Rivalane gives you an estimated pickup date and an estimated delivery date for every order. They are estimates, and our Terms and Conditions say so plainly: delays can happen before and during transport because of weather, road conditions, government regulations, mechanical problems and other causes outside anyone's control.
Why no company can guarantee delivery
A car carrier runs a circuit with several pickups and deliveries. One late customer, a closed highway or a mandatory rest period for the driver shifts every stop after it. A company that guarantees a delivery date is either building in a large buffer you pay for, or making a promise it cannot keep.
The guaranteed pickup date option
If pickup timing matters more than delivery timing, for example because you are leaving the house or the city on a fixed day, you can add a guaranteed pickup date to your order. It is a paid upgrade that commits the carrier to collecting on that date. Ask your coordinator for the price on your route.
How to protect yourself without a guarantee
Book with a wide pickup window, give us your genuine first available date rather than a hopeful one, and name an agent who can hand over or receive the car if you cannot be there. Those three steps remove most of the pressure from a window that moves by a day.
Our guide below covers what delivery windows mean in practice and why they shift.
The federal rules behind every estimate
A car hauler's day is governed by the FMCSA hours-of-service rules, summarized on the FMCSA website: a maximum of 11 hours driving inside a 14-hour window, a 30-minute break after 8 hours of driving, and a weekly cap of 60 or 70 hours. When a pickup runs long or a highway closes, the driver cannot make up the time by driving later, because the clock does not allow it. One delay moves every stop after it.
That is why Section 2e of our Terms and Conditions lists weather, road conditions, government regulations and mechanical problems as causes of delay outside anyone's control, and why Rivalane does not guarantee delivery dates. Any company that does is either padding the schedule or taking a risk with your plans.
What the guaranteed pickup date actually buys
It is a paid additional service under Section 1 of the Terms. The carrier commits to collecting the car on the agreed date, and it plans its circuit around that commitment. It does not change the delivery estimate, because the transit still runs under the same hours-of-service rules and the same weather. If the carrier fails to collect on the guaranteed date and the car is still delivered, Section 10b entitles you to a refund of the add-on fee.
It suits people leaving a house on closing day, flying out on a fixed date, or handing a car to a dealer or storage facility with set hours. It does not suit people who simply want the car soon; a wide window does that better and costs nothing.
What the Terms say: Rivalane provides an estimated pickup and estimated delivery date; delays may occur before and during transport, and Rivalane cannot and does not guarantee delivery dates or times, nor is it liable for losses or expenses caused by delays (Section 2e). A guaranteed pickup date is an Additional Service (Section 1).
How to plan around an estimate
Build the pickup window around your real constraints: the first day the car can go and the last day you can hand it over. Name an agent at each end so a one-day shift does not become a missed truck. Do not book a flight or a closing that depends on the delivery day; plan for the delivery window instead, and keep a day or two of slack at the far end.
If the car must be at the destination by a hard date, tell us. The right answer is usually to ship earlier, not to look for a guarantee nobody can honestly give.
What we do when a date moves
We contact the carrier, get the revised plan and pass it to you with the reason. If the delay is on the carrier's side and becomes unreasonable, we can reopen the order to another carrier. What we cannot do is reimburse a rental car or a missed appointment, because Section 2e excludes losses caused by delay. The articles on delays and on carrier assignment, linked below, explain how we handle each case.
A note on "guaranteed" in advertisements
Some companies advertise guaranteed delivery and bury the exceptions in their terms. Read the exceptions. If they include weather, traffic, mechanical failure and the acts of other customers, the guarantee covers nothing a real delay is made of. Our door to door page and routes pages describe typical timing without promising what cannot be promised.
Road conditions along any corridor are published in real time through each state's 511 service, indexed on the Federal Highway Administration's 511 page, which is the quickest way to see for yourself why a truck is running behind.
Related questions
- How long does car shipping take with Rivalane?
- What if my car shipment is delayed?
- Can someone else accept delivery of my car for me?
Go deeper: Can Car Shipping Companies Guarantee Delivery Times?.
