How Motorcycle Shipping Works

There are many methods available for motorcycle shipping. Motorcycle shippers can provide door to door service, they can provide terminal to terminal service or a combination of the two. Our shipping companies can provide roll-on / roll-off service, pallet service, crated service or container service. Roll-on / roll-off shipping service is just that, the shipper literally rolls your bike on and off of their trailer and secures the bike to the floor of the trailer using soft tie-down straps. Specialty shippers that offer pallet service bring a pallet with them to the origin location and secure the bike to the pallet using soft tie-down straps. They have a lift gate and a pallet jack to load and unload the palletized bike. Some motorcycle transport companies offer crated shipping where they box the bike up in a wooden crate and load it on their truck via a forklift, lift gate or directly from their dock. Another method of motorcycle moving is container shipping. Some bike movers provide large metal containers to load the bike into and these shippers usually only ship dock to dock.

The most common bike shipping method is the roll-on / roll-off method and the pallet method is next most popular method. The roll-on / roll-off method requires the least amount of work and equipment for the bike moving company. They only need a ramp or lift gate to load the bike and soft tie down straps to secure the bike in their trailer. The pallet shipping option is utilized by a number of shippers. These transporters provide a wooden or metal pallet to position the bike on. They secure the bike to the pallet with soft tie down straps and then load the palletized bike with a lift gate. The pallet method is usually used by specialty shipping companies that have larger trucks since the pallets take up more space. The specialized shipping companies that ship using the crated shipping method and container shipping method usually only ship dock to dock. They require the bike to be crated when you bring the bike to their dock and they load the crated bike with a forklift. Some motorcycle movers provide metal containers for you to place the bike in for shipping. These shippers also load the containerized bike with a forklift.

We can provide shipping rate quotes for all of these various options. The next step we do after you select the option that you want to use to ship your motorcycle is for us to collect a small down payment via a credit or debit card over the phone. When we have the down payment in place we will refer you directly to the shipping company that you selected from among the different shipping options we provided in our email quote. We will send you an email with that shippers contact information. We will also send the shipper a booking confirmation email and copy you on that note letting them know you booked the shipment through us and what the remaining balance is less the down payment that the shipping company will need to collect. Most shipping companies can take a credit or debit card for the balance they collect as well. Some shippers do charge a small fee if you pay with a card but there are workarounds to avoid the credit card fee.  The shipper will collect your shipment details directly from you and set up the preliminary pick up and delivery schedule for your shipment.