Do you need to get your car from one side of the country to the other? If so, there are two main ways you can do it. You can either go through the process of driving cross country or have a car transport company handle transporting your vehicle.
At first glance, you might be tempted to drive your car across the country to avoid having to ship your vehicle. But before you do this, you should see if shipping your vehicle would make more sense.
You can do this by weighing the pros and cons of driving cross country. It’ll let you know if you need to begin looking into your car transport options.
Keep reading to learn all about the pros and cons of driving cross country.
The Pros of Driving Cross Country
When you first find out that you’re going to have to figure out a way to get your car across the country, your initial instinct might be to drive. You might like the idea of driving cross country for a handful of different reasons.
Here are some of the benefits of driving cross country on your own.
Gives You a Chance to See Many Sights
How much of the country have you been able to see in the past? If you haven’t seen very much of it, driving cross country will open your eyes to all the things you’ve been missing.
While you’re transporting your vehicle from one side of the country to the other, you’ll make your way through quite a few states. It’ll give you a brand-new perspective on the country and allow you to make some memories that’ll last a lifetime.
Allows You to Take Good Care of Your Car
If you get nervous anytime you have to toss the keys to your car to someone else, you might not like the idea of allowing a car transport company to take control of your vehicle. It might leave you on edge for the entire time they have it.
By driving cross country, you’ll be able to keep control of your car so that you can take good care of it. You won’t have to worry about anything bad happening to it while it’s in someone else’s possession.
Enables You to Potentially Save Money
Arranging to ship your vehicle from one side of the country to the other will obviously come at a cost. It could be a relatively high cost depending on where your car is going, what kind of car you have, etc.
You’ll want to crunch the numbers to make sure this will actually be the case. But you might be able to save some money by driving cross country as opposed to shipping your vehicle across the U.S.
The Cons of Driving Cross Country
When you first start kicking around the idea of doing it, driving cross country might sound like an awesome idea. But it’s worth noting that it’s not exactly going to be a walk in the park.
Here are some of the potential downsides of driving cross country when you need to move your car from one side of the U.S. to the other.
Forces You to Spend a Long Time in Your Car
Driving cross country can take anywhere from two days if you make the drive without stopping at all (which will not be safe!) to upwards of a week if you make frequent stops along the way. This is going to put you behind the wheel of your car for a really long time.
Unless you’re someone who doesn’t mind doing your fair share of driving, you’ll find that driving cross country won’t be fun at all. It’ll make you want to swear off driving for at least a few weeks and maybe even a few months once you arrive at your final destination.
Puts a Lot of Miles on Your Car
Driving cross country is going to take a toll on more than just you. It’s also going to put a huge strain on your car.
While driving from one side of the country to the other, you’ll put thousands of miles on your vehicle. You might even have to stop and do some routine car maintenance along the way.
All this could force you to replace your car sooner than you may have wanted to down the line. You can avoid putting this kind of wear and tear on your car by having it shipped instead.
Subjects You to High Gas Prices
Gas prices in 2023 aren’t as high as they were in 2022. But they’re still on the higher end of the spectrum and could make you pay a pretty penny to keep your car fueled up.
If you spend too much money on gas, it could lead to you spending more to drive a car cross country than you would have paid to ship it. It’ll leave you regretting your decision to drive cross country.
Would You Like to Ship Your Vehicle Cross Country?
Now that you know about all the pros and cons of driving cross country, would you like to ship your vehicle to wherever it’ll be going? This is probably for the best.
Click for car shipping calculator quotes that’ll help you determine what it’ll cost to ship your vehicle from point A to point B.
Move Your Vehicle Across the Country Today
Driving cross country is something you should try to do at some point in your life. But you shouldn’t do it simply to move your car across the country. You won’t be able to enjoy the trip as much as you might otherwise.
Shipping your car will make a lot more sense. It’ll prevent you from putting too much unnecessary wear and tear on it, and it might even save you time and money in the end.
Browse through our other blog articles to get more car-related tips and tricks.
