Understanding Car Shipping Timeframes

Jump to section:
Why shipping takes the amount of time that it does
Delivery and pickup windows
Wrapping up
 
giving-car-key-car-shipment

 

Why shipping takes the amount of time that it does

Shipping your car between the United States and Puerto Rico can take between a week and three weeks depending on several things. The most important factor will be the overall distance. Shipping between the United States and Puerto Rico will take a bit longer than shipments between continental US locations because your car will need to be shipped on a boat at some point. Typically, if all other conditions are optimal, it will take a week to ship your car to Puerto Rico from Miami and three weeks to ship your car to Puerto Rico from Seattle. Keep in mind, these are just estimates and these time frames can vary based on all the other variables.

Those variables include what time of year you choose to ship your vehicle, weather and how much notice you gave for your shipment. The time of year that you ship your vehicle affects the transit time because certain times of the year are busier vehicle shipping times than others, such as the summer. Bad weather can obviously slow down and or temporarily delay a shipment. Finally, if you booked your shipment with less than two weeks’ notice, your car will likely be placed on a full carrier which will be spending a maximum amount of time picking up other cars.
 

Delivery and pickup windows

There are also the pickup and delivery “windows” which you must understand. The way these short windows work is pretty simple. Vehicle shipping pickup and delivery windows are typically two-to-three-day periods where your car will be picked up and or delivered at any time. In the case of shipping to Puerto Rico, your delivery window will be a few days period where you will be notified to pickup your car from the port. You will typically be notified by your auto transport driver within an hour or two of their arrival in order to pick up your car. During these windows, you or someone you trust must be available to give over or receive the vehicle.
 

Wrapping up

Transit times when you ship your car to or from Puerto Rico or anywhere else can be a bit complex because of multiple factors that affect the shipping duration simultaneously. These factors include the distance of the shipment, the time of the year, weather and how much notice that you gave for your shipment. There are also the car shipping “windows” to be aware of. These are usually separate two or three day windows in which your car will be picked up and delivered. If you are shipping to Puerto Rico, you will need to pick your car up at the port upon delivery.

Category: Car shipment.