Just recently, the move of a 2015 Toyota Camry from Gardena, CA to Bastrop, TX was completed. The trip spanned 1,410 miles using an open trailer for $1,481.00 or $1.05/mile.
The car was operational at pickup time. This is basically as ordinary a vehicle as one can get. An everyday sedan with original paint job, open trailer and mid-range haul down a main highway. But the price per mile is higher than what we have reported on similar moves. And that needs to be explained.
The route
The 2,268 kilometers run from Gardena to Bastrop is a journey through the desert southwest to central Texas.
Gardena is located in the South Bay area of Los Angeles. Travelers take the ramp onto I-10 east and make their way out of the valley area through Palm Springs, across the Colorado River to Blythe.
For the entire journey, travelers will be using I-10, which goes through Phoenix, Tucson, and Arizona to reach Texas, and passes through Las Cruces and El Paso, and then to Van Horn, Fort Stockton and Junction to San Antonio.
From San Antonio, travelers continue along I-10 towards Luling, taking a turn towards Bastrop via TX-71 northeast.
Why the same car costs a different amount in a different week
We have put out a 1,315-mile open run at $0.84/mile and a 1,465-mile open run at $0.82. This run is similar in length and similar in vehicle type and it came in higher. This is why.
A quote is a picture of a live market. It is not a rate card. The carriers determine what they will take based upon their options in the market that week, which are ever changing. Same two bookings made a month apart may be different in price substantially.
Carrier availability varies from week to week. The number of trucks operating in the lanes surrounding your pickup date is the most significant factor, which cannot be forecasted well ahead of time by anybody, ourselves included.
The season lies behind all of it. As was mentioned in relation to a move from Minnesota to California, the demand in the market varies during the course of the year, making a lane softer or harder depending on the month.
There’s also another location which is somewhat off-corridor that helps. This is Bastrop, thirty miles from Austin and off the I-35 corridor. Not isolated and not an issue, but there are carriers which service Austin metro have to make a deviation for it, and it matters.
This is the reason quotes expire. The price that we provided to you six weeks ago was the valid one when we provided it. It was not a commitment that the market had any obligation to honor now. If someone guarantees you that his quote is everlasting, it means he either doesn’t book carriers or plans to re-quote you.
So, what could you do about it? Try booking with a larger pick-up window, providing enough time, and quoting in favor of your lane instead of waiting for an improvement. These are the levers that you can pull. Haggling the current market price is not one of them.
What $1.05 per mile reflects
There were two factors that helped the customer, and there were two that didn’t.
Helping him were distance and open transport. A distance of 1,410 miles means that the costs for pickup, loading, securing, and delivery can be reasonably distributed on a sufficient distance, while open trailers can fit more cars than closed ones in one transport run.
Disadvantages are off-the-courridor delivery in Bastrop and more restricted lane situation at the time of booking than similar runs we have booked.
As far as the car itself is concerned, it neither helps nor doesn’t help. Camry is the most ordinary car on American roads. It occupies one place in the parking lot without causing any loading problems.
Open transport
The Camry traveled on an open trailer since this is the mode that is employed by most cars in this nation.
This is a ten-year-old factory-clear coated sedan, and there is always the use of enclosed transport only for cases where getting a rock chip can make any economic impact to a car. In a case like this, the enclosed transport would be unnecessary expense in protecting a car from a damage that it is unlikely to get. We stated this clearly.
Loading was easy because the car was running and had its normal ride height as per sedans. There was therefore no need for consideration of ramp angles.
Transport summary
- Origin: Gardena, CA 90247
- Destination: Bastrop, TX 78602
- Distance: 1,410 miles
- Service cost: $1,481.00
- Cost per mile: $1.05
- Vehicle: 2015 Toyota Camry
- Condition: Operable
- Trailer type: Open
- Route: Gardena, CA → I-10 east through Palm Springs, Blythe, Phoenix and Tucson → Las Cruces, NM → El Paso, Van Horn, Fort Stockton and Junction, TX → San Antonio → Luling → TX-71 northeast → Bastrop, TX
