Shipping Your Exotic Car: A Checklist for Owners and Collectors

Shipping a supercar or a collectible isn’t just a choice between open and enclosed. It’s which enclosed truck, how the car gets on it, how it’s tied down and what the insurance actually covers. Run through this checklist before you book with anyone. For the service itself, see exotic and luxury car shipping.

1. Pick the Right Enclosed Trailer

Enclosed trailers come soft-sided, with heavy curtain walls, or hard-sided. Both keep off weather and road debris. Hard-sided trailers add protection from impacts, and they’re the usual choice for the most valuable cars. Smaller enclosed trailers carry only a few cars, so fewer cars are loaded and unloaded around yours.

2. Ask for a Liftgate

A hydraulic liftgate raises the car level onto the trailer, with no ramp angle at all. For a car with a low nose, a splitter or side skirts, it’s the safest way on. If the carrier uses ramps instead, ask about extended, low-angle ramps.

3. Share the Measurements

• Ground clearance, especially at the front lip
• A front-axle lift, if the car has one, and how it works
• Aftermarket parts like splitters, diffusers, wings or lowered suspension
• Wheel and tire size, since the straps go over the tires

4. Soft Straps, Not Hooks

On an exotic, the tie-downs should be soft straps over the wheels, not hooks or chains on the suspension or frame. Ask how the carrier will secure your car.

5. Know the Insurance Numbers

Carriers carry liability insurance, and typically cargo insurance too, but cargo policies have limits. Ask for the certificate and make sure the limit covers your car’s value. If you have a collector policy, often written for an agreed value, ask your insurer whether it covers the car in transit. Belongings left in the car generally aren’t covered.

6. Document Everything

• Wash the car, so every mark shows.
• Take dated photos and video of every panel, each wheel, the interior and the odometer, in good light.
• Make sure the inspection report at pickup lists every chip and scuff.
• Write down anything the driver needs to know, like a battery cut-off, an alarm or a starting quirk.

7. Plan Around the Big Events

Monterey Car Week in August and the Scottsdale auctions in January fill enclosed trucks early. If you’re showing, selling or buying at one, book as soon as you have your dates.

How We Help

Tell us the car, its value, its clearance and your dates. We match you with a vetted, licensed enclosed carrier set up for it, and your price is agreed in writing before pickup.

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