Can you choose a specific delivery date when you place an auto transport order with us? Well if you’ve read my other article about choosing a specific pick up date, then you probably know where I’m going here with my answer.
You guessed it, the short answer is NO, but let me explain why…
Drivers Have Set Schedules
Drivers have routes and schedules they have to adhere to. If you need a car transported from Sacramento, CA to Bozeman, MT and we have a driver on that route, the pick up and delivery dates will ultimately be determined by the driver’s schedule.
He may be in Sacramento on Monday and in Bozeman on Thursday. In this scenario, your vehicle would be picked up on Monday in Sacramento and delivered in Bozeman on Thursday.
Now you might ask, “What if I would rather have it delivered in Bozeman on Saturday? Would that be possible?”
Unfortunately, no, because a driver isn’t going to sit around and wait in Bozeman for a couple extra days, nor is he going to rearrange the remainder of his schedule just so he can deliver one vehicle on a specific date. He has a schedule he has to adhere to and in this business, time is money. He literally can’t afford to wait around or completely rearrange his schedule just for one vehicle.
Unforeseen Delays Affect Deliveries
The other reason it’s impossible to choose a specific delivery date for your auto transport order is because there can be unforeseen delays during the transport. Delays that can affect a driver’s schedule include:
Weather – a bad storm along a route can ground a driver for several hours and sometimes an entire day.
Traffic – a bad traffic accident that causes a major backup on the road can delay a driver for several hours, throwing off his entire schedule for the day.
Construction – summer is not only the busiest time of the year for auto transports, it’s also the busiest time of year for road construction! Backed up traffic or detours due to construction can wreak havoc on a driver’s schedule.
Truck breakdowns – trucks and trailers break down occasionally, or flat tires can occur. If a driver is lucky, he’ll only be down for a couple hours, but if it’s engine related, he could be out of commission for a day or two.
Pick up and delivery delays along the route – a driver will usually have other vehicles he’s picking up and delivering along his route. Just one person being late to meet a driver at pick up or delivery can have a ripple affect on all other pick up and deliveries along the route.
These are all delays that a driver doesn’t have any control over and that can affect what date your vehicle is delivered. You may be expecting your vehicle to be delivered on Thursday, but because of a major storm that passed through along the driver’s route, the delivery was delayed until Friday. Fortunately, these delays don’t occur too often but you need to prepare for them.
How Delivery Dates are Determined
O.K. so you can’t choose a specific delivery date, how then are delivery dates determined?
On average, drivers will travel around 500 miles per day. This average factors in things like bathroom and eating breaks, other pick up and deliveries along the way, and various government rules that limit how many hours a driver can be behind the wheel each day. When it’s all said and done, a driver covers about 500 miles per day.
When you get an instant quote on our website, we calculate the total miles of your transport route. Then we divide the number of miles by 500 and round up to the nearest whole number. If your route is 1,325 miles and you divide that by 500, you get 2.65. Rounding up, you get 3, as in 3 days. Then we add a day or two to account for any of those unforeseen delays mentioned earlier to give you an estimated delivery time, or delivery forecast. In our example here of a 1,325 mile route, the delivery forecast would be “3-4 days” after the vehicle is picked up.
Keep in mind, the delivery forecast we provide is only an estimate. Your actual delivery may vary slightly. We’ll be able to tell you the specific delivery date once we have a driver assigned to your transport order. The driver will tell us which day he plans on picking up the vehicle and what day he plans on delivering the vehicle.
Those days aren’t always set in stone either, however, as there can be unforeseen delays so your pick up and delivery dates can shift a little. When that happens we let you know immediately so you can plan accordingly.
Preparing for Your Delivery Date
Now you understand how delivery dates are determined but what happens if you’re not going to be available on the delivery date? The best thing to do is have a Plan B.
Remember, as soon as we get a driver assigned to your transport order we’re going to tell you what date to expect delivery. You’ll have ample opportunity to plan accordingly. If you’re not going to be at the delivery location on the date of delivery, you just need someone over the age of 18 that can accept delivery on your behalf. It can be a friend, family member, a neighbor, co-worker, etc. If none of those options work, consider a local mechanic or dealership. We direct drivers to auto repair shops and dealerships all the time in these situations. We will work with you to figure something out!
Hopefully you have an understanding now how pick up dates are determined and how delivery dates are determined. Given the nature of the trucking industry, it just doesn’t allow people to choose specific pick up and delivery dates.
And while that might be the case, we do our best to accommodate your transport schedule as best as we can. We also strive to stay in constant communication with you throughout your transport to keep you up-to-date so you’re never in the dark and you always know what is going on!