Tag: seasonal auto transport

Snowbird Car Shipping Guide

Written by Mike Rupers on November 30, 2022. Posted in Auto Shipping, Auto Transport Tips, Car Shipping Advice, Car Shipping Cost Calculator, Seasonal Fluctuations, Snowbird Auto Transport.

For the snowbird car shipping folks, spending the winter someplace warm and heading home in spring or summer has much appeal. But it also creates some logistical challenges. As all experienced snowbirds know (and all new snowbirds learn), moving your life across the country twice a year has hurdles. One that almost all snowbirds contend with is the issue of transportation.

Here’s the dilemma: If you’re going to spend months someplace, you will want to have a vehicle at your disposal, mainly when that destination has picturesque places and must-see events or attractions. However, driving your vehicle to your winter home (and back again) may not be feasible or desirable, and renting a car for months doesn’t look any better.

Your best option is to have your car, something you know and like, to drive during the winter, but how do you get it there? We will answer that question in this comprehensive guide. If you’re a snowbird (or planning to become one) and need options for travel and transport, they’re more abundant than you may realize. Discover how easy it is to live the snowbird lifestyle from the driver’s seat of your car.

An older couple sitting on a beach under a striped umbrella

Quick Basics About Snowbird Car Shipping

We will be using the term snowbird a lot in this guide, so it helps to establish some basic definitions. A snowbird spends the warmer months someplace north and then heads south for the winter. When do snowbirds go south? The migration typically starts the day after Thanksgiving, but some people opt to go earlier, and the trend continues until as late as the third week in January.

The period of snowbirds going back north begins around the beginning of April and continues through the end of May. Keep in mind that these are broad generalizations. Anyone who splits their time between two homes (or more) qualifies as a snowbird.

Most people escaping the winters head to a state that enjoys year-round summer: Florida . Destinations throughout the state – from the panhandle through Orlando, Miami, Tampa, and to the Keys – attract tens of thousands of snowbirds seeking what the Sunshine State is famous for. Florida may be the most popular destination by a wide margin, but California, Arizona, and Texas also attract people seeking a respite from winter.

Regardless of your destination or schedule, the challenges of being a snowbird are essentially the same. Transportation tops that list – but the solution is far simpler than people realize. One particular option makes it easy to get your car, truck, van, or SUV anywhere in the country at any time of year without you driving.

Car Shipping for Snowbirds

Every year, thousands of snowbirds rely on auto transport companies and vehicle haulers to get their car from north to south and then do the reverse a few months later. People have many different reasons for choosing this option which we will outline soon, but the core value of auto shipping is the same for all: getting a vehicle from point A to point B without being the driver. Here’s why so many snowbirds ship instead of drive:

Travel Flexibility – With a vehicle hauler getting your car where it needs to go, you’re free to travel however you wish. Fly to your destination, take a train, or rent a larger vehicle to handle luggage: it’s entirely up to you because you’re no longer bound to your vehicle.
Time Savings – Depending on where you’re coming from, it can take days to get someplace like Southern Florida. Most people don’t want to spend that much time on the road and would instead reach their destination ASAP. Car transport makes that possible – spend a few hours in an airplane compared to a few days on the highway.
Cost Savings – An extended road trip can cost more than you expect, factoring in gas, food, lodging, mileage, and any unexpected expenses along the road. In addition to saving on time (the most important currency for many snowbirds), auto transport can also save on travel expenses in some cases. In all cases, the cost of shipping is comparable to the cost of driving yourself.
Safety and Equity – A road is dangerous, and every mile you put on your odometer reduces the vehicle’s value slightly. Car transport solves both problems. Your vehicle is well protected on the back of a secure trailer driven by a professional who spends his life on the road. You can also get that vehicle from one side of the country to another without any of the wear and tear that would typically entail. Compared to the alternatives, auto shipping is what’s best for whatever your drive.

An empty truck ready to ship cars to Florida

Tips for Successful Auto Transport

Snowbirds needing Florida car transport or some other vehicle hauling can do themselves major favors by following some insider advice. Make sure you have the most hassle-free experience possible with these tips:

Be Realistic – It’s important to realize that the snowbird season is also the busiest time of year for vehicle haulers. Tens of thousands of travelers need help from a limited number of auto haulers, all within that same small window. Not surprisingly, competition can be fierce, and setbacks are common. These outcomes aren’t inevitable, but they’re possible and something all snowbirds need to be realistic about.
Act Early – With so much competition for auto shipping in early winter and late spring, it pays to make arrangements early. As a general rule of thumb, you should put a backup plan (contact) in place before you need your car to arrive at your destination. Be flexible, too. Unless you’re willing to pay a premium price, you can’t guarantee your auto will have a spot on an auto trailer headed precisely where you want when you want. Arrange for shipping no more than ten days before you are due to depart.
Comparison Shop – The first auto hauler willing to take your shipment isn’t necessarily the best vehicle hauler willing to take it. Only work with haulers who are appropriately licensed and insured and have a clean track record. Beyond that, compare their rates and availability. You can’t be too selective during snowbird season, but you shouldn’t rush to book something. Rely on Direct Express Auto Transport to quickly connect you with multiple appealing options.
Avoid Holidays- Like most people, car haulers take holidays off and may spend a prolonged period off the road around Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s, or other seasonal holidays. Around these holidays also tends to be the most popular time to travel, meaning that demand is exceptionally high when supply is meager. Pick when auto shipping is a week or more away from major holidays.

How Much Does Auto Transport Cost?

The cost depends on a number of factors:

When you decide to ship, when people first migrate south, and when snowbirds go back north, the cost of auto shipping is higher than at any point in the year because of simple supply and demand.
The make and model of your vehicle affect the cost. In general, the bigger and more valuable the automobile you want to transport, the more it will cost.
Your schedule affects the cost.

As with most types of shipping, the sooner you want a car picked up or dropped off, the more it will cost. With all those caveats out, the cost of snowbirds wanting Florida car transport or a similar service could be less than $1,000, much less in some cases. Compared to the amount of time you save plus the expenses you get to avoid by not driving, the cost of auto transport looks like money well spent on most snowbirds.

Should You Prepare Your Vehicle Before Shipping?

Even though your car will ride on the back of an auto trailer (or inside of an enclosed trailer if you’re willing to pay more for the added security), you need to get it ready for the journey. Spend an hour working through these steps a day or two before you meet your vehicle hauler to hand over the keys.

Wash the Outside – Starting with a thorough exterior wash helps with the next few steps. It also means your car arrives at your winter home looking its best.
Inspect the Exterior – Walk around the car’s exterior looking for dents, scratches, dings, or other damage. Identifying this damage early is essential so that you don’t blame the car hauler for it later.
Take a Few Pictures – Photographing any damage on the vehicle’s exterior gives you something to reference if you feel your car was damaged in transport. Take quality photos from multiple angles.
Look for Leaks – Is your car leaking oil or any other fluids? If so, try to correct the problem before shipping. You will also want to record your odometer reading to confirm that your car hasn’t been driven more than necessary.
Get On Top of Maintenance – You want your vehicle in perfect running order when it arrives at its destination. Before handing it over to the hauler, top off all fluids, and ensure the battery has a full charge and the tires are properly inflated. Finally, leave only about a quarter gas tank in the car because excessive gas adds extra weight.
Secure the Exterior – Remove anything from the exterior, like bike and luggage racks or decorative flags. If possible, fold in the side mirrors, close the sunroof, and secure anything else on the exterior that could damage the car or something around the vehicle.
Empty the Interior – Similar to the surface, you don’t need to get the car interior spotless, but you should remove any personal objects, particularly anything electronic or valuable. These personal items could move around in transport and cause damage, or they could attract thieves. Get the interior as clean and empty as you want it to be upon arrival.
Deactivate Auto Subscriptions – If you pay for toll access or parking that you won’t need while living in another state, make arrangements to cancel/suspend the subscription while you’re gone. Remove toll tags, so you don’t accidentally accrue fees along the way.
Keep the Essentials – The less clutter, the better inside your vehicle, but don’t remove anything essential: the spare tire, the tire changing tools, the license plate, etc.
Note Anything Unusual – The auto hauler will briefly drive your car on and off the trailer. Write down any mechanical problems the vehicle has or other quirks the driver may need to be aware of.

Where Do I Go for Snowbird Car Shipping?

A large truck on a highway with a desert landscape

Snowbirds understand better than most how beneficial car shipping compares to the alternatives. How to find experienced, trustworthy car haulers to work with may need to be clarified. Arranging auto shipping used to mean calling every company in the area until, hours later, you had enough info to compare options. Thanks to Direct Express Auto Transport, that process takes about a minute.

As far back as 2004, we invented the Internet’s very first online car shipping quote calculator. You enter a few basic details about your pickup and drop-off location, what you want to ship, and when.

Direct Express Auto Transport has been an innovator and leader in auto transport ever since. We’ve also become a partner to snowbirds across the country who rely on us to broker transport every year at the start and end of the season.

The Original Car Shipping Quote Calculator

Direct Express Auto Transport originated the instant car shipping quote calculator in 2004. It is still the best, most sophisticated, reliable tool available anywhere online. We offer three options that we call tiers of car shipping estimates. The standard rate is the cheapest car shipping quote, but it may take longer. Use it if you are patient. We recommend the expedited car shipping rate and have countless satisfied customers because the shipping process tends to go quicker. The rush rate is our highest level of car shipping service, and many customers are glad they went with that method.

photo of a woman sunbathing on a Florida beach

What To Expect In The Winter For Car Shipping

Written by Mike Rupers on November 16, 2022. Posted in Car Shipping Advice, Car Transport Calculator, Snowbird Auto Transport.

Snowbirds Car Shipping To And From Florida

Winter is a great time to ship your car — depending on your destination. Like birds, we people tend to all go the same way when the weather gets cold. However, unlike birds, we have belongings to bring, which takes extra effort and money to move. If you’re traveling with the rest of the flock — we call them “snowbirds” — for warmer southern regions, you can expect to pay more to ship your car. If you’re going the other way during the winter, car shipping is considerably cheaper. Learn more about snowbirds, Florida car transport, and winter car shipping with our team here at Direct Express Auto Transport in the sections below, and ship with us this winter!

About Snowbirds: Florida Car Transport’s Guiding Demographic

For those of you possibly unaware, “snowbirds” are people from the northern states who migrate south in the winter to the warmer states. Most snowbirds are retirees or senior citizens, but not all. Some people have the luxury of continuing to work from a warmer location. They come from New England (Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, Rhode Island) and the eastern seaboard (New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, Maryland, Delaware, D.C., and Virginia). They also escape the Midwest winters. States such as Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and Missouri). Some are from the Plain States and Pacific Northwest. Those are the cold weather regions where the winters can be long and harsh.

What States Do Auto Shipping Snowbirds Most Flock?

Where do snowbirds go? Any place warm, preferably with a beach! Florida, California, Texas, and Arizona are the top snowbird destinations. However, plenty of vehicle-shipping snowbirds are flocking to Nevada (Las Vegas), New Mexico, Louisiana, and the Gulf Coast of Alabama and Mississippi. Florida is undoubtedly number one, as it has become synonymous with the word “snowbird.”

According to a study by the University of Florida, nearly a million “snowbirds” migrate to Florida for the winter. The numbers increase significantly every year. Some of those folks keep a vehicle in Florida year-round just for the winter months that they are there, some don’t need a car very often and forego it altogether, but hundreds of thousands of snowbirds choose to ship a car south for the winter. The same holds for California, Texas, Arizona, and elsewhere. Our innovative and first-of-its-kind auto transport quote calculator provides the most accurate rates in the industry.

Winter Car Shipping Explained

Ready to learn the ins and outs of winter car shipping so you can skip the icy roads and get the best bang for your buck? Our team at Direct Express Auto Transport is here to help. In the following sections, we give a detailed breakdown of car shipping in the year’s busiest month: January. We’ll help you choose when is the best time to ship your car in winter, and as far as selecting the best car shipping service goes — skip ahead to the final section on this page to see why partnering with our team is the easy choice.

What Happens Every January In Car Transport?

Car Shipping in January is the best of times and the worst of times. Every year, people start booking their vehicle shipments right around the holidays, Christmas thru New Year’s. The drivers have families, too, and value their time at home just like everybody else. There has been a distinct drop in the number of vehicles dispatched and on the road in the last ten days of December.

But the orders from customers begin to mount, and most prefer the first date available to ship their cars, SUVs, mini-vans, pickup trucks, and more to be just after January 1st. If they still need to do so, customers call or go online to book their vehicle shipment the first week of January. It becomes an EXPLOSION of vehicles ready to ship. Let’s break down January week by week:

First week of January: The number of vehicles waiting to ship nearly doubles! That means orders are 200% of average capacity. Far more vehicles are waiting to ship than carrier space available. Most are heading to the warmer states. Can you guess the cars shipping first and which ones sit and wait? The higher priced vehicles, called “loads” in the auto transport industry, generally will ship first. Money talks. We know that and therefore price our customer vehicles toward the top.

Even being in the middle of the pack is a prescription for frustration. Customers, of course, gravitate to lower prices. Still, those auto transport brokers have extraordinarily high cancellation rates of upwards 70% and eventually end up at our website or calling us to get a proper quote. Unfortunately, those folks waste time and endure stress not getting it done right the first time, but how could they know? We don’t mess around, and our customers get shipped among the first. Our customer reviews speak to that.

The customers trying to make an otherwise regular shipment, say from Boston to St. Louis, can find their shipment delayed. Why? The carriers can fill up quickly, heading to Florida instead, and will hustle back to do it again. So the mad snowbird post-holiday rush to Florida and elsewhere warm has a ripple effect across the entire auto shipping industry.

The second week of January: The number of vehicles waiting to ship is at 170% of average capacity. That means there is still upward pricing pressure. People cancel their orders with low-ball brokers and find reputable auto transport brokers (read Direct Express) to price their vehicles properly for timely shipping. The system still needs to flush out the excess inventory of vehicles, as carriers are racing up and down the I-95 corridor and I-75 to fill up and do it again. And again.

Third week of January: The number of vehicles waiting to ship is 130% of average capacity. That means the system is beginning to achieve some semblance of balance. The higher priced vehicles, of course, move faster, but the middle of the pack average priced cars are starting to get picked up. The cheaper-priced vehicles continue to sit, but those brokers have had nervous breakdowns by now. Maybe their customers too.

If you think about it, a snowbird will likely spend four months in Florida or elsewhere. Going without their vehicle while there for the first 3 or 4 weeks is a huge imposition. It’s not the carrier’s fault; they are working harder than anybody and often in harsh conditions. Blame the desperate auto-shipping broker who should know better.

Fourth week of January: The number of vehicles waiting to ship is at 100% of average capacity. That means the auto shipping industry has reached parity or equilibrium. Everything returns to normal. Most reasonably priced vehicles with well-populated originations and destinations will ship promptly.

Higher priced vehicles first, but the mid-range vehicles as well a few days later. The cheap stuff is still likely to wait awhile, the very last to move.

So January starts crazy and takes all month to right itself. Throw in a winter blizzard or two, and things get wild.

February & March: The number of vehicles waiting to ship is at subnormal capacity. That means it is easier to transport your vehicle. One caveat, though, is that the harsh weather states remain a problem, especially when temperatures dip below 20 degrees Fahrenheit or if a snow blizzard hits a region with ever higher accumulations of snow.

Best Car Transport tip for January … pay more not less. You will be glad you did.

Direct Express Auto Transport originated the instant online car shipping quote calculator. We have the lowest cancellation rate in the industry because our system for pricing vehicles is better than any other cheap knockoff out there. You cannot go wrong choosing Direct Express!

Never-the-less, it is important to remember that on any given day during January, February and March of 2018, there will still be several thousand vehicles waiting to ship. All of those vehicles are competing with one another for precious auto transport truck space. Our good advice to you booking an order is to consider adding a tad more money. You are competing after all and sometimes just $50 extra makes a big difference.

Our first-of-its-kind car shipping quote calculator does a spectacular job of adjusting winter car transport pricing and gives you the customer the option of Expedited and Rush rates. That is exactly the sort of thing that will help alleviate customer stress and get your vehicle on the road this winter. Book it securely online or call our customer service representatives at 800-600-3750. Have more questions about snowbirds, Florida car transport, or car shipping in general? Call the number above, or contact us online!