Many Canadians from Quebec travel during October, November and December to the sunshine state Florida. This route: Buffalo NY to Orlando, Miami, Tampa and Fort Myers-Naples become a very busy route. As the demand grows, many carriers change their route to stay on the east coast to serve those demands.
As experience teach us in the past, this is a very hectic time and there are many things that can go wrong when not planning correctly.
Before even booking your car transport, there are some things to take into consideration:
1. What is your pickup time frame?
If you are planning to cross the border and catch a flight to your destination, your time frame for pickup is very narrow. Sometimes, we manage to arrange that the carrier will meet you as soon as you cross and take the vehicle from you to load on a car carrier. Most times, we will find a terminal (Terminal can be a storage or a secure yard) for you to drop off the vehicle, usually not very far from the airport. The carrier that assigned to your order will pick up from that location and deliver it to you on destination. Always let us know what your time frame so we will find the best solution for that!
2. What's your budget?
As demand grows for car transport from North to South, so is the price. Since each carrier can load between 6-10 cars very easy from North to South, there is not many cars moving to north. In order to accommodate the time frames of snowbirds, carriers not waiting for their trucks to fill up on the way north and most times go out half empty. Carriers ask for more money for vehicles going north to south to compensate for all their expenses. For example: if during any other time, a regular sedan can be picked up in Buffalo NY and shipped to Miami FL for $600-700, during snowbirds season price can go up to $900-1000. During last year, with the raise of fuel prices, the rates changed from $700-800 in previous years to $950-1100!!! Customers who booked early, got stack with low rates from years before and the increase was so significant that it almost duplicate the rates. This year, hopefully, the gas prices will not sky rock like last year as they already high enough, but always stay tuned and alert.
Another thing to mention when it comes to the money part of the transport is the deposit. As mentioned before, due to the changes in the rates from year to year and sometimes even from week to week. a Customer should NEVER EVER pay deposit fee while booking! Rates are determined by the carriers only, as long as no carrier is assigned to your order, NO ONE can guarantee the final price. Once a carrier is assigned the price cannot be changed and you can safely pay the deposit required. Many of last year's customers, contacted us after their broker took their money and stop answering their calls. They booked for a lower rates, paid deposit to "secure and lock down the rate" but when the time came, no carrier was willing to take the vehicle for that rate. We DO NOT TAKE ANY MONEY until we confirmed the carrier, which you, the customer, will get all his information includes his certificate of insurance.
Our policy, is to give reliable and honest service to our customers. We strive to give the best prices possible but not in the cost of lying or deceiving our customers. We ensure all the carriers we use in general and during the snowbirds season especially are good ones, with good communication, good insurance and of course best rate.
As the Winter in the northern states start to melt and warmer weather comes, usually around March, April and May, all the people who relocate South, now Go back to the North. The snowbirds season kick in again but on the other direction.