Car Transport: Moving Somewhere Else?

When employees move, it's not just a matter of boxing up the microwave, transporting the sofa and relocating the bedroom set. Companies need to consider how to get the employee's car to the new location. Unlike household goods, cars are typically the most expensive single item a person will move, and the hardest to get by without. You can sit on the floor of your new house if your furniture does not show up on time, but you cannot drive the sofa to the grocery store. People just feel very strongly about their cars--simply at the top of the list of things they care about.

There are two ways to professionally move a car--through the household moving van company, which may or may not contract with a car transport service , or by contracting with a car transport carrier directly. It can be more economical to contract directly with a car carrier to move a car, particularly if a company is moving several people from one location to another.

For moves involving only one employee, companies are sometimes reluctant to involve an additional contractor--they just do not want an additional person involved. In that case, the car transport company will typically make the decision on how to move the car. One caveat in dealing directly with a car carrier is confirming the cost if a person is being transferred to a rural area. Sometimes there is an added delivery fee if the car is delivered to the owner's garage--the cost is about $100 in an urban area and can go up to $300 in a rural area, if the owner does not want to pick the car up at a depot.

Unless the employer has a separate policy with a car transport service, the decision on whether to take the car by van or carrier really depends on the wishes of the employee, the type of car and the logistics of the van line. In the summer, putting cars on vans may not be possible because moving companies often combine several households and do not have room. In addition, there are some types of large vehicles, such as hummers, that just would not fit on a van and, in some cases, would not even fit on a car carrier. For these, a flatbed truck is needed.

Some companies believe transporting by car carrier is just the right thing to do. However, there are many instances of claims arising when cars moved on vans are damaged. Even the executives at household van lines believe that their trucks are not the most ideal place for a car.

Decks are designed to keep boxes uniformly packed onto the truck and off the cars. Cars can be damaged by being driven onto a truck over thin boards. The preferable way of loading a car onto a van is to load it at a dock because it can be driven directly onto the truck. But one reason the van option remains popular is that the car is kept out of the elements and arrives with the household goods. Indeed, the main drawback of using a car carrier is timing. When a car is moved by carrier, the car would not necessarily arrive the same day as the employee or his household goods. Most carriers provide a window of about a week when the car will be delivered and pay for a rental if delivery time exceeds the window. But that window can eat into the allowance for a car rental.