If it is your first time looking into an auto transport, one of the things you learn is that having your car transported is fairly expensive. You might even consider driving your vehicle yourself just to save your money. However, you generally spend less when you opt for an auto transport company (most of the time). The upfront cost is what will make some people steer away from having their vehicles transported, but what they don’t realize is all the money they would spend driving their own vehicle that will come out to be more of a toll.
The Expenses
Let’s say that you decide to drive your car to the needed destination. If you are going across the country, you can make it to your destination in about 4 days. That is not bad but consider that you will have to be driving for at least 10 hours each day if you want to make this happen (most people do not want to do this for even one day). You can make the trip comfortably within a week or so, but by then you would have paid for a bunch of gas, hotel stays, food, any repairs needed if your vehicle is damaged by weather or road conditions (or by driving a long-distance; “wear and tear”). Now let us break down the gas price. From coast to coast, the distance is about 3,527 miles. A decent car can travel about 300 miles with a full tank of gas. After dividing 3,527 by 300, you get just a little under 12 times that you need to refill your tank throughout the trip and let us say that a full tank for your vehicle is around $70. The cost of gas alone would be almost $825! Then you add about $100 on a hotel every night (let’s say that you take seven days to complete the transport yourself). Your total is now $1,525 with gas and hotels making up most of the sum from this point. Let us say that you only spend about $30 on food each day (breakfast, lunch, dinner). That is still an extra $210 that you spend throughout the whole week and your total is now at $1,735. Now add in any damages (mainly tires) and let’s just put $50 on this because we can assume that you prepared your vehicle well before making the drive, but things just happen while on the road. Your grand total is now at $1,735 which is about as minimal as we can get for just one person, plus a vehicle that ends up filthy. If you are taking others with you, the cost of rooming and food will go up, but at least you have someone to socialize with. If you go by yourself, we recommend a podcast because it does get lonely driving long-distances by yourself. Most people get quoted less by an auto transport company and they also do not have to spend a week on the road and get to take a plane to the drop-off location, getting there in mere hours.
If you want a cheaper transport, you can opt for an open car transport, but your vehicle may still come to you filthy. You can also opt for an Enclosed car transport, but it is slightly more expensive than the Open carrier, but it will add protection to your vehicle from the weather and road elements during transport. Auto transport companies were made as a convenience service so that you did not have to spend days on the road and risking your vehicle’s health. You also do not have to spend a ridiculous amount of money on the way to your destination. All you need to concern yourself with while dealing with an auto transport company is cost of transport and the price of your plane ticket to get to the drop-off location (if it is a far transport).
