In regards to car shipping and dealerships, many consumers only think of the days that a truck carrying new inventory shows up to replenish the empty spaces on the lot. However, modern dealerships use car shipping for more than just bringing in loads from automakers. Knowing how to find the best car shipping deals for your dealership can save money and boost your bottom line.
Finding Great Car Shipping Deals
Forbes took a good look into this, and there are several ways your car dealership can save money on car shipping. For starters, try bundling multiple vehicles together when you can. If a car carrier can pick up and deliver multiple passenger vehicles at the same time, it’s fewer stops that the truck has to make. That should mean they can give you a volume discount.
Another kind of volume discount might be possible if you know you are going to be shipping lots of vehicles over time. Talk to one specific carrier to see if you can work out a contract rate or bulk discount in exchange for giving them regular business at routine intervals.
Whenever possible, choose open carriers over closed transports. This will save you money in two different ways. First, closed carriers are usually one-third more expensive. Second, they only account for a small percentage of all available transport vehicles, so you won’t be able to shop around for better prices as much.
Don’t ship vehicles during peak times if you can afford it. Summer carriers get swamped with people moving, so the other three seasons might be better times to move your inventory if you can do it then.
Try to get in the habit of giving yourself plenty of time to do your shipping. Being flexible on the dates can mean finding cheaper routes. First off, you’ll spare yourself any fees for rush delivery. Second, when you give the carriers latitude in terms of picking up the vehicle and dropping it off, they’ll have more transport they can possibly route to you so they have a better chance of finding the most economical one for you to use at the time.
Shopping Around Is Easy
Getting the best deals on car shipping for your dealership might sound like a lot of work, but you can actually get quite a few car shipping quotes online. For accurate quotes, you’ll need to provide certain pieces of information, including:
- Locations: These will be where the vehicle is to be picked up and also delivered. ZIP codes are usually enough for quotes.
- Carrier Type: You need to decide between open trailers or enclosed transports.
- Vehicle Details: This will be the make, model, and year so the carrier can provide the right side of the trailer.
- Vehicle Operability: The vehicle should be drivable in both forward and reverse with minimal steering for loading and unloading with the truck.
- Pick-Up Date: This would be the earliest possible day the car can be picked up.
Why Dealerships Need Car Shipping
Some dealerships have only dealt with vehicle carriers before when the ones arranged by automakers showed up to deliver new inventory. There are other reasons why dealerships would need to arrange for vehicle transport of their own:
- A car seller with multiple lots might need to move inventory from one location to another. This might also be necessary if the whole dealership is moving.
- Sometimes, shipping vehicles to customers out of their local market is necessary.
- Procuring your own inventory from out-of-state auctions, shows, or sellers means you need a way to bring them to you.
- If you accept trade-ins, you might want to ship them out to auctions or scrappers based on their condition.
Your Reputation Matters
Saving money on car shipping is very important to running a car dealership, but your reputation is also crucial. Make sure you choose someone who makes their stated delivery times, deals with you professionally at all times, and has your vehicles arrive in just as good condition as they were picked up in.
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