Vehicle Transport: What Is the Hold Up?

In a perfect world, you could have a vehicle shipped anywhere in this vast country of ours on an enclosed, single-vehicle capacity truck that moved only one vehicle at a time in one direction. You could call the driver of the truck and make precise arrangements for pick up and drop off, know his exact route, and follow the progress from one point to the other. The truck would deliver your vehicle all clean and polished, and then turn around and drive back empty. However, in the real world a service like that would be prohibitively expensive and is therefore completely impractical.

Instead, your vehicle is being transported on a very large, 18-wheeler transport truck, which can carry eight vehicles at a time, all open to the elements. These types of trucks are in constant motion all over the country, and always try to maintain a full load. For example, a vehicle we have transported to GoWesty from New Mexico might be picked up by a truck based out of Boston that just happened to be driving through New Mexico at the right time. In fact, all vehicles being transported more than 100 miles are usually hauled by a truck traveling on one leg of a much larger loop.

There is typically a crew of two on these trucks, and these guys don’t live by the same clock as you or I do. Rather, they are guided by fatigue, hunger, and traffic. If they have to drive through a metropolitan area—like Los Angeles, for example—they might choose to sleep in the middle of Nevada during the day and cruise through LA in the middle of the night to avoid traffic. Because of these factors, it is not possible to pinpoint the actual day and time of pick-up for a vehicle being hauled a long distance.

Whenever we schedule a pick-up here at GoWesty, we park the vehicle in a safe spot where it cannot be blocked in. We put all the paperwork inside, lock it up, and put the keys in a secret location. Whenever we have a vehicle transported to GoWesty, we advise the folks at the other end to do the same. We notify the transport company it is ready to go, let them know where the keys are hidden, and that is that. It may be picked up at any hour of the day or night. It may sit for days or weeks, all depending on where it is going.

This may seem like a goofy arrangement. But think about it... For what it typically costs to transport any given vehicle, and given all of these factors, it is simply not possible to expect exact date and time information. So, why fight it? That is what we figured out long ago… And please keep this in mind: GoWesty is willing to do all the legwork for you. If we do, you will pay our actual cost for the shipping (the best deal we can get) plus 10% up to a maximum of $250 ,to cover our time. That is our policy.  We get involved in vehicle transport more as a courtesy to our customers than to make any real profit. In reality, it often ends up actually COSTING us quite a bit in terms of time and grief. Also keep in mind that you are under NO obligation to have GoWesty arrange the shipping of your vehicle. If you would like to handle it yourself, that is ABSOLUTELY okay with us!

Patience is a virtue, and we appreciate your patience!