Federal Motor Carrier and Safety Administration-Avoid Fake Auto Shipping Companies

Auto transport services are very popular nowadays. People, who want to transport vehicles to distant cities, hire vehicle transporters for shipping their vehicles to desired area. In addition, people who purchase cars from automotive dealers in other cities also choose to ship their vehicles with the help of auto transporters. Vehicle shipping services are preferred because they relieve of people from hassles of relocating car on their own. Therefore, if you want to relocate a vehicle, you should hire a car shipping company for transporting it because it is cost effective.

When looking for an auto transport company, one of major thing you will need is to avoid vehicle shipping scams. Auto transport industry comprises of both licensed and illegal car shipping companies because of which it becomes hard to find out a reputable network of auto transporters for shipping vehicle. A number of ways can help you to check if it is legitimate or fraud. If you are hiring a company for transporting your vehicle, you should verify it with following federal agency to make sure it is not a scam:

Federal Motor Carrier and Safety Administration (FMCSA)

It is subsidiary of U.SDepartment of Transportation, which particularly deals with interstate moving companies. In order to verify your auto mover, you should contact Federal Moving Carrier and Safety Administration (FMCSA). It holds record of all legitimate vehicle shipping companies. In order to verify company with FMCSA, you should log onto agency’s website and visit Safety and Search.

The safety and search allows citizens to access safety record of an auto shipping company. You can check your car transporter by entering its official name or US DOT number. When you will enter name of vehicle shipper, it will possibly come with following results:

1.  Does not exist, means the vehicle shipper is not registered with Federal Department of Transportation. Hence, it is not legitimate..

2.      Inactive DOT number means the company has been asked by DOT to shut its operations due to violation of rules and regulations. Thus, it is an unprofessional and inexperienced vehicle shipping company.

3.      Record exist means the car shipper is registered with DOT. Check its safety record and make sure it is insured as well.

You must also check rating of auto shipper with Federal Motor Carrier and Safety Administration. It will enable you to see whether it meets standards of vehicle shipping as well as where it stands among reputable companies.