Know About Your Car Shipping Bill of Lading
One of the most important things you can read when shipping a car is your car shipping bill of lading. It is your contract, your receipt and your inspection report all in one cool piece of paper. The bill of lading is incredibly important and is the go-to document for anything regarding your shipment.
You won’t need to sign the bill of lading until the carrier shows up to load your vehicle, so don’t fret about it initially. However, it’s still important that you read it carefully, as it will include a variety of information that we will detail more about below.
Why your car shipping bill of lading is important
To start, it’s your receipt for shipping your car. It will have the name of the carrier and their address, as well as their terms and conditions. Please read these as they cover the carrier’s liability as well as their responsibilities.
Perhaps more importantly, though, are their terms regarding what they don’t cover or do. Each carrier is different and they will all have slight variations on their terms and conditions. This is a big reason why it’s important to read the bill of lading any time you ship a vehicle regardless of how many times you’ve done so in the past.
Another thing the bill of lading does is it acts as your inspection report. You will need to do an inspection of the vehicle both at pickup an delivery. At pickup you’re looking for any pre-existing damages, and the onus is on you and the driver to find them. Upon delivery, you shift to looking for damage that occurred during the shipment itself.
You check against the pickup inspection to find any new damages, and then you go through the claim according to the carrier’s insurance policy. You and the driver will both need to sign off on the bill of lading at pickup and delivery to ensure its accuracy and to make it legally binding.
Can I get a quote to ship a car without a bill of lading?
Well, you can’t ship a car without having a car shipping bill of lading, but getting a quote and shipping a car are two different things. To answer the question, no, you don’t need a bill of lading to get a quote to ship your vehicle. Actually, you don’t really need anything other than the basics.
If you fill out our free quote form with where you’re shipping from and to, your contact information and the vehicle you’re shipping, you’ll get a free quote to ship your vehicle right away. We have years of experience and work only with the best carriers on the road. If you have questions or concerns, feel free to call us any time, toll-free, at 800-930-7417.
Since 2007 Dave has written all the content and blogs for American Auto Shipping and during this time added the duties of customer support and transport logistics.
He currently resides in Washington with his three kids and their mom and cat. A fan of Marvel movies and good stories, when not shipping cars Dave can be found working on his novel, enjoying a good book or playing some tournament HALO.
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