Alabama Car Shipping

It depends on where the car is going and what it is, so we quote Alabama routes live rather than printing a band we would have to walk back.

Four things set it. The two ZIP codes, the size and weight of the car, whether it runs, and open against enclosed. Your dates matter too, because a wider pickup window gives a driver more room to fit you in.

Put both ZIP codes into the calculator on this page and you will have a real number in about ninety seconds.

Because a published band is a promise, and we only print one where we have recent loads standing behind it. On a lot of our pages you will see real figures for that reason.

Alabama routes we handle regularly, but we do not have a current published band we would stand behind for them. So we give you the number on the day, and it holds once you confirm it.

That is the Smart Price Promise working the way it should. A real number now beats a pleasant one you find out about later.

Short runs to Atlanta, Nashville or the Gulf Coast are usually one to three days on the road. Dallas, Houston and Orlando run about two to four.

Longer hauls to the Northeast take three to five days. The West Coast is five to seven.

Transit is counted from pickup, not from booking. Your pickup happens inside a window that starts on the date you ask for. Six days standard, three days expedited.

Because so much freight already crosses it. Interstate 20 runs east to west through Birmingham, Interstate 65 runs north to south from the Midwest down to Mobile, Interstate 59 cuts northeast, and Interstate 10 follows the Gulf Coast.

That means a truck heading almost anywhere is already passing through. Your car joins a trip that was happening anyway, and that is the cheapest kind of load there is.

It also means good choice of truck, which is what keeps a price sensible and a pickup window short.

A little, and it is worth knowing. Birmingham sits where three interstates meet, so it has the widest choice of truck in the state.

Mobile sits on Interstate 10, the southern road across the country, which suits runs west to Texas and beyond. Huntsville sits near the Tennessee line and Interstate 65, so it often rides north-south traffic.

Montgomery sits on Interstate 65 and Interstate 85, which points it toward Atlanta and the Southeast. None of these is a problem. They just mean different roads.

Not a staffed one, and we would rather say so plainly. Your order is handled by our people on the phone, and a licensed, insured carrier does the driving.

Our four staffed offices are in Lakewood, Washington; Los Angeles, California; Chicago, Illinois; and Kissimmee, Florida. Smart Auto Move Inc is registered at 4208 Six Forks Rd Ste 1000, Raleigh, NC 27609.

It makes no difference to how your move runs. Your car is collected from your Alabama address and delivered to the address at the other end.

Snowbird season, and it runs through the state in both directions. October to December is busy heading south toward the Gulf and Florida. March to May is busy heading back north.

Interstate 65 is the road most of that traffic uses, so Birmingham, Montgomery and Mobile all feel it.

Book a week or two earlier in those stretches and you will have more choice. June to September is the easiest run of the year here.

Plan on about 80 percent more than open. A $1,000 open move is roughly $1,800 enclosed. A hard-sided trailer holds two to six cars where an open one holds ten, so each car carries more of the cost.

Worth it for a classic, an exotic, fresh paint, or a car too low to clear a ramp. For a daily driver, open is the right call.

Nine out of ten cars we move go open and arrive fine.

Yes. Every carrier we assign holds Carrier Cargo Insurance, and it covers your vehicle while it is on the truck.

Once your car is assigned to a truck and carrier, the certificate of insurance is on file. Ask us and we will send it over.

You and the driver both sign a condition report at pickup and again at delivery. That document is what any claim rests on, so take your time with it.

Usually yes, within reason. Most drivers will take a few things as a courtesy. Keep it under about 100 pounds, pack it neatly, and keep it out of sight from outside the car.

Think a few boxes in the trunk rather than a carload. The one thing to know is that you are paying to move the vehicle, so the carrier's insurance covers the car itself.

Keep anything you would hate to lose with you.

Yes, wherever a truck can safely and legally reach you. A car hauler is about 75 feet long, so some streets work and some do not.

Most of Alabama is straightforward. Suburban streets, driveways with room, and plenty of wide lots nearby. Downtown Birmingham and the older parts of Mobile are the tighter spots.

Where a street will not take a full-size hauler, the driver picks a wide spot close by. It costs you nothing extra.

Wash it first so the condition report is accurate, then photograph it from every angle in good light. That is the most useful thing you can do.

Leave about a quarter tank of fuel. Fold the mirrors, take off a roof rack or spoiler if it comes away easily, and turn the alarm off.

Hand over one key. Tell the driver anything unusual about starting it.

One to two weeks ahead gives you good choice. Pickup runs inside a window that starts on the date you request. Six days standard, three days expedited.

A deposit is due at booking and the balance at delivery, commonly by cashier's check, money order or cash. You can also put the full amount on a card at the time of booking.

Paying by card up front is popular. It lets you spread the cost rather than hand over money at the curb.

Check the numbers first. Smart Auto Move Inc runs under USDOT 2887232 and MC 969368. You can look both up on the FMCSA SAFER system in under a minute.

We are BBB accredited with an A plus rating, and our Google profiles and their reviews are public.

The biggest red flag is a quote far below everyone else. If four companies agree on a number and the fifth is hundreds below it, ask that fifth company straight out whether the price is confirmed. A number that low usually comes back up later.

Because a car moves when a driver agrees to take it. If the number is below what drivers accept on the route, nobody picks it up and the car sits.

Then the call comes that the price has gone up. You have lost a week and you are paying the real rate anyway.

People often think a deposit is the warning sign. It is usually the opposite. A company that asks for nothing up front may not be confident it can book the price it quoted you.

Yes, as long as it rolls, steers and brakes. The driver needs a winch, so we match you with a truck that carries one.

There is no flat fee for it. It usually adds $200 or more over the same car running, and the exact figure depends on the truck.

Tell us at quote stage. A car that turns out to be non-running on the day is the most common reason a pickup gets rescheduled.

You get the driver's direct phone number, so you can call or text while your car is on the road. We also send email updates at the milestones.

Where the carrier and truck support GPS, we pass that on too. Plenty of trucks carry no reliable tracking system, and we would rather say so than promise a map that does not work.

Most customers find a quick text the day before delivery is all they want.

Cancel any time before we assign a carrier and your deposit comes back to you. Once we assign one and send you the driver's details, that money is spoken for.

It is not gone, though. You can push the move back and use it on a later shipment.

Plans change. Tell us early and we will work around it.

Yes. Auburn, Tuscaloosa and Huntsville all see a lot of student cars moving in August and again in May, and we plan around those weeks.

For military households, book around your orders rather than around a date you hope for. Pickup happens outside the gate, because a hauler is about 75 feet and the driver is a civilian without base credentials.

Name the installation when you book and the meeting spot gets chosen in advance rather than solved on the morning.

All of them. Birmingham, Montgomery, Huntsville and Mobile have their own pages, and we collect from everywhere in between.

That includes Tuscaloosa, Auburn, Dothan, Decatur, Florence, Hoover, Vestavia Hills, Madison, Gulf Shores and the smaller towns off the interstates.

Give us the exact pickup ZIP at quote stage and you get the figure for your address rather than for the nearest city.