Just recently we completed the transportation of a 2007 Mercedes-Benz CLK 350 from Los Angeles, CA, to Hampton, GA. The trip distance is 2,222 miles on an open trailer and it costs $1,556.00 that is $0.70 per mile.
The CLK 350 is drivable when we received it, and it drives up the ramp by itself. What is important, this car is 18 years old, and this information should be highlighted since in the case of an older vehicle, there is one particular point which becomes much more significant than with a brand-new car.
The route
The 2,222-mile journey from Los Angeles to Hampton traverses the southern portion of the country, moving from the Pacific to the piedmont of Georgia.
The ZIP code 90044 is located in South Los Angeles, and therefore drivers move eastwards on I-10 and exit the basin by passing through Palm Springs. The interstate highway passes over the Colorado River at Blythe and then transports traffic through Phoenix and Tucson in Arizona.
The highway moves beyond Las Cruces and enters Texas at El Paso before moving through Fort Stockton and San Antonio to reach Houston. The highway enters Louisiana at Orange and continues through Baton Rouge, moving along the Gulf Coast via Biloxi to Mobile, Alabama.
From Mobile, the truck moves to Montgomery by taking I-65 north and then to Atlanta on I-85 northeast. Hampton is located in Henry County just south of Atlanta, and therefore the truck moves on I-75 south.
The condition report matters more on an older car
Every load begins and ends with the inspection. The driver inspects the car and records the damage on the Bill of Lading. Both parties sign. When the load arrives, the driver looks through the Bill of Lading and checks the condition of the car against the one noted on the bill.
This is easy for a brand-new car. This is probably the most important five minutes of the whole operation for an eighteen-year-old car.
The older car comes with some history. The stone chip on the front and the scrape on the bumper, curb rash on the wheel, the small dent in the door. All of it normal. All of it invisible until you are looking for it.
Damage without documentation becomes a dispute. If it is not recorded on the Bill of Lading at the start, then there is no documentation of its presence prior to shipping. This is why the customer and the carrier end up disputing a scratch that neither of them caused.
Take your own photos of the car before loading it. Each panel, both bumpers, all four tires, the roof, and the windshield, done in daylight and dated. That’ll take you ten minutes and solve any problem before it arises.
Make sure you wash the car as well. Road grime will cover up any small surface damage on the car, which we are concerned about here. A washed car will give you a much more accurate inspection, and that’s the most important step a client can do to prepare for the move.
Also, be sure to read the document before you sign it both upon pickup and upon delivery. Your signature at the delivery point means that the condition did match, so there’s nothing wrong in checking it even if everything seems fine.
What $0.70 per mile reflects
There were two factors responsible for this.
Firstly, there was distance. The expense of pickup, loading, unloading, securement, coordination, and delivery to the carrier are almost constant on every shipment, irrespective of the distance involved, and their cost does not vary according to distance. Spread out over 2,222 miles, the cost borne by every mile comes out to be very low. If divided over just a few hundred miles, then this same cost per mile will be twice or thrice as much.
Secondly, there was open transport. Open trailers move more vehicles and travel more frequently than enclosed trailers.
The third factor was the corridor. The I-10 from Southern California to the Gulf is one of the most stable freight routes in America, and Atlanta is a major distributor center at the other end. The limitation was never carrier availability.
Open transport
The CLK was transported on an open trailer, something which is right for a used production car with the factory paint job.
Enclosed trailers are reserved for cars that will suffer financially if they get a rock chip. An eighteen-year-old well-maintained CLK is one that you drive for pleasure and is not a collector’s car; and on a route of 2,222 miles, enclosed was an expensive upgrade to cover the car that did not require any.
The loading was easy. The car started up, and the CLK stands at a normal coupe ride height, so angle of loading did not come into question. Securement used soft straps across the tires instead of chains across the suspension system which is the usual case with any vehicle.
Transport summary
- Origin: Los Angeles, CA 90044
- Destination: Hampton, GA 30228
- Distance: 2,222 miles
- Service cost: $1,556.00
- Cost per mile: $0.70
- Vehicle: 2007 Mercedes-Benz CLK 350
- Condition: Operable
- Trailer type: Open
- Route: Los Angeles, CA → I-10 east through Palm Springs, Blythe, Phoenix and Tucson → Las Cruces, NM → El Paso and San Antonio, TX → Houston → Baton Rouge, LA → Biloxi, MS → Mobile, AL → I-65 north to Montgomery → I-85 northeast to Atlanta, GA → I-75 south → Hampton, GA
