The vehicle industry is continuing to grow every year—people will always want vehicles, new or old, and this means vehicle manufacturing and sales businesses are booming. But one aspect of the auto industry that salespeople sometimes forget about is auto shipping. Starting an auto shipping can come with many challenges, like other businesses, but it can be extremely rewarding. So if you’re considering starting an auto shipping business, here are a few important things to know.
Obtain The Necessary Licenses
First things first, you need to make sure you’re doing everything legally—this includes getting the proper licenses in order to operate an auto shipping business. You should highly consider getting your CDL license, which will allow you to drive commercial trucks for shipping purposes. Having this license isn’t necessary if you plan on hiring drivers, but it can help significantly, especially when it comes to getting insurance. And speaking of insurance, you’ll need a good insurance policy.
You’re going to be shipping expensive vehicles and you want to ensure you’ll be covered in the event of an accident. And lastly, you’ll need a business license in order to legally own and operate your auto shipping business. Make sure to obtain these licenses before doing anything else.
Invest In The Right Equipment
In order to be able to ship vehicles quickly and efficiently, you’ll need the right equipment. You’re going to need some type of truck and/or trailer if you want to move multiple vehicles at once. When considering which type of equipment to get, you should keep a few things in mind. First, do you plan on moving vehicles long distances or are you going to keep it local? Larger trailers will be better for longer distances. Second, how much money are you willing to spend on shipping equipment right from the start? This will be the main deciding factor on which type of equipment you can get. And third, how many drivers do you plan on having? If you’re going to hire multiple drivers, you need multiple trucks and trailers.
Understand Your Market
Like with any type of business, you need to fully understand your market if you want to be successful. You should create a comprehensive business plan that includes market research—figure out which demographics you want to market to, which types of vehicles you want to transport, and which areas around you you’re looking to build a customer base in. From there, you can determine how to advertise to your target audience. Consider reaching out to local car dealership owners and visit auto auctions. Make sure to have a website and social media pages to maximize your chances of reaching your ideal consumers.
It’s also important to determine which types of vehicles you want to ship in order for you to get the right equipment. For example, if you’re looking to tailor to clients with high-end vehicles, you may want to consider enclosed car shipping. This auto transport method will help protect classic, luxury, and exotic vehicles from external elements. Whereas if you’re looking to ship more standard vehicles, you can probably get away with using an open trailer if needed. All in all, it’s important to know your ideal customer and what kind of vehicles they’re interested in so you can build your business accordingly.
Stay Organized
One thing that businesses should not lack is organization. If you want to ensure your business grows and you don’t get in any legal trouble, it’s crucial that you keep all of your paperwork in order. Staying organized will help you keep track of your finances, store important order information, and be prepared when it comes time to do your taxes.
Fortunately, today’s technology makes it so easy and convenient to keep everything easy to find and secure. You can use cloud storage to ensure you don’t lose any important documents and install a security system in order to protect both your company’s and your customers’ private data. And when it comes to making invoices for your customers, an online tool like https://www.smartpayables.com/ can really come in handy. Instead of using paper invoices and trying to keep track of them manually, you can use an automatic system that lets you write, send, track, and manage invoices all online. Utilizing tools like this will help keep you organized so you can focus on other important aspects of your business.
Auto-shipping is a great business to get into as long as you do it right. So start slow, build a small customer base to start off with, and get more equipment as your business grows.
