Montway Auto Transport 2022 Review

Bottom Line: Montway is more than one of our best car shipping companies: it’s our number one pick. The auto shipping company not only has low prices, but it also invented a price calculator that many other companies use. It's built a strong reputation with customers for the last 15 years (in an industry that's not known for longevity), gets stellar customer reviews, and doesn’t require upfront payments. Montway’s guaranteed pickup dates cost extra, but mean you don’t have to worry about canceling your plans last minute. And the auto transporter has the best online chat feature we’ve ever seen.

Long story short: Montway is excellent.

The average cost to ship a car with Montway Auto Transport is approximately $1,260. Prices range from about $450 to transport a small car a few hundred miles on an open carrier to around $2,150 to ship a large truck across the country in an enclosed semi. Montway doesn’t require an upfront deposit to place a reservation, and you can get a refund if you need to cancel a rush job—unless Montway already assigned a carrier (this usually happens within one to five days of your “first available shipping date”). The company also has discounts available upon request for military members and returning customers like snowbirds.

Montway Auto Transport pricing is about 5% lower than the industry average. The auto shipping service’s average price of $1,260 will save you about $30 compared to the competition. But it has even better savings for midsize cars. For example, its average price of $1,000 to ship a Toyota Corolla is about $150 lower than what you’d expect to pay elsewhere.

Note: Montway’s prices compare well to other car shipping companies, but it doesn’t have guaranteed prices. Granted, almost no one has fully locked-in rates, but we’ve come across a few places that guarantee your price up to a few hundred dollars.

That means your final bill with Montway may end up being upwards of 25% more expensive than your initial quote. That’s how car shipping pricing works with most companies, but Montway isn’t most companies. We’re a little surprised it doesn’t have any kind of guarantee.

Montway says that several factors affect the cost of your auto transport:

• Location. The closer you live to major cities like Chicago or Los Angeles, the less it costs. The farther drivers must go out of their way to reach you, the more you pay. Rural areas far from the freeway are the priciest.
• Seasonality. Costs are higher in the summer and winter (the peak auto shipping season). You’ll also pay more during seasonal weather if it slows down the drivers.
• Delivery time frame. You can save hundreds of dollars if you place your reservation a couple of weeks before you move. On the other hand, you might pay twice as much to ship your car on 24 hours’ notice.
• Transport type. There are two types of transport: open and enclosed. Open transport is the cheapest, but it leaves your car “open” (or exposed) to the weather. Montway’s enclosed transport costs about 40% more because your car is inside a semi with walls and a roof.
• Vehicle modifications. Expect to pay more if you’ve made modifications to your vehicle, like lifting or lowering it. The more the size, height, and weight differ from the factory standard, the more it costs to ship.
• Vehicle weight and size. You pay based on how much your vehicle weighs and how much space it takes up on the carrier. Lightweight cars are more affordable than SUVs or heavy-duty trucks.
• Personal items. Montway doesn’t recommend you leave personal items in your car and warns that it may cost extra if your belongings add weight to the vehicle shipment.

Montway Auto Transport uses only carriers that have insurance. Your vehicle has $100,000 worth of protection against driver negligence if you choose open transport or $250,000 for enclosed shipping. Montway also provides an additional $250,000 of no-deductible coverage if your carrier’s policy doesn’t pay.

Montway advertises five auto transport services ranging from inexpensive open transport to costly expedited shipping in an enclosed carrier:

1. Door-to-door. Montway picks up your vehicle wherever you are and drops it off wherever you want (as opposed to terminal-to-terminal shipping, where you have to pick up your car at a car shipping depot).
2. Open transport. Save hundreds of dollars on your shipment by transporting your vehicle on an open carrier. The truck doesn’t have walls or a roof, so your car is likely to accumulate some dirt along the way, but almost all customers use open transport.
3. Enclosed transport. It costs about 40% more to transport your vehicle inside of a fully enclosed trailer. We recommend enclosed transport primarily for high-end automobiles like classic cars and custom vehicles.
4. Expedited transport. You can have your car picked up faster for an extra fee (it varies based on your shipping details). If you change your mind before Montway assigns a carrier to your shipment, you can get a refund.
5. Hawaii shipping. Montway has car shipping services in all 50 states, including Hawaii. The auto transport broker brings nearly 15 years of experience shipping through ports and says that it can get your vehicle from the islands to Los Angeles, CA, in 8–12 days.

Montway guarantees your vehicle's pickup date for an extra fee. That’s a bigger deal than it seems because it completely changes the dynamic of leaving town. Most car shipping companies can’t guarantee their pickup dates. That means if you have to get on a plane Tuesday at 5:00 p.m., but the truck driver doesn’t make it on time, you either have to miss your flight or make other arrangements for your car. With Montway, you can make travel plans and keep them.

Montway is one of the only companies with legit GPS tracking. The company fields thousands of calls each day (we checked), and most of them are people asking where their cars are. It’s an important issue, and Montway goes out of its way to make GPS tracking available.

The auto transport company can’t guarantee the service because drivers must agree to be tracked—and they don’t like Big Brother anymore than you or me. It’s the luck of the draw whether the carrier with the lowest price also allows GPS tracking. But Montway tries to stack the deck in your favor by working with 300 of the nation’s largest GPS-enabled carriers.

We’ve used Montway’s online chat feature lots of times posing as customers. It’s an easy way to get fast answers to just about anything. Agents can give you quotes in a matter of minutes. You can also dig deeper into specific details like the amount of expedited shipping fees or insurance coverage info.

So what’s the verdict?

We’re impressed. There is a tiny flaw, though: Montway’s website has an annoying pop-up ad that gets in the way of your chat. But when that’s our biggest gripe, it’s safe to say the company deserves its number one spot in our Best Car Shipping Companies list.

Montway ranks highly in customer satisfaction. We looked at a dozen review sites and found that Montway has an average rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars. The overwhelming majority of customers appear to leave satisfied.

The shipper also knows the secret to customer service: it works hard to turn bad experiences into good ones. The car transport company responds to every negative review. And considering we found more than 45,000 overall Montway reviews, that’s saying something.

Montway is also one of the only companies with 24-hour service. Whether you must deal with a last-minute crisis or simply enjoy being a night owl, you can reach Montway anytime. Chances are, you’ll enjoy the experience. And if you don’t? Expect them to reach out and try to make it right.

Our Montway Auto Transport historical review shows that the transporter influences the industry more than any single company. For example, when we call companies posing as customers to ask for prices, many of them say something like, “We’ll do it for Montway’s price.” That shows up in the data, too. An analysis of more than 1,000 car shipping quotes over 2 years shows that Montway literally sets the industry average.

We expect to see it set the bar in other ways, too. For example, we noticed a huge Montway service change in 2021. It’s now the only car shipping company we’ve seen that gives customers a GPS tracking option for the delivery. Montway has been on Move.org’s list of the best car shipping companies from day one, and we expect it to fight to maintain its grip on the top spot for years to come.

You’ll find Montway Auto Transport at the top of our Best Car Shipping Companies list for a reason (okay, lots of reasons). The company uses an instant calculator to get you low prices in minutes. It’s so good that other companies often say they’ll match Montway’s price—even before knowing what it is. Montway also averages a 4.7-star rating in more than 45,000 reviews. Just as impressive, it responds to every negative review. Montway is even open 24 hours a day. From top to bottom, you’ll have a hard time finding a better auto transport company.

Like what you see in Move.org’s #1 car shipping company?

The cheapest way to ship a car is via open transport. Montway’s average price of $860 to ship a midsize Toyota Corolla on an open car carrier is more than $100 below the auto transport industry average.

Montway’s average enclosed auto transport cost is approximately $1,470. The car shipping service ranks at the top of Move.org’s Best Enclosed Auto Transport Companies.

Montway’s average motorcycle shipping cost is approximately $860. The auto broker uses only enclosed transport for motorcycle shipping to protect your bike against bad weather and road debris.

You can’t find guaranteed car shipping delivery anywhere. There are too many variables in the shipping process (like weather, traffic, and construction) for a car shipper to promise a delivery time. However, Montway Auto Transport is one of the few auto transport brokers that guarantees your pickup date.

Montway has more than 45,000 transport reviews, according to Move.org. The auto transport service has an average customer satisfaction score of 4.7 out of 5 stars and responds to every negative review.

Move.org calculates industry averages and identifies pricing trends by following a fourfold research approach:

• Best Motorcycle Shipping Companies
• How to Identify a Car Shipping Scam
• Best Professional Moving Companies
• Best Moving Container Companies
• Best Truck Rental Companies

• What's the Cheapest Way to Ship My Car?
• How Much Does Car Shipping Cost?
• How Do I Get a Car Shipping Quote?
• How Does Car Shipping Pricing Work?
• Do I Need Enclosed Transport?