The process
How a Milepost shipment actually runs
From the first quote to the signature in your driveway — every stage, who is responsible for it, and what you should expect to hear from us along the way.
1. You send the route and the vehicle
Four pieces of information price a move: where it begins, where it ends, what the vehicle is, and the earliest day you can hand over the keys. Everything after that is refinement.
Give us a genuine earliest date rather than a hopeful one. Carriers plan routes days ahead, and a car that is not ready when the truck arrives is the single most common reason a shipment comes apart.
2. Your agent prices it against live carrier rates
Auto transport trades on a spot market. Carriers post free trailer space to national load boards, and the going rate on any lane shifts week by week with fuel, season, and how many trucks happen to be running that direction.
Your agent reads what carriers are accepting on your lane right now and builds the quote from the driver's side upward: what the carrier needs to be paid, plus what Milepost keeps for arranging, checking, and managing the shipment. You see both halves.
3. You accept, and we go and find the truck
Once you accept we post the vehicle and work our carrier network. On dense corridors that takes a day or two. On a rural collection or an enclosed load it can take a week. We tell you which of the two you are in rather than leaving you to guess.
Before anything is dispatched we confirm the carrier's FMCSA authority is active, pull the current cargo insurance certificate, and read the safety record. If any one of the three does not stand up, we keep looking.
4. Collection, and the inspection that protects you
The driver calls ahead to confirm timing. At collection the two of you walk the vehicle together and complete the bill of lading — the condition report that doubles as your receipt and your contract with the carrier.
Take your own photographs in daylight: all four corners, the roof, the wheels, and any damage already present. Never sign a blank or vague condition report. This document is what any later claim stands on, and five careful minutes here are worth more than everything else you do all shipment.
5. On the road
Cross-country runs usually take five to ten days; regional moves one to three. Drivers are bound by federal hours-of-service limits, so a truck that meets weather or a mechanical problem loses a day and cannot simply drive harder to recover it. We pass delays on as we hear them rather than leaving you wondering.
6. Delivery, and the balance
The driver calls ahead again. You inspect against the same bill of lading, write down anything new before signing, settle the carrier balance in the agreed form, and that is the shipment closed.
If something is wrong, record it on the bill of lading at delivery and photograph it on the spot. A claim noted at delivery is straightforward. A claim raised three days later, after the car has been driven, is very hard for anyone to win.
Timing
Roughly how long each stage takes
Real ranges rather than marketing ones. Where your shipment lands depends mostly on how dense your route is and how far your dates can move.
| Stage | Typical | What stretches it |
|---|---|---|
| Quote returned | Same business day | Unusual vehicles, or lanes that need a carrier callback |
| Carrier assigned | 1–5 days | Rural collection, an enclosed request, a fixed single date, peak season |
| Collection after assignment | 1–3 days | The driver's existing route and remaining hours |
| Regional transit, under 500 miles | 1–3 days | Weather, and the other stops already on the trailer |
| Cross-country transit | 5–10 days | Mountain weather, mechanical trouble, mandatory rest |
Know your route and your dates?
Send them across and we will price the lane today.