Shipping a car isn't complicated. It's a six-step process, and almost every scam in our library works by quietly breaking one of the steps — rushing it, skipping it, or doing it in the wrong order. Do the steps in order, on paper, and most of the industry's bad actors lose interest in you, because you're not the customer their model works on.
Here's the whole process, the way a legitimate shipment actually runs.
Step 1: Get quotes — in writing
Start with at least three quotes. Prices for the same shipment cluster in a similar range because they're all buying the same thing: space on a real truck, at a rate a real carrier will accept. If one quote is dramatically lower than the rest, that isn't efficiency — see our article on the lowball bait-and-switch.
A proper quote is a document, not a number on a phone call. It should be:
- Written and itemized — the total price, what's included, and any fee that could apply, listed rather than hinted at in terms and conditions.
- Clear about what it is — the company should tell you plainly whether the price is binding or a non-binding estimate, and if it's an estimate, what could change it.
- Complete on payment terms — how much is due when: typically a small deposit, with the balance due to the driver on delivery.
Verbal prices are not prices. If a company won't put it in writing, it is reserving the right to remember it differently.
Step 2: Verify the company on FMCSA
Before any money moves, check the company's federal record. Both brokers and carriers must be registered with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), and the records are public and free at safer.fmcsa.dot.gov.
Check four things:
- The USDOT and MC numbers exist and the authority is active.
- The legal name, address, and phone number on the federal record match the website and the people you've been talking to.
- Insurance is on file.
- The complaint picture makes sense. Cross-check the company's reviews and BBB profile against its federal record — a five-star wall over a stack of complaints is a warning, not a track record (see our fake-reviews article).
Later, repeat this check for the carrier — the company that will physically haul your car — once the broker names it. For a worked example of what a checkable profile looks like: Auto Car Ship (Auto Haul Express LLC, USDOT 4197700, MC 1618777) displays a 4.8-star rating across 199 Google reviews. Every part of that sentence is something you can verify yourself in about a minute. That's the standard to hold everyone to.
Step 3: Read the contract before you sign it
The contract is where honest companies and traps part ways. Read these clauses specifically:
- Cancellation terms. What does cancelling cost, and when? A fair policy ties fees to work actually done — for example, a charge only after a driver has been dispatched. A fee for cancelling an order nobody has touched is a trap (see our cancellation-fee article).
- Deposit terms. Legitimate deposits are small — roughly $100–$250, about 10–20% of the total — and are normally charged only after a carrier is assigned. The deposit's refundability should be stated in writing.
- Dates. Expect a pickup window, not a guaranteed date. No broker can honestly guarantee a specific day (see our guaranteed-dates article), and the contract should say what happens if the window is missed.
- Damage process. How claims are filed, what documentation is used, and whose insurance applies.
If a term confuses you, ask for the explanation in writing. A company that plans to honor its terms can afford to explain them.
Step 4: Prepare the vehicle
Good preparation protects you twice: it makes the shipment smoother, and it creates the evidence trail that makes damage claims simple instead of arguable.
- Photograph the car from every angle — including the roof, the odometer, and any existing scratch, dent, or chip, close up. Do this the day of pickup, before the truck arrives.
- Clean the car well enough that its condition is visible. Dirt hides damage; you want damage — old and new — obvious.
- Remove personal belongings, valuables, toll transponders, and anything loose. A transport carrier is insured for the vehicle, not for the contents you left in it.
- Tell the company, in writing, anything non-standard about the vehicle: it's lowered, oversized, modified, or doesn't run. "The car was larger than expected" is a classic pretext for a price change at delivery — accurate disclosure in advance removes it.
- Ask the carrier how much fuel they want in the tank and follow it; note the fuel level on your photos of the dash.
Step 5: Pickup — the inspection and the Bill of Lading
Pickup is the most important ten minutes of the shipment. You and the driver walk around the car together and record its condition on the Bill of Lading / condition report: every existing mark, noted on the document. Both of you sign it. Keep your copy — not in the car, with you.
- Never sign a blank or rushed report. If the driver won't do the walk-around, that's the moment to call the broker — before the car is loaded, not after.
- Confirm who is hauling your car. The company name on the paperwork should match the carrier you were told to expect. A different name is a stop-and-ask moment (see our double-brokering article).
- Photograph the loaded car and the truck, including its plates and markings. It takes twenty seconds and closes off the worst-case scenarios in our VIN-fraud article.
Step 6: Delivery — inspect first, pay second, sign last
At delivery, reverse the pickup: walk the car, in daylight if at all possible, comparing it against the pickup report and your photos.
- Note any new damage on the delivery paperwork before you sign it. Damage written on the signed delivery document is a claim. Damage mentioned on the phone next week is an argument.
- Pay the agreed balance, by the agreed method — for legitimate shipments, the delivery balance is paid to the driver as your contract specifies (commonly cash, cashier's check, or money order), at the amount in your written quote. A demand for more than the contract says is not a formality; see our hostage-load article for exactly what to do.
- If there's damage, file the claim with the company in writing right away, attaching the pickup report, your photos, and the signed delivery documents. Prompt, documented claims are the ones that get paid.
The thread through all six steps
Paper before money, verification before trust, inspection before signature. None of it is hard, and none of it is what the scams expect you to do. If something goes wrong anyway, the reporting path is always the same: your bank or card issuer for the money, the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, FMCSA's National Consumer Complaint Database (1-888-DOT-SAFT), the BBB, and your state attorney general.
Dispatch A Car was built to make these steps the default: profiles carry legal names and FMCSA numbers, carriers register only with credentials that match the federal record, and loads on Dispatch A Car's Load Board move between identified parties. You're welcome to use the process above with any company in the industry — that's the point of publishing it.