Door-to-door car shipping

Door-to-door is the default on almost every car shipment we arrange, and it means what it says: the carrier collects from your address and delivers to the destination address. There is no terminal, no storage lot, and nobody else driving your car between the two ends.

The one honest caveat is physical. A loaded car carrier is around 75 feet long, 13 and a half feet tall and cannot reverse out of a mistake. Some streets simply will not take one. When that is your street, the answer is a meeting point a few minutes away, agreed before the truck is anywhere near you.

What actually happens at each end

The sequence is the same at pickup and delivery:

• The driver calls ahead, normally the evening before and again when they are close, on the number on your order.
• You walk the vehicle together and the driver records its condition on the Bill of Lading, usually with photographs.
• Loading takes 15 to 30 minutes, longer if your car is the one that has to be shuffled to reach.
• You or a named adult must be present at both ends. Anyone over 18 can stand in for you if you name them on the order.
• You inspect before signing at delivery. Anything wrong goes on the Bill of Lading while the driver is still there.

When the truck cannot reach your door

This is normal, not a failure, and it is worth knowing which of these applies to you before you book:

• Narrow residential streets and cul-de-sacs with no room to turn a 75-foot combination around.
• Low branches or wires below the trailer's height, which are the most common obstruction of all.
• Gated communities and apartment complexes that prohibit commercial vehicles, or have height barriers at the entrance.
• City centers with weight or time restrictions, and any street where stopping a rig would block traffic.
• Unpaved or steep approaches where a loaded trailer would ground out.
• In each case the driver proposes a nearby retail or commercial lot, typically within five or ten minutes, and agrees it with you by phone first.

Door-to-door compared with terminal shipping

Terminal-to-terminal still exists in the industry, and it is worth understanding why we rarely recommend it:

• Handling. A terminal move means your car is driven and parked by people who are not the carrier, at both ends.
• Storage exposure. Vehicles sit in an outdoor lot until a truck is going their way, sometimes for days, and storage is often billed daily.
• Total cost. The headline rate can look lower, then you add storage and your own travel to and from the terminal twice.
• Timing. A terminal adds a dependency at each end, which usually lengthens the door-to-door clock rather than shortening it.
• The exception is a genuinely remote pickup where a terminal in a nearby metro is the only practical option. We will say so if that is your situation.

Making pickup day go smoothly

Most delays at the door come down to three things:

• Give us a phone number that will be answered. The single most common cause of a missed pickup is an unanswered call-ahead.
• Tell us at quote stage if your street is narrow, gated, steep or tree-lined. It costs nothing then and saves an hour on the day.
• Name a backup contact over 18 who can release or receive the vehicle if you are held up.
• Have the keys, and only the keys you want to send: one set travels with the car, and you keep a spare.
• Clear the vehicle of personal items beyond the roughly 100 lb trunk allowance, which is not covered by cargo insurance.

Questions about door-to-door car shipping

Related services

Where we ship

This service runs on every lane we cover. These are the states and routes people ask about most:

Before you book