Auto Shippers Express,
Inc. is fully insured, bonded and regulated
by the U.S. Dept. of Transportation.
Where to leave the keys? When it comes time to ship your car what should you do if you can’t be there at the exact time the truck wants to pick your vehicle up?
Although it is customary to have a person over eighteen hand the keys directly to the auto transport carrier’s driver, sometimes no one can be present at the time of pick up. If it can be done, it is better to leave the keys outside of the vehicle and out of sight. If the car is in the driveway, behind a plant on the porch or on top of one of the cars tires. It is actually very hard to see the top of the tires if you are close to the vehicle; this makes it a good place.
If the car is being left in a parking lot, put the keys in a big envelope and place the envelope under the back seats floor matt on the passenger side. If you have a couple of days before pick up you can mail a second set of keys to the carrier and then he can pick up your car whenever he is passing through.
Hotels and motels make great places to leave the keys; they usually have a front desk that is open 24/7 for the auto transport carrier to stop by and pick up the keys. Most hotel parking lots are not especially big; any lot with more than 300 spaces is not ideal. If you decide to leave your keys at the front desk, draw a map of the parking lot showing where your car is parked on an envelope and put your keys in the envelope before giving the envelope to the front desk.
Auto repair shops can be a good place to leave your vehicle as long as they don’t need your parking space and will be open when the auto transporter comes by. This is a good option if you have a personal relationship with the shop, that way if the transporter says he will be there 20 minutes after the shop closes, they won’t mind too much.
New car dealerships, at first glance, would appear like a good match because they receive new cars from the factory on these same trucks. The problem is parking; all dealerships try to maximize their inventory, which reduces the available parking. The other problem is that if you leave the keys with a salesperson, they may be out on a test drive with a customer at the exact time that the transporter needs to pick up the car.
Probably the best place to leave the keys is with a neighbor who is home a lot. The carrier can call them 24 hours before pick up, and again 1 hour before so they shouldn’t be too inconvenienced.
