2024 AmeriFreight Car Shipping Review

There’s a good reason why AmeriFreight is on our list of best car shipping companies year over year. From its 50-state availability, to its exhaustive carrier vetting process and $2,000 gap coverage, it’s a clear choice as a reputable car shipper—and continues to set the standard for its competitors.

Check out how AmeriFreight compares to its competitors in our Best Car Shipping Companies article.

In 2024, the average cost to ship a car with AmeriFreight is approximately $1,119. Costs range from about $580 to transport a vehicle a couple of hundred miles on an open car carrier to around $1,585 to ship it across the country in a fully enclosed trailer. The car shipping company also has flexible pricing options that help you find the best price point for your situation.

And while AmeriFreight’s average cost to ship a vehicle is slightly higher than the industry average, they do offer more cost effective options if you’re shipping a larger vehicle—which is something that you don’t often see.

AmeriFreight’s average shipping price is currently about 1% higher than the auto transport industry average—which, we admit, is a bit of an increase from last year's 10% below the industry average. That said, the pricing benefits are better if you need to ship a larger vehicle on an open transport carrier, saving you between $150 to $200 on average (with an open transport). This makes AmeriFreight a great choice if you need to ship the Ford-F150 you need for work or the Honda CR-V you’ll use to take the kids to school at your new location.

Need the best deal on shipping your truck or SUV?

According to AmeriFreight, several factors affect its auto transport prices from start to finish:

• Vehicle size. We’ve found you will be charged for how much your car weighs and how much space it takes up. Analysis of more than 60 AmeriFreight quotes shows us that you’ll pay about $70 extra each time you go up a vehicle size (from a car to an SUV to a truck).
• Vehicle condition. AmeriFreight will charge an extra $200–$500 (depending on the size) if your vehicle doesn’t run. Bottom line? The more work the driver does to get your car onto the truck, the more you pay.
• Transport type. Open transport is always your cheapest option, and almost everyone uses it. For people with classic cars or luxury cars who want the extra protection of an enclosed carrier, prices are much higher (about 80%).
• Expedited shipping. AmeriFreight can often pick up our vehicle within a couple of days for an extra fee. While you'll still need to talk with a company rep about specific timelines, normal expedited fees are $75 for SUVs, $125 for large SUVs, and $150 for full-size trucks.
• Special requests. You can pay an extra $100 to “top load” your car. This may be a good option if you want a little extra protection but don’t want to pay for enclosed shipping.
• Gap protection coverage. It costs an extra $50–$100 for additional coverage. Not only do you get up to $2,000 toward out-of-pocket expenses, but the gap plan also gives you 48 hours to identify damage. You forfeit your right to file a claim with most companies if you don’t find damage as soon as your vehicle arrives.
• Time of year. Car shipping costs are usually the lowest in the spring and fall and the highest in the summer and winter months (when most people transport their vehicles). Of course, holidays and seasonal weather conditions also affect your price.
• Economic conditions. Recessions, gas shortages, and COVID-19 aren’t just hard on families. Car shipping companies also face increased costs that affect you. For example, if gas prices go up $1 per gallon, your quote’s fuel prices will rise too.
• Pickup and delivery locations. Travel farther from freeways, populated cities, and established routes to get the best pricing.

No matter which shipment option you choose, rest assured that all of AmeriFreight’s carriers offer basic liability coverage that protects your vehicle while it’s on the road. The legal minimum is $750,000 in liability coverage, but AmeriFreight tells us that most of its drivers carry between $1 million and $2 million. This free coverage doesn’t include any damage incurred during the parking, storing, loading, or unloading of your vehicle, though, so keep that in mind.

AmeriFreight also offers supplemental coverage through an Allied Fidelity Total Assurance (AFta) plan. For an extra $50–$100, you receive coverage with two important benefits:

1. Cash. Your AFta gap coverage pays up to $2,000 toward your deductible if the carrier’s insurance doesn’t cover the cost. If you’re not impressed, bear in mind that’s $2,000 more than most car shipping companies.
2. Time. You have 48 hours after delivery to detect damage. Most car transport companies require you to sign off as soon as your car arrives, which can make it difficult to perform a thorough damage check.

Like many of its competitors, AmeriFreight offers open and enclosed car shipping services for several types of vehicles—including cars, motorcycles, boats, and even golf carts. In fact, the company markets its flexible shipping services to several groups:

• Boaters
• Car enthusiasts
• Contactless purchasers
• Families moving homes
• First responders
• Golfers
• Internet purchasers
• Military members
• Motorcyclists
• Seasonal movers
• Seniors
• Students

AmeriFreight offers a three-tiered pricing approach, and one of them includes fully-guaranteed car shipping quotes. Considering final prices in this industry are often 25% higher than initial quotes (or more than $300 for the average shipment), those are some major savings.

AmeriFreight’s three price options include: 

• Economy Saver Rate: best for lowest prices
• First Class Rate: best option for those who value guaranteed quotes the most
• Priority Preferred Rate: normal rate and faster than the Economy saver

What’s great about this is that it allows you to decide which plan works best for your individual move, which can be hard to control with other companies. However, we also understand that it can be hard to decide the difference between these options without help from your AmeriFreight rep.

One of the best things AmeriFreight offers its customers is gap coverage. Most companies don’t offer any additional coverage at all, while a few will add their names as certificate holders on their carrier’s insurance. But AmeriFreight is unique because of how much additional coverage is truly offered. Here’s a couple examples:

• You get cash towards your deductible. AmeriFreight’s AFta gap coverage offers up to $2,000 toward your deductible if the carrier’s insurance refuses to pay the claim. That way, if you find yourself in a worst-case scenario, AmeriFreight won’t leave you out to dry.
• You have time to find damage. Unlike most companies that force you to check for damage immediately upon delivery, AmeriFreight gives you 48 hours to check for damages. Which gives you plenty of time to make sure everything’s in tip-top shape after delivery.

The company uses a five-step carrier vetting process, and frankly, it’s better than just about any transport company we’ve seen. Here are the standards required of each carrier that works for AmeriFreight:

1. License and registration. Sure, it’s a basic thing, but AmeriFreight does the legwork to make sure your driver is properly licensed and registered with the US Department of Transportation.
2. Interstate authority. You may be surprised to hear that not all carriers have the authority to cross state lines when transporting a vehicle. And the last thing you want are drivers who break the law the second they leave the confines of your home state. AmeriFreight makes sure that won’t happen.
3. Insurance. AmeriFreight identifies the insurance status of its carriers before it ever picks up your vehicle. It may sound simple, but we’ve heard more than a few horror stories of uninsured truck drivers who try to sneak under the radar. This won’t happen with AmeriFreight, though.
4. Driver ratings. You may already know that all auto transport brokers find reliable carriers in the same place: an online marketplace with more than 13,000 drivers. And unsurprisingly, not all of them are stellar drivers. AmeriFreight uses only the excellent ones, and refuses to contract with any driver that scores below 95% on Central Dispatch’s rating system.
5. “Do not use” list. Anytime a customer reports bad experiences to AmeriFreight, it’ll break off the relationship with the offending carrier faster than you can parallel park your car. Plus, the company maintains an in-house “do not use” list to make sure you get the best drivers.

AmeriFreight has been providing excellent service to its car shipping customers for more than 20 years. And in an industry where new companies frequently come and go, that’s saying something. From its guaranteed pricing option, its AFta gap coverage, and its carefully vetted carriers, AmeriFreight gives customers plenty of reasons to award it an average online review score of 4.8 out of 5 stars.

When the company opened its doors in 2004 (more than 20 years ago), it had a mission to become one of the industry’s most trusted logistics companies in the country…and we’d say it accomplished that. If you factor in its gap insurance offerings and unwavering carrier vetting process—you’d agree that AmeriFreight has consistently angled itself to be one of the most reputable and road-safe shippers around.

That said, AmeriFreight has not been immune to the changes in the economy, and as a result, there have been some notable pricing changes. For example, in 2021, AmeriFreight’s pricing was pretty on par with the industry standard, usually coming in about 3% below the industry average.

However, in 2022, we’ve seen about a 4% increase in average shipping costs—which means you’ll be paying $25 to $50 more for shipping services than years past. Not a huge difference, we know—but considering final shipping costs can exceed 25% of the original quote, it’s still something to keep in mind.

At the end of the day, AmeriFreight is one of the best car shipping companies we’ve seen. While it definitely stands up against its strongest competitors when it comes to things like pricing and customer reviews, AmeriFreight truly outshines almost everyone when it comes to vehicle safety—because AmeriFreight puts every potential driver through an exhaustive background check and refuses to work with the ones who don’t meet its standards. And we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention its gap coverage that gives you peace of mind if your car gets damaged in transit. Bottom line: customers love AmeriFreight—and we do too.

Want a company that cares about finding the best drivers to keep your car safe?

We conducted intensive research to identify the best moving companies for long-distance moves and local moves, in addition to container moves, truck rentals, and hourly moving labor. During our searches, we:

• Compare pricing transparency. We gather quotes, check for binding estimates, and read customer reviews about pricing to ensure each moving company’s prices are trustworthy.
• Review accreditation. We check every company’s records in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s database to confirm companies are properly authorized to transport household goods.
• Go mystery shopping. We review every company’s website, pose as customers in calls to companies, and read customer reviews to analyze every company’s moving services, transit protection, and customer service. We also interview actual customers to learn how their moves went from start to finish.
• Perform site visits. We invite moving companies to our headquarters in Salt Lake City, UT, to share data and expertise. We verify the information they provide by comparing it to data gathered through independent research and interviews with other movers.
• Set up regular reviews. We routinely repeat this process to update our recommendations to reflect current data and trends. We also revise each review annually and make updates throughout the year.

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