Military transfer orders can come at any time and you hardly get time to relocate with your family when you get a permanent station change and you are asked to move immediately. In case, you get an overseas transfer of position, the United States government will pay from their pocket shipping cost of 1 private vehicle.
However, this is not always the case when the transfer is made within the USA irrespective of the distance you have to cover. In such scenarios, you will have to use non-military services to ship your vehicle to the new station where you have to report for your duty.
There are many reliable auto-shipment companies in the United States such as Ship a Car, Inc. Ship A Car offers auto transport for military members for all types of vehicles and provides a base-to-base service so that you can report for your duty on time without worrying about the shipment. They even provide discounted rates and offers for military personnel and their dependent. All you have to show is your military ID and you will receive a high-valued discount on the shipping of your car.
Steps involved in shipping a private vehicle owned by military personnel
- Check if you are eligible for entitlement:
- While the federal government will provide the expenses for shipment of 1 private vehicle in case of OCONUS (Outside Continental United States) transfer, this is not the case when you have to move within the US continent.
- In such a case, you can talk to the transportation office and see if driving your vehicle across the country can cause a delay in your reporting time.
- Usually in such scenarios, they might agree to ship your POV at their expense and give you the orders.
- If eligible, get your orders from the transportation office:
- Once you have ensured that you are eligible of getting federal grants for the shipment of your car, you must take those orders from the TO.
- Handle the orders to the military logistics department:
- Pass away those orders to the concerned department and they will handle the rest of the shipment process until your car is delivered to your duty station.
- If not eligible, you can either make use of a private shipping company or sell your vehicle:
- However, if you are not eligible for federal grants, you will need to find the shipping companies that ship military officer cars at discounted price.
- Get quotes from a couple of companies and choose the most reliable one.
- If you feel that shipping a car is getting too expensive for your budget, you can always sell your vehicle and buy a new one at your duty station for personal use.
Apart from this, you can also apply for a relocation package and use that grant money to ship your car through a private company. Keep all the receipts with you until your car is handed over to you. You must always try to talk to the counselor at the transportation office, as he is the best person to assist you in making the relocation as hassle-free as possible.
