. As mentioned, some might allow you up to 150 pounds for free while requiring you to pay for any extra weight above that. Others might not allow more than 100 pounds of free weight in which case you should be prepared to pay a couple of hundred dollars for the extra luggage.
Most carriers that allow shipping personal items enforce a rule that all items must be loaded below the windows of the car and off the driver’s seat. This will reduce the risk of theft and allow the truckers to drive the car out of the truck.
It’s also probably a good idea to make sure that the items you’re shipping are not valuable or fragile. Otherwise, you might defeat the whole purpose of shipping these items as they might be damaged to the point of uselessness on the other side.
Shipping personal items with your car is a thrifty idea, certainly. But the risk involved in doing that is not small enough to be ignored. If you decide to do it nonetheless, be aware of the rules your shipping company wants you to adhere to and stay as safe as you can be.
The post Shipping A Car With Personal Items appeared first on National Express Auto Transport.
