A question of many individuals and motor dealers across the country, how much does it really cost to have your car collected & delivered? Let us try our best to answer the most common question with car and van transportation services. Calculating the average car delivery cost is not always as simple as many think.
It’s partially complex
Many have in their head an ‘average per mile’ price for car recovery, many still which believe in ‘£1’ a mile (mostly motor traders), which is well not possible, especially in this climate & times have changed. Prices generally vary from £1.50-£2 per loaded mile up to £10+ per mile (for large commercial recovery) and in most cases a base ‘call out fee’, again this all varies on many factors which you need to consider first. People working on these low end of the scale are often extremely overworked, stressed and are not interested in making customers happy, making the quickest buck possible is mostly the aim.
Factors to consider
- The size and weight or the car is the biggest.
- The time of day, many breakdowns late at night increase drastically.
- If the transport job is a dedicated job specific times required.
- If there is any waiting involved on delivery or collection.
- Current fuel prices
- If the motor runs & drives or needs a winch, or has no key.
And the factors above are the main reason why quotes for vehicle transport can never be specific, a great rule of thumb for a standard hatchback car of a distance say 300 miles one way a ‘fair rate’ would be around £500, this allows for essential costs, fuel, wages but would require a return load for a transport provider to make a decent profit, however in some cases you will find Transport Companies who will work for less than this, always be sure to check their documentation.
If your car is of bigger size say a range rover, 4×4 etc you can easily pay £3-£5 per mile plus standard base call out fee.
Cheapest is never best
Car Delivery & collection these days is an expensive business, operation of recovery trucks alone can cost thousands per year just to maintain and repair, given the wear & tear of such long distances repairs are very commonly needed.
Car movement companies insurances alone can be in excess of £10,000 – £20,000 per year depending on fleet size, even for the average small one man band can cost £4000-£5000 per year just on insurance, when you look for the cheapest quote you risk many of the cheap operators not having correct insurances in place or if something goes wrong they will ignore you.
You also want a business that is paying it’s taxes and staff fairly, corporation tax set to rise means increasing costs for businesses. We agree with shopping around, however when you get exceptionally low quotes always be diligent before accepting them.
To sum it up
To make it basic and simple we have ‘call out fee’ and anything from £1.50-£10 per mile (on breakdown recovery work), average call out fees are around £60 or £150-£250 for larger lorry’s such as a 7.5t or a 12t + any waiting time involved. When looking for car collection & delivery always shop around and never look for the ‘cheapest’ in the end it could cost you more than it is worth to save a few quid.
When booking a more relaxed transportation service you can expect to pay £2 a mile upwards per loaded mile, sometimes under if a provider has a fast & open free slot, with transportation you usually do not have any base call out fees as it is a pre-booked job.
Many Breakdown firms will operate at an hourly rate which can vary from £60 per hour to £150 per hour for national breakdown and your large low loaders.
Either way if you are looking to get your car transported or moved, you can post your transportation job on our website today for quotes around the UK, Ireland and even Europe!
Register here for same day car transport quotes
