The Internet Has Brought Car Shipping To The Consumer

The internet is changing the way the world does business, and so far has only scratched the surface. The car shipping industry is a classic example. Prior to the late nineties, auto shipping and transport was strictly a commercial service between manufacturers and auto dealers. It was very rare for an individual consumer to purchase a car in another state, especially without seeing it, and have it shipped to them.

Today, a consumer interested in purchasing a used car, has many options to find the car of his choice. No longer is geography a primary concern. A buyer can browse various websites on the internet such as craigslist or other classified listings specific to each state. Another popular alternative is e-Bay where cars are offered for auction. In addition to the internet providing us a way to find vehicles to purchase, verification services such as checking vehicle history reports, have also sprung up, to offer various types of protection to both the purchasers and the sellers. In theory, this helps eliminate fraud from taking place. e-Bay for example provides you with a seller rating, depending on how many transactions they have been involved with, and out of those, how many of the purchasers were happy versus how many had complaints. You can even go as far as reading the specifics of their complaint.

Once the car you found online has been purchased, arrangements must be made to ship the car to you. If the car is in a nearby county or state, you may decide the simplest means to obtain your new car is flying out there, taxing to the location of your car, and driving it home. For longer distances like Florida, you will find many companies that specialize in various types of car transport in Florida that can ship it directly to your town, if not to your doorstep.

The car shipping industry has had to customize their services to cater to the consumer instead of exclusively to the dealer. Typically, a consumer will purchase only one vehicle at a time, where a dealer often has them shipped in large quantity. Once again, the internet has allowed great communication between various transport companies, to combine shipments and conserve on costs and maximize the use of vehicle trailer space. If you were to ship the car by freight, cost would be calculated based upon the weight of the vehicle, and would obviously cost a small fortune. Companies that specialize in the shipment of cars charge based upon distance.

The selling of cars has attracted individuals and dealers alike. Virtual dealerships have even joined the scene where the dealer has no physical car lot, but acts as the middle man between the manufacturer and purchaser for new vehicles, or between the seller and buyer of a used vehicle.