Avoid These Costly Mistakes When Shipping Your Car with Stuff Inside!

One of the most common questions many carriers get asked is “Can I put stuff in my car when I ship it?”

The short answer is “yes” but the reality is it’s more complicated than that and there are many factors to consider before loading up your car with your valuable possessions.

In this article we dig deeper into what carriers will often ask of you before accepting to move your vehicle – especially if your planning on loading it with personal items.

What to Keep in Mind When Shipping a Car and bBelongings Together

Firstly, personal items are not covered by the carrier’s cargo insurance.

You ship them at your own risk!

Secondly, any damage that occurs to your vehicle because of your personal belongings is not covered either. For example, if your car has household goods bouncing around in the inside that causes damage to the interior, that damage isn’t covered.

Likewise, if a thief smashes in your window to get to your belongings, that damage isn’t covered either. We strongly recommend that you have your own vehicle insurance coverage when shipping a car and belongings together if you want your personal items covered.

1. Secure and “hide” your personal items.

You’ll need to secure your personal belongings so they aren’t moving around the vehicle during the transport, potentially damaging the vehicle.

As mentioned above, any damage done to the vehicle as a result of your personal belongings is not covered by the carrier’s insurance. It’s a good idea put your stuff in suitcases, duffle bags or boxes and then make sure they are secured and aren’t going to move around easily.

The other thing we suggest is that you keep your personal belongings “out of sight” as best as you can.

You might hear the phrase, “below the window line.” This simply means to keep your personal belongings below the window line of your vehicle so they aren’t easily seen.

While your vehicle will be safely secured on the trailer and in the driver’s sight most of the time, the driver will need to take breaks along the way to grab a bite to eat or fuel up. Also, if it’s more than a day’s transport, he’ll be sleeping overnight.

There’s no need to tempt a thief with personal belongings that are easily seen through the windows.

Also, we would highly recommend you put your personal items and household goods in the trunk of your vehicle if possible for optimum security.

The other reason you want to keep your personal belongings below the window line is so the driver can safely drive your vehicle on and off the trailer. They’ll need to be able to clearly see through the windows and be able to use the rear view mirror.

Example of how NOT to ship personal belongings in a vehicle!
(the personal items are filled to the roof of the car and are not packed or secured properly)

Word of WARNING: If a driver shows up to pick up your vehicle with personal items packed like that, they may refuse to take your vehicle for liability and safety reasons! At the very least, you will incur additional charges. You want to keep personal belongings to a minimum and you want them packed securely in the vehicle.

A the risk of sounding like a broken record, we can’t emphasise it enough, anything that happens to your personal belongings, or any damage to the vehicle that occurs because of the personal belongings, are not covered by the carrier’s insurance.

If a thief smashes in your window to get to your personal belongings, the stolen items will not be covered. (Nor will repairing that window!)

2. Transporting a Car With Personal Items Isn’t Without Risk.

Many of our transports are for people moving from one state to another, or holiday makers temporarily moving up North, so we ship vehicles with stuff in them all the time. It is rarely an issue but it’s not 100% without risk.

For example, one customer had $5,000 worth of tools locked in the toolbox that was attached to the bed of his ute. He wanted the ute picked up from a parking lot he thought was secure. Before the driver arrived, a thief picked the lock on the toolbox and stole all his tools! Fortunately, his personal auto insurance covered his loss, but it was a major headache for him to deal with. This story not to scare you but to demonstrate the real risk of shipping personal belongings with your vehicle.