Montway Auto Transport: 2024 Car Shipping Prices and Review

Car Talk's car shipping experts reviewed Montway Auto Transport for 2024 and examined car shipping quotes for a range of different vehicles to get an accurate picture of what it would cost to haul your vehicle. Let's take a look at what we found.

Pros and Cons

How Montway car shipping works

The basic process of shipping a car used to be a fairly laborious process, but Montway Auto Transport makes it easy. The steps are straightforward:

• Obtain a Quote - We’ll get into this deeper a bit later, but the quote tool on the website makes obtaining a quote super easy. Input your year, make and model, answer a few basic questions, and you’re provided an instant quote on the website, and you’ll also have a copy of that quote sent to your email.

• Book your Reservation - Walk through the step-by-step process of inputting your personal data. At the booking stage, you’ll be asked to choose a shipping date, but even if you’re not 100% sure of the date, you can change it later. The company uses over 30K carriers, so they can offer a wide variety of booking options.

• Release the Vehicle - When your shipping date arrives, the truck will meet you at the agreed upon location. That can be at your home, or even your office. You and the driver will do an inspection of the vehicle at that time to agree upon any damage on the vehicle, and you’ll be asked to sign a Bill of Lading. At that point, the vehicle will be loaded, and the next time you see it will be at its final destination.

• Receive the Vehicle - Usually, within five to seven days, the truck will arrive at your destination. Similar to pick up, if your address makes it difficult for a large truck to deliver a car, you can also choose a mutually acceptable location like a large shopping center parking lot. When the vehicle is unloaded, you and the driver will inspect it a second time to check for any damage incurred during the ride. If none is evident, you sign the Bill of Lading again and you’re done.

For more on this topic, see our detailed guide on how to ship a car.

How much does Montway car shipping cost?

Let’s start with the Montway car shipping cost. We used the Montway online quote tool to compare auto transportation rates for a move from Portland, ME to Austin, TX. We also looked at the difference between cash on delivery and an up-front credit or debit card fee. Montway offers a discount for cash payment, as you can see below.

We chose shipping from Portland, Maine to Austin, Texas, because it reflected a fairly substantial move across the country. Using Montway’s quote tool, we chose a shipping date within 30 days. If you can plan further ahead, you can save a few bucks. If you need to ship sooner, you’ll pay more.

Here is why we chose the vehicles in the table above:

• 2007 Toyota Camry - The 2007 Toyota Camry is one of the most plentiful cars in the United States. We chose it to reflect what it would cost to ship a basic car from one part of the country to another.
• 2012 Chevrolet Silverado 4x4 Crew Cab - We wanted to examine prices for a full-sized truck to get an idea of pricing for a larger vehicle.
• 1967 Pontiac LeMans - We wanted to get a price quote for shipping a non-running classic car.

For more information on auto transport costs and pricing, read our detailed guide about how much it costs to ship a car.

Montway Auto Transport cost factors

We show the fees for our sample vehicles for the Portland-to-Austin move in the table at the top of this page. In our example, the Montway car shipping cost ranged from $1,679 to $2,419 depending on the car, how it is shipped and how you pay for it.

Factors that affect pricing:

• Vehicle size - As you can see from the price quotes we obtained, a larger vehicle is going to be substantially more expensive to ship.

• Open vs. Closed Trailer - The difference between open and closed can range quite a bit, also based on the size of the vehicle. A smaller car in a closed trailer is quite a bit cheaper to ship than a large truck.

• Running vs. Non-Running - Non-running vehicles can add $250 to the price of shipping. If the driver can start the vehicle and drive it on the trailer, it’s going to save around 20% of the total cost.

• Cash vs. Credit - If you’re willing to pay cash upon delivery, you can save about 10% on the cost of shipment.

• Mileage - If we take the shipping cost of our Camry 2,060 miles from Portland to Austin as a baseline ($1,679), the per mile cost works out to around $0.81 per mile. If we change the shipping distance to 216 miles from Boston to NYC, the quoted price drops to $449, but the per mile cost skyrockets to $2.08 per mile.

• Cancellation Fee - Please note, the company has a $249 cancellation fee.

Montway Auto Transport cargo insurance

A lot of shipping companies are going to charge you an additional fee for insurance. Montway Auto Transport doesn’t. They include insurance on the vehicle as part of the quote, and frankly, all shippers should.

Both you and the driver are inspecting the vehicle and agreeing upon its condition when it gets loaded on the truck. Any damage that appears on the vehicle when it’s unloaded is unquestionably the responsibility of the shipper, so why would insurance be an additional fee?

How Montway compares to other shipping companies

Montway is one of the most popular car shipping companies in the industry. Their most common competitors are Sherpa Auto Transport and AmeriFreight.

You can read more about our full recommendations and review comparisons of these reputable companies and many other here, all of which are reviewed and recommended by the Car Talk research team.

How to get a Montway price quote online

It’s amazing how a lot of companies want to keep their prices a closely guarded secret until they can spring them on you at the last possible second. That’s absolutely not the case with Montway Auto Transport. The quote tool is located right on the home page, is simple to understand, and you’re instantly provided with all the information you could possibly need to make a decision.

The only information you’ll need is the year, make and model of the vehicle (sometimes with vehicles like pickups, you’ll be asked if it’s a regular cab, extended cab or crew cab, because the length affects the shipping cost) and the pickup and delivery cities.

You have a couple of options to think about as you’re filling in your quote:

• Open vs. Closed - You can choose between shipping your vehicle with an open trailer or a closed trailer. When you get your quote, Montway Auto Transport provides the cost differential between open and closed, but if you know you want to ship it in a closed trailer, you can choose this option right up front.

• Running vs. Non-Running - Classic car owners who are shipping project cars will be interested in this option. You can ship a non-running car, but be aware that the vehicle should be able to roll and steer before it’s picked up. At the quote stage, the only personal information you need to give up is your name and an email address. When you click the Calculate Cost button, you’ll be provided an instant quote on the website, and a copy of that quote will be sent to your email address.

• Size - This is particularly a concern for people shipping 4x4s. If your vehicle has a lift, you may have no choice but to ship it on an open trailer.

At the quote stage, the only personal information you need to give up is your name and an email address. When you click the Calculate Cost button, you’ll be provided an instant quote on the website, and a copy of that quote will be sent to your email address.

Montway Auto Transport customer reviews

In general, Montway Auto Transport has solid, stellar reviews across many platforms, with an average of 4.7 on Google Reviews, an A+ on the Better Business Bureau and a 4.5 on TrustPilot. As always, Car Talk recommends doing your own research and reading as many reviews as possible. The company has over 100K reviews online, so there are many to choose from. Here are some we collected from the above mentioned review sites.

“Great contracting process. Fast and professional pickup. Delivered across the country two days early with no issues or drama. I have used Montway in the past and been very satisfied. This time was even better. Not only were they efficient, but even less costly than other alternatives that I explored. Will definitely use again.” - Jeffery M. Google Review.

“I have shipped 5 high end and classic cars with Montway now. They are always dependable honest and the best price/value ratio around. Go with them without hesitation. The cash discount is awesome too.” Ryan W. Google Review.

“My 1934 Ford hot rod left my house in perfect condition. When it was delivered to the shipping location, the key wouldn't turn off! The transporter must have done something to the ignition switch. Now I have to pay someone to put in a new ignition switch. I can't find anywhere on their website to submit a claim for damages.” Richard P. Google Review.

Why we recommend Montway Auto Transport

We’ve been looking at a number of different shippers for this series of stories, and overall we were impressed with the ease of obtaining a quote with Montway. Other shippers will ask for your phone number and then call you relentlessly to book your trip. Montway only requires an email address. They’ll follow up via email once you’ve obtained a quote, but it’s never high pressure at all.

The quote process is amazingly simple. Put your car in, decide on a few options and BOOM, you’ve got a quote right in front of you. The tool also makes it easy to change the details of the quote. For example, if you decide to ship a different car, you can change that detail on the quote page rather than having to re-enter every detail from the start.

The shipping costs aren’t cheap, necessarily, but we were rather surprised to find that it costs less than $1,000 to ship a car almost 2,000 miles.

Finally, the consumer reviews for Montway Auto Transport suggest that it’s a reputable, trustworthy company to deal with. The company received between four and five-star ratings from Google, Trustpilot, Facebook, TransportationReviews.com and Reviews.org.

Our methodology

Some shipping companies are aggregators that work across multiple car transporters and will help you price shop across them. The aggregators are responsible for vetting the individual carriers and often will show you the consumer ratings and individual price quotes so you understand exactly who will be moving your vehicle. They also tend to offer standardized insurance packages that work across their carrier network.

We selected good companies based on over 30 data points and an extensive secret shopper initiative to ensure unbiased and clear results. Our main focus is obtaining the most useful information for our readership based on the central ideas below.

• Reputation - Companies that maintain a strong rating score and industry reputation on trusted review platforms.
• Cost - There are many individual factors that can impact the cost of car shipping including location, timing and worth of the car. We took all these into account when examining the cost structure of each company.
• Consumer Reviews - Individual reviews from current and past customers who have used the business and have personal experience to draw from.
• Longevity - How many years a company has been in business, growing their company, gaining reviews and establishing trust within the industry.
• Services Offered - These services can range from international shipping, enclosed options, open container options and more.

You can also take a look at Car Talk’s extensive review of the Best Car Shipping Companies in 2024.

Golden Wrench winners for best car shipping companies