Luxury car shipping

Matching the carrier to the car

Before pickup, ask the broker for the assigned carrier’s cargo insurance certificate, including the per-vehicle cargo limit, and check the carrier’s FMCSA authority, insurance filing and safety record yourself with the company verifier. Tell the broker the car’s value, the trailer you want (liftgate, top-load) and any clearance or width limits so the load is offered to carriers with the right equipment; wide supercars do not fit every enclosed unit.

Timing and discretion

Enclosed trucks tend to run fuller in the run-up to Monterey Car Week, Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale and the winter snowbird migration. Book three to four weeks out in those windows. Enclosed transport also keeps the vehicle out of sight, which many owners value for security.

Low cars: liftgate or ramps

A loading ramp meets the ground at an angle, and a low car scrapes when its front lip reaches the ramp before its front tires do. You can check this at home with a tape measure. Measure how high the lowest point of the front bumper or splitter sits off the ground, then how far that point reaches ahead of the center of the front tire. The steepest ramp the car can climb without contact is the angle whose tangent is height divided by reach: a 4-inch lip sitting 40 inches ahead of the tire clears about 6 degrees, and anything steeper touches. On a long wheelbase, the crest where the ramp meets the deck can also catch the underside midway along the car.

Give the broker both measurements with the request. Some carriers lengthen their ramps with extension boards to flatten the angle, but a hydraulic liftgate avoids the problem: the car rolls onto a level platform at ground height and is raised to the deck without tilting. If the car has adjustable suspension, raise it to its highest setting for loading as the owner’s manual describes, and show the driver any front-axle lift control. Wide cars need the same care: give the mirror-to-mirror width so the load goes to a trailer with room for the driver to open a door inside.

Photos that support a damage claim

Shoot the car on the day it ships, in daylight or open shade rather than under a carport or at dusk. Start with a slow walkaround video that carries the date in its file data, then take stills: each panel from a low angle so reflections show any dents, the front lip and splitter, every wheel face, the windshield, a glass roof if the car has one, the interior, and the instrument cluster with the ignition on so the mileage and any warning lights are on record. Keep the original files; copies sent through messaging apps can lose their timestamps. Ask the driver to list existing chips and scratches on the pickup Bill of Lading, and keep your copy.

At delivery, repeat the same shots before you sign, with the truck in the frame where you can. Write any new damage on the delivery Bill of Lading, however small, even if the driver disagrees. Federal law does not let a carrier give you less than nine months to file a written claim, but damage that is missing from the delivery receipt is far harder to prove weeks later.