Tips for Transporting an RV Long Distances.

Spending days upon days driving your RV just to get it to a different state isn’t the best idea. Though the vehicles are made for long-distance driving, longer drives for days on end cause wear and tear, making the vehicle’s recreational aspect harder to enjoy.
Still, that doesn’t help much if you need to transport your RV over a long distance.
This article shares tips for campers on how to safely transport their RV, ensuring it provides them with plenty of enjoyment for many years to come.

Tip 1 – Consider Using a Vehicle Shipping Company
Vehicle shipping companies offer a simple service – they pick up your vehicle and transport it to a destination of your choice. You have several options for how the vehicle can be transported. These options include open shipping, where your vehicle is stacked on a truck with several others, and enclosed shipping, which involves placing your vehicle in a container for shipping.
Whichever option you choose, you need a reliable shipping company, such as A1 Auto Transport, to do the job.

How do you find a reliable vehicle shipper?
These quick tips help you choose a suitable carrier:
Always get several quotes so you have a good idea of the average cost of shipping your RV.
Ask the company for its USDOT, MC, or MX number so you can check them out on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) Company Snapshot website. Be wary of any vehicle shipper that doesn’t appear in the FMCSA’s database.
Spend some time talking to a representative of the vehicle carrier to get a first-hand experience of how they deal with customers.

Look for reviews online via Google and social media to see if the experiences that customers have with the carrier align with what they tell you they can deliver.
Most importantly, looking for a shipping company that understands the challenges of transporting an RV. Suppose they don’t specifically mention shipping RVs on their website. In that case, you may have a carrier that will treat your RV as though it’s any other vehicle.

Tip 2 – Set Realistic Goals When Driving Yourself
Let’s assume you don’t want to use a shipping company. Instead, you want to drive the RV yourself. In this case, realistic expectations are the key to successfully transporting your RV.
These expectations are split into two categories:
What your vehicle can handle
What you can handle

Starting with your vehicle, RVs aren’t made for 10-hour plus drives without interruptions. They’re big and heavy, meaning wear and tear becomes a problem that can lead to mechanical failures during long drives. Account for this by scheduling regular stops so the vehicle itself can cool down. The good news is that it’s an RV, meaning you have somewhere to relax while you take a driving break.

Speaking of driving breaks, take a lot of them to take care of yourself, too. Long drives cause fatigue, which increases the risk of accidents. According to the FMCSA, commercial drivers can only drive for 11 hours straight after taking 10 consecutive hours off when carrying property or 10 hours after eight hours off when carrying passengers.

While these rules are for commercial drivers, they’re handy guidelines for recreational drivers that help you see how to manage the trip while keeping yourself healthy. 

Tip 3 – Manage Costs Effectively
If driving for hours at a time for several days in a row doesn’t sound like a great idea to you, the previously-mentioned shipping companies are a great solution. However, shipping an RV requires you to pay for the service, so you must manage costs effectively.

Thankfully, there are several things you can do to keep shipping costs down:
Consider a drive-away service if you’re comfortable with your RV being driven by somebody else. It’s usually the cheapest way of transporting your vehicle, though you have to account for wear and tear and the cost of the fuel required for the trip.

Try to arrange pick-up and delivery in populated urban zones. Remote areas are usually harder to reach and require your shipping company to add distance to its route, both of which lead to higher charges.

Weather plays a role in your costs, with snowy, rainy, or otherwise inclement conditions making the drive more treacherous. Again, shipping companies tend to charge extra when they have to deal with harsh weather, so try and arrange to ship when the forecast is favorable.

Beyond these considerations, weight and size add to the cost of shipping your RV. There’s not much you can do about the vehicle’s size except to expect to pay more for a larger RV. But when it comes to weight, simple things, such as removing personal items from the vehicle, reduce its weight. A lower weight means less fuel consumption, which will save you a few dollars on a long journey.

Tip 4 – Secure All Non-Fixed Items
Regardless of whether you drive yourself or use a shipping company, your RV is going to be on the road for a long time. Every turn, pothole, and little bump in the road has the potential to damage the valuables inside the vehicle.

Preparation is key.
Removing all freestanding and personal items is your first step. In addition to protecting the objects themselves, both from damage and potential theft, you ensure that these items don’t go flying around when the ride gets bumpy. So, you’re protecting your RV as much as you’re protecting your possessions.

Second, secure all windows, cabinets, doors, and anything else that might swing out when the RV turns. You have plenty of options here, including Velcro, magnetic drawer catches, and door latches. Run a final check through the vehicle’s interior before it gets on the road to ensure you don’t miss anything.

Keep Your RV Safe When Transporting
The biggest challenge with transporting an RV over long distances is keeping the vehicle safe and in good condition for your next excursion. Using a shipping company is the easiest way to do this, both because they have expertise and offer insurance to cover your RV against accidents.

If that’s not an option, or you want to handle the drive yourself, then set realistic goals so you don’t push yourself or the vehicle too far. Keep your personal items out of the RV until it’s stationary, and secure anything and everything that could swing around inside your RV while it’s in motion.