Car carriers are equipped with their own truck or fleet of trucks. The majority of the car carriers are often “Moms & Pops” with a limited number of trucks. In fact, in many scenarios, there seem to be single owner operators. But alternatively, there are large car carriers too, who own several trucks in their fleet which are not as prevalent as freight because they are known in many other forms of names such as car carriers, auto carriers, auto haulers, and auto transporters. However, all these companies are famous for shipping vehicles and they perform the task of showing up to pick up the vehicle to be shipped and delivering the vehicle to the destination desired by the client.
Here under this brief elaboration, we differentiate the pros and cons associated with Cars and Freight in terms of Cost, Availability, Flexibility, and Practicality.
COST – Affordability of Cars vs. Freight
Do Cars Double the Cost of Policy?!
One of the rooted myths among people is that cars double the cost of your policy. Even though it seems costly didactically, in practice the truth is far beyond the myth. Usually at the initial stage, in terms of hauling freight, it costs approximately $ 750,000 to register at the FMCSA (Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration) in order to get your own authority. Cars are pretty much the same, except, the insurance cost will of course be high for flat outs.
Further, there are many types of options open to the desire of yours such as two car haulers, two car wedges, bare bone flatbed, haulers with hydraulics, etc. The equpments needed are different for one another. Therefore, depending on that, the equipment costs also need to be considered as an initial cost.
Back to the story, equipment cost is reasonable in choosing between cars vs. freight scenario. Adhering to the desire on which the modifications are required, chains, binders, straps, tarps, bungees, etc. need to be brought. On the flip side, cars require some straps, depending on how far it is expected to deliver goods. However, this is left out of the burden as winch up is usually a one time cost unless any abrupt circumstance is caused.
AVAILABILITY – Predictability on Availability of Cars vs. Freights
Not just because we say so, simply have a glance by yourself at the availability of vehicles on the road!
Probably, you will notice that freights are very temperamental while cars seem to be everywhere readily available. This is because freight is seasonal and the availability of freights changes week to week, perhaps day to day. Due to practical difficulties in functioning, freights always do need a proper schedule to haul which restricts the availability more often. On the flip side, car haulers take the liberty of being available everywhere, supported by their flexible structure of function as well as the higher number of haulers available due to comparatively low cost. These car haulers seem to cover even overlap markets due to high availability.
Furthermore, despite the availability of freights, in the practical sense, it has to match your required weight and length too. Even then, it is sometimes difficult to match the cost of the freight to the desired dimensions. Consequently, selecting the perfect freight becomes tough. Hence, cars on the other hand identified to be more advantageous than freights in terms of availability.
FLEXIBILITY – What is Easier to Work with, Cars or Freights?
Unlike the freights which are scheduled seasonally, cars come with the benefit of flexibility. Most of the time, cars serve under First Come, First Served Basis. Therefore, there is no need to book the cars in advance.
Further, car drivers seem to work like bank hours. Sometimes it is 8 am to 3 pm and sometimes it is Monday to Friday. On the flip side, freights need to schedule a load for weekends too so that on the way home, they can carry it to cover the cost of getting home for hours. This is big fatigue for freight owners, while car owners often seem to scoop an extra day to rest.
Further, the option to rearrange stuff when you need to, without ruining the liability of the assets is a challenge. Besides, even though a car is already loaded, it is easy to rearrange goods without the risk of damaging anything. In freights, this task is much more difficult and complicated as it requires forklifts which makes the process less likely to proceed, reducing the flexibility of freights for the drivers.
PRACTICALITY – What is more practical cars or freights?
Cars are easy to find and load. Compared to freights, it is low energy consuming. Usually, the drivers who possess cars seem to get home a lot more than freight owners due to heightened practicality. On one hand, they seem to have little more control over what they do, even though revenue wise freights make a few more extra bucks. On the other hand, customers find car hauling more practical because car haulers make the process more convenient by accepting COD (Cash on Delivery) once they drop the vehicle.
Without being restricted to thinking on few more extra bucks, it requires the drivers to do more research on the hidden aspects of these transportation methods as it may hold lot more financial as well as non financial benefits for all the parties associated including you, clients as well as your family….!!