East Coast

Freight off the east coast is taking longer than usual to move this month. This is causing a couple of issues for our customers. One, the rates are significantly higher than they were earlier this year. Auto shipping is like any other business – it is governed by supply and demand. Simply put, there are more vehicles needing to be shipped off the east coast than there are transporters. This leads to the second issue, it is taking longer than normal to move these vehicles. It is not uncommon for it to take 3 weeks just to load! Please plan your move in advance and be flexible about meeting the driver. This will make it easier to accommodate your schedule. We estimate this situation to last through the end of the year, at least.

Fuel Prices

We’ve all seen fuel prices steadily and dramatically increase over the past few months. While it can be frustrating to your family budget, this increase can literally put some auto shippers out of business. Any industry that faces an increase in operating costs is faced with few choices. The most immediate and painful one is to increase the price they charge for their services – in this case the cost to ship your car.

The average auto transporter gets only about 5 miles per gallon. At an average of only $2.50 per gallon (in many areas the drivers are paying $3.00 per gallon) it costs $25 per hour just to keep the engine running at 60 miles per hour. According to recent news stories fuel prices are up 40% in the last 12 months. Fuel cost is easily the largest expense in maintaining and running a car shipping company. A coast-to-coast auto transporter will put 6,000 miles on his truck for the round trip. That translates to around 1,200 gallons of fuel – or about what the average consumer would use in a year! Imagine how this fuel situation will impact your pocketbook over the next year and understand the auto shipper will feel that pain over 14-17 days! A .50 increase in fuel cost adds approximately $1,000 each month in additional operating costs for each car transporter you see on the road!

This increase in fuel price has forced the auto transport industry to increase our rates. This is an action National Car Shipping takes very seriously. We pride ourselves on giving our customers the best value for their dollar. However, it simply isn’t fair to the drivers to ask them to shoulder the entire burden of rising costs alone. Our rates have increased by $50-100 across the board to enable our quality drivers to continue shipping cars for our customers. If and, hopefully, when the price of fuel falls the rates will as well. We appreciate your understanding and are always here to answer any questions you may have about shipping your vehicle.