Mercury vs American Auto Shipping - which is actually better?

The first car shipping quote is the number you remember. So when it jumps $300 two days before pickup, it stings.

Both companies keep one fact in small print. Mercury and American Auto Shipping are brokers. Neither owns a truck. Your quote is an offer posted to carriers, and if no driver takes it, either the price moves or your pickup date does. This guide on how broker vs carrier pricing differs explains the mechanics.

So the useful question is what each broker does when a carrier says no.

Mercury Auto Transport: locked only after an agent confirms it

Mercury sells three service levels. Standby is market-based, meaning the price floats with carrier demand. Priority and Rush get an agent-confirmed price, and Mercury says it won't change a confirmed price or service level without your approval.

Nothing is charged at booking. You can cancel for free before a carrier is assigned. Once a carrier is assigned, you pay a deposit, and Mercury's own BBB replies show deposits of $200 to $275.

The weak spot is the word "approval." In an October 2025 BBB complaint, a customer said a quote of about $1,000 turned into about $1,500, or another week of waiting. Mercury replied that the final price is set by the carrier, then refunded the $275 deposit.

One fair note: Mercury updated its guarantee page in September 2026, after that complaint. The current terms may handle it differently. Our read on Mercury Auto Transport cost is simple. Your price is only locked once an agent confirms it in writing.

American Auto Shipping: binding quote, with a 90% asterisk

American Auto Shipping sells a binding quote. FreightWaves describes it as the price you accept being the price you pay, with no deposit until a carrier is assigned.

The shipping agreement adds detail. In a BBB response, the company quoted its own contract. Every pickup tier (standard, priority at $150 more, expedited at $300 more) "works about 90% of the time." If it can't dispatch at your agreed price, you get a full refund or you can relist.

Relisting is where the price moves. In that same case, a $1,369 shipment ended with a $1,849 invoice after a $300 expedited fee and $180 more for the driver. The company's answer: "Our fee never increased, only the carrier's fee changed." The customer still disputes the $300.

For a baseline on American Auto Shipping cost, FreightWaves pulled sample quotes. A Honda Civic over 1,200 miles came in at $929 to $979 open and $1,649 to $1,739 enclosed.

It's pickup day. The car is washed, the keys are on the counter, and your phone hasn't buzzed since yesterday. That silence is where most bad car shipping stories start.

So we read what customers actually said about communication. We went through the 40 reviews shown on each company's ConsumerAffairs page, plus their BBB complaint files. It's a slice, not the full record, and we'll flag where the slice gets thin.

Mercury Auto Transport: named agents and daily texts

Mercury's page runs from September 2025 to August 2026, so it's current. About 28 of the 40 reviews praise communication by name. The same agents keep showing up, and the praise is specific: a text every morning, calls returned the same day, one agent who called a customer on a Sunday to hold a carrier spot.

Nothing is charged at booking. You can cancel for free before a carrier is assigned. Once a carrier is assigned, you pay a deposit, and Mercury's own BBB replies show deposits of $200 to $275.

The complaints follow one pattern. In 3 reviews, the contact was great until the deposit or dispatch, then it dropped. One customer never got the driver's name or number. Another said the texts just stopped when the carrier didn't show.

Two smaller notes. Mercury replied to only 7 of those 40 reviews, and its replies to critics push back more than they apologize. Its phone line runs Monday to Friday, 9 AM to 6 PM ET, and Saturday 10 AM to 2 PM ET. Reviewers say agents text outside those hours, but there's no published Sunday line.

American Auto Shipping: 24/7 on paper, quieter lately

American Auto Shipping advertises 24/7 customer support, which Mercury doesn't. On door-to-door car shipping jobs, its editorial profile says the carrier calls 4 to 24 hours before delivery.

The review record is where it gets tricky. About 22 of its 40 ConsumerAffairs reviews praise communication, and many credit the same rep for following up. But every one of those positive mentions is from February and March 2023.

The 8 reviews posted since then, from September 2023 to July 2025, are all negative. Four are about communication. One customer said nobody called about a delay. Another said you had to call 3 or 4 times before anyone picked up. A third waited hours on a driver who stayed "30 minutes away."

The company replied to 31 of 32 reviews in that 2023 stretch, usually within 3 days. It hasn't replied to any review on that page since. Two customers also mentioned a language barrier with the carrier's drivers, which is a carrier issue more than a broker one.