Deciding the type of haulers to use while transporting your car is a matter of budget, timeline, and concern over the vehicles’ exposure to the weather and other elements. There are two basic types of car haulers which are the pick-up style truck, or tractor trailer trucks. Tractor trailers are slower than pick-up style, but they are usually cheaper as they can haul more vehicles at once. The process of loading and unloading cars with a tractor trailer is mostly done in an open parking as it is generally impossible for these kinds of trucks to navigate residential areas. Pick-up style trucks, on the other hand, costs more than tractor trailers but they can deliver your vehicle faster and are able to navigate neighborhood streets.

Once you have decided on the type of car haulers, the next task is to choose the type of trailer. Enclosed trailer is the best way to ship if you want to protect your car from the elements, but they usually cost as much as twice as an open trailer. Meanwhile, there are several types of open trailer to choose from; the bottom line is that your car will either be partially or fully exposed to the elements.

If you choose to ship with open trailers, the best deal, price-wise, is to go with multi-car trailers. These are open trailers carrying from three to as many as twelve vehicles at once. Consequently, multi-car trailers typically take more time to deliver your car. When shipping with a multi-car trailer, make sure to be on time for your pickup and delivery to make sure all the other cars on the trailer get to their destinations at the right time. An ongoing debate on car haulers regarding multi-car trailers is whether it is better to have your on the top or bottom rack. If your car is on the bottom, there is the possibility that oil from cars above will drip down. On the other hand, a car stored on the top rack may be hit by branches when trucks pull into areas with trees.

Another type of open trailer is a single car trailer, wherein only one car will be picked up and delivered. As a result, single car trailers can cost as much as enclosed trailers, or more. Oversized or modified cars may need to be shipped on a flatbed trailer. The cost of a flatbed trailer depends on how big your car is and how many other items are being transported on the trailer.