A person preparing for his vehicle for shipment should know some general guidelines. This is because auto transport companies have rules that customers must follow. Although the rules might vary from one company to another, there are guidelines that can generally be applied to all.

Here are some tips for vehicle owners to prepare his vehicle for relocation:

1. The vehicle owner must always be present when an inspection comes prior to shipment and to the point of destination. If the vehicle owner cannot be present, he can authorize a proxy that would oversee the inspection. The vehicle owner or the authorized proxy is needed because the transport company would ask him to sign a condition report and bill of landing. The auto transport company might also require the vehicle owner to clean the vehicle properly before an inspection can be conducted.

2. Sometimes, the company would only want to transport operable vehicles. Others accept inoperable vehicles for transport as long as the vehicle owner would pay an additional fee. The owner must make sure that he informs the company if his vehicle is inoperable so as not to encounter problems later.

3. Before the shipping day, he must prepare the complete set of car keys for the movers. He must make sure that he is handing over only car keys and not other keys such as house keys.

4. The owner must make sure that he has removed all personal belongings from the vehicle before transport. It is important that the owner knows that it is against the law to transport vehicles with personal items. Most shipping companies shall refuse to accept a vehicle with personal items. However, if it is really important for the owner to leave something in the car, it is better that he kept it out of sight and hidden in a secure location. The shipper doesn’t want any liabilities of personal items left inside the vehicle. However, a spare tire and jack are not considered personal items and can be shipped inside the car.

4. Before the shipping, the owner must also make sure that he has disabled his alarm system. The alarm might activate during the transit and will result in dead battery upon arrival. The owner must also have less than half-full tank of gas in his car.

5. All non-permanent items must be removed from the car such as car cover, spare tire covers, roof rack, protruding antennas and others.

6. If there is time, the owner can have his vehicle serviced before the shipment so that it is ensured that his car is free from fluid leaks. If the vehicle is being transferred to another land with a different climate, then it is a good idea to add coolant or other fluids and have the air condition or heating systems serviced.

The following general guideline can make the life of a vehicle owner easier in terms of successful vehicle relocation. He must remember though that the guidelines might differ from one auto transfer company to another. It is better to double-check the terms and conditions of any auto transfer company that he would want to hire.