Recommended Steps To Take Before Hiring a Transport Company To Ship Your Car, Boat, Horse, Furniture, or Move.

 by: John Kaufman

When you are having your valued items shipped, it is important to find the best hauler for job, not necessarily the cheapest. Customer service, reliability, and trustworthiness are all important factors in choosing a transport company. An unscrupulous trucker can cost you money, damage your property, and cause you a hard time.

Recommended Steps to take before hiring a transport company:

• Ask Questions - When you first contact a hauler, you should ask as many relevant questions as you can regarding the care they will take with your property, scheduling, contract issues, what type of equipment they have, licensing, insurance, and take some time to get a feel for the type of people you are dealing with. The vast majority of truckers / haulers are reputable business people that simply want to help you, the best way to weed out the few that aren't is in this first stage.

• Get References - Most haulers should be prepared to provide you with several references in regards to RECENT jobs they have done. If time allows try to contact every reference and ask questions regarding the type of service they received from their hauler. Remember, that no one is perfect all of the time, so if there are any less than perfect reviews, follow up with a question to see how the hauler resolved the issue.

Sample questions to ask provided references:

• What did you have __(company name)___ haul?

• When did they haul it?

• Did they keep you well informed of their pickup / delivery schedule?

• How well did they keep their original promised schedule?

• Did they take good care of your (car, boat, horse, furniture, etc..)?

• If any problems occurred, how did the hauler resolve them?

• How would you rate your overall experience with this hauler?

• Would your recommend this hauler to others?

Use the above questions in an e-mail or as a template for a phone conversation with the provided references, and you will have a very good idea of what to expect when you use the hauler yourself.

• Check Licensing - Your hauler should be able to provide you with his DOT number, and MC, Number. You can check the validity of their DOT number at the FMCA website: http://li-public.fmcsa.dot.gov/LIVIEW/pkg_carrquery.prc_carrlist - A DOT license lets you know that the hauler has filed the proper paperwork and pays the proper taxes and fees when hauling your items.

• Check Insurance - It's important for you to know that your carrier has adequate insurance to cover potential damage to your property. If you choose an uninsured or underinsured transport company you risk not being compensated for loss or damage of your (car, boat, horse, furniture, etc..).

• Check FindAHauler Profile - If your hauler has a profile in the FindAHauler.com Directory: http://FindAHauler.com/directory/ you can view any feedback left regarding the hauler by other visitors to the site.

• Read contracts carefully - Many haulers will have you execute a transport contract prior to hauling your (car, boat, horse, furniture, etc..). Make sure that you read the contract and understand the provisions of the contract. If there is a down payment required, make sure you know the conditions under which it will or won't be refunded. Is the down payment due prior to the pickup of your property, when is the full payment due?. It is generally not advisable to pay a down payment prior to pickup of your property. If it is practical, you may want to negotiate the full payment upon delivery of your property.

If you follow the above advice, you should have an easy and stress free experience having your car, boat, horse, furniture, etc... transported. Thousands of people have had their cars, horse, boats, trailers, livestock, etc... shipped using FindAHauler.com since September of 2002, and it is very rare for any of them to have a problem with a hauler they have found using our site. We have a very aggressive stance on any users of our site not operating in an ethical and straightforward manner, and do our best to provide an easy and safe environment for all.