If you're moving somewhere or taking a long trip, you may wonder whether it would be cheaper and easier to tow your extra car or to have it moved by a professional automobile transport company. You may also be faced with the choice of driving your car or taking a plane and hiring someone else to move your car. Here are some of the pros and cons that may surface as you weigh your options for getting your car from one place to another.

Hiring Auto Transport Companies

Automobile transport companies move private vehicles from one place to another. At first glance, this seems like an easy way to get the job done. Just drive your car to the drop-off point, sign the papers, and hand over the keys. Needless to say, this is a big benefit of hiring a professional car moving company.

Unfortunately, this method comes with drawbacks as well. Most of them stem from the commercial transportation process. Clever Gems says that at terminal-to-terminal auto transport companies, your car will be loaded onto a semi along with several others and driven to a hub. There, your car will be unloaded from the first truck and put onto one that's going in the direction of the next terminal. At the last terminal, it will be unloaded one last time and then left to sit in a parking lot. The parking lot is out in the open and may or may not have any security.

The biggest risk with this system is that your car may be damaged at any point along the way. Once you hand over the keys, you are not in control of its treatment. On the other hand, it's a great way to get a car moved in a fairly efficient manner that doesn't involve the time or cost that you would incur with a road trip. Many auto transport companies will save you hundreds of dollars in gas and hotels. Just make sure that you employ a reliable one who will take good care of you vehicle.

Driving Your Car Yourself or Towing it Behind Another Vehicle that You Drive

This is usually considered the low-budget option for transporting a vehicle, but it actually involves many costs. The first is the time involved: You can get somewhere faster if you take a plane and let a transportation company catch up to you later. There are also several direct costs.

When you drive or tow your own car, you don't just have to pay for the active car's gas. You also have to pay for your own lodging and food for the duration of the trip. Even cheap motels can easily run you $30 a day, and three restaurant meals a day adds up to a significant cost very quickly.

Of course, driving a long distance also puts wear and tear on the car itself. Even if you tow it, at least two wheels are in contact with the pavement and turning. This can end up costing money if it results in a hastened need for repairs. Along with these costs, you need to factor in the amount of time and energy it takes to drive a long distance.

On the plus side, driving or towing your own car keeps you in total control of it for the duration of the trip. You won't have to wonder if there is proper security or how anyone's handling the machine. Still, the biggest benefit of driving your own car is simply the fact that you get to drive it. People who love road trips will be ecstatic to drive their car across the country or even across an entire continent no matter why they are taking the trip.

Have you towed a car to a far-off destination or hired a company to move it for you? If so, leave a comment and let us know what you thought of the experience!