The short answer
Carriers quote pickup windows because a nine-car trailer is a route, not a taxi. Dispatch fills a truck along a corridor, then sequences stops to keep the trailer loaded and legal. Your standard window is 1 to 7 business days from your first available date; expedited narrows it to 1 to 5 by paying a carrier to rearrange an existing route. Flexibility is the single cheapest way to get picked up fast.
- A full car hauler carries 7–10 vehicles and must be loaded in delivery order.
- Drivers are capped at roughly 11 driving hours and about 500 miles a day.
- Wider first-available windows attract more carriers and lower pricing.
- Expedited (+~35%) buys a narrower window, not a faster truck.
What happens after you book
- Your load posts to the national dispatch network with your lane, dates and vehicle details.
- Carriers already running that corridor bid or accept.
- We verify authority, insurance and safety record before assigning anyone.
- You get the carrier name, driver name and phone number.
- The driver calls to confirm a pickup time inside the window.
Why loading order matters
Cars have to come off in the order they are delivered, so a trailer is loaded like a stack, not a parking lot. That is why a driver may pass within 20 miles of you on Tuesday and still collect on Thursday: your vehicle has to go in a specific slot, and that slot opens when an earlier car comes off.
What makes your load attractive to carriers
- A wide first-available window — three days beats one every time
- Metro or near-interstate pickup and delivery addresses
- A running vehicle with no oversized modifications
- A phone that gets answered on the first call
- Accurate vehicle details, so nothing has to be re-quoted at the curb
What slows a pickup down
- Rural addresses well off the corridor
- A single-day pickup requirement on standard service
- Undisclosed modifications or a non-running vehicle
- Severe weather closing a mountain pass
- Unreachable contacts at either end
Frequently asked questions
- Why can't I get an exact pickup date?
- Because your car is one stop on a multi-vehicle route governed by federal driving-hour limits. Windows are how the industry tells the truth about that; exact-date promises on standard service are a sales tactic.
- How does expedited shipping work?
- We pay a premium (about 35%) that makes it worth a carrier's while to rearrange an existing route, which narrows the pickup window from 1–7 business days to 1–5.
- Does the driver come to my door?
- Yes, wherever a 75-foot truck can legally and safely operate. On narrow, gated or low-clearance streets, the driver arranges a nearby meeting point at no extra cost.