How to Choose a Car Shipping Company
The 5-point vetting checklist we'd use ourselves, the company types compared honestly, and the questions that expose a bad broker in one phone call. 55,697 vehicles shipped, rated 4.8/5.
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Every company will tell you they're the best — here's how to check
A vetting system that works on any company, including us
There are hundreds of licensed car shipping companies and thousands of websites that look like car shipping companies. The good ones share five verifiable traits; the bad ones fail at least one of them within five minutes of checking. This page gives you the exact checklist — the same one we'd hand a family member — and it works on every company in the industry, ours included. Run Navi through it. That's the point.
The five types of car shipping companies
Most "which company?" confusion is really "which type?" confusion
| Type | How it works | Strength | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Large national brokers | High-volume operations matching thousands of shipments to a huge carrier pool | Network reach — can cover remote routes | Volume pipeline can mean less attention per shipment; quotes may float with the market |
| Price-lock brokers | Quote is guaranteed at booking — the number you see is the number you pay | No bait-and-switch | Some achieve the lock by quoting high; compare locked quotes against each other |
| Discount-program brokers | Military/senior/student discounts and optional extra protection plans | Real savings if you qualify | Base quotes often start low; apply first-quote skepticism before the discount math |
| Marketplaces | Carriers bid on your listing; you pick the winner | Potentially lowest price | YOU do the vetting — license, insurance, reviews per bidder. Skip it and the cheap bid gets expensive |
| Direct carriers | The company that owns the truck | No middleman | Fixed lanes and tiny schedules — the odds one runs your route on your dates are low |
Navi is a broker with locked pricing — live carrier-lane rates, guaranteed at booking via our price guarantee, with zero upfront payment. That's the model we believe in, and the checklist below is how you verify anyone who claims it.
Five checks that expose a bad company in five minutes
In order — stop at the first fail
Verify the FMCSA license — the legal floor
Every legitimate broker and carrier has an MC and DOT number, displayed on their site and verifiable at safer.fmcsa.dot.gov in 60 seconds: active authority, insurance on file, no revocations. A company that hides its MC number isn't a company — it's a landing page. (Ours: MC 1646663, DOT 4248916 — check it.)
Test the quote for honesty
Get two or three quotes. A quote $150+ below the pack is not a bargain — it's a number no carrier will accept, published to make you call, and it gets "adjusted" after you're committed. This is the industry's #1 complaint. Ask one question: "Is this price locked at booking, in writing?" Then confirm what a fair number looks like: how much it costs to ship a car.
Check payment structure
Legitimate brokers charge nothing until a carrier is assigned. A demand for a large deposit before carrier assignment — especially by wire, Zelle, or gift card — is the single loudest scam signal in this industry. Full pattern list: auto transport red flags to watch for.
Read reviews across THREE platforms — recent ones
One badge can be gamed; a consistent pattern across Google, BBB, and Trustpilot can't easily be. Read the most recent month, not the lifetime average — a company sliding downhill still wears its old rating. And check how they answer complaints: every shipper has bad days; the response is the tell.
Confirm insurance handling before booking
Ask: "Do you verify the carrier's cargo insurance certificate before dispatch, and will you send it to me?" The answer separates real operations from lead resellers. How the coverage actually works: car shipping insurance.
Five questions that expose a bad broker in one call
Good companies answer all five instantly. Bad ones improvise.
"Is this price locked at booking — yes or no, in writing?"
Hesitation, or "the market can shift" without a written guarantee behind it, is your answer.
"What do I pay today, before a carrier is assigned?"
The only good answer is a number at or near zero.
"What's your MC number?"
Should be instant. Look it up while you're on the phone.
"Will you send me the carrier's insurance certificate before pickup?"
"Yes, automatically" is the right answer. "You'd have to ask the driver" is not.
"What happens if my car is damaged?"
They should describe the Bill of Lading inspection process at both ends without being prompted. If they can't explain it, they've never handled a claim: what to do if a vehicle is damaged during shipping.
Choosing a company — common questions
What people ask right before booking
How do I know if a car shipping company is legit?
Run the five checks above: active FMCSA license, honest locked quote, no pre-assignment deposit, consistent recent reviews on 3+ platforms, verified carrier insurance. Any legitimate company passes all five; scams reliably fail #2 and #3.
Broker or carrier — which should I book with?
For most routes, a broker: carriers run fixed lanes and the odds one matches your exact route and dates are low. The broker's carrier-vetting process IS the product — that's what you're paying the margin for.
Are online reviews trustworthy in this industry?
Individually, no; in patterns, yes. Cross-check three platforms, weight the last 30–60 days heaviest, and read complaint responses. A 4.6 with thoughtful complaint handling beats a suspicious 5.0 with 40 reviews.
Why do quotes from different companies vary so much?
The honest ones price from the same live carrier market and land close together. The outliers are either padding (high) or baiting (low). The spread itself is diagnostic — trust the cluster, question the outliers. See what car shipping actually costs.
What's the safest way to pay?
Credit card for any deposit or broker fee (chargeback protection), card or certified funds on delivery for the carrier portion. Never wire transfers, payment apps, or gift cards — those are scam rails, not payment methods.
Run us through the checklist
MC 1646663 · locked pricing in writing · $0 upfront · insurance certificates sent automatically. Get your quote and verify everything.
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