4 Key Considerations When Shipping Heavy Automotive Parts

Getting heavy automotive parts to your customers safely and securely can be challenging. From engines to hubcaps to transmissions or wheels, it's important to choose the right shipping materials  that can withstand the weight. In this post, we cover 4 key shipping details to consider to ensure that your car parts and packaging all stay intact during transit. 

1. Make Sure Your Car Parts Are Actually Ready For Shipping

While seemingly obvious, this step may be overlooked when preparing a carton for shipment. For example, automotive parts that hold fluids should be drained completely.

Damage from a fluid leak in your package could cause your shipment to be held up at a shipping terminal. And a late package can truly negatively affect the lifetime value of your customers.

Draining parts of all fluids will save you time and money by reducing product damage and keeping your customers happy with on-time deliveries. 

2. Follow Best Practices for Shipping Car Parts

Here are some basic guidelines to follow when packaging bulky car parts for shipment:

• Make sure the product is properly cushioned inside the carton, especially when dealing with fragile components.
  
  
• In addition to cushioning, padding should be added to all sharp edges to prevent these components from penetrating the box.
  
  
• To avoid potential damage to smaller items due to movement within the carton, be sure to fill any extra space with material such as air pillows.
  
  
• UPS recommends in their automotive parts guide, that you "enclose items like plastic moldings and small, loose components in plastic pouches."
  
  
• Make sure the carton or box that you are using is a good fit for the product being shipped. This will help keep your costs low when shipping.

With the advent of “dimensional weight” shipping, it’s not just the weight of your part that matters. It’s also the size of the part or – more precisely – the size of the package.

- SporkMarketing

3. Choose Your Shipping Cartons Wisely

Using the appropriate type of carton to ship heavy automotive parts is critical. 

Although corrugated cartons and cardboard boxes tend to look similar, corrugated cartons are more durable. 

Corrugate is comprised of three layers of paper that include an inside liner, an outside liner, and fluting with a ruffled shape, which runs in between the two. 

When formed into boxes, corrugated sheets are ideal for shipping heavy items because they are strong, durable, and easily recycled.

Goods shipped in corrugated cartons are less likely to be damaged in shipment than those shipped in cardboard boxes.

4. Use a Strong, Tamper-Evident Packaging Tape

Maximize the strength and security of your corrugate by using reinforced water-activated tape to seal your carton.

Reinforced water-activated tape contains fiberglass which provides extraordinary strength to the tape, thereby protecting your shipped products.

When activated with water, gummed paper tape penetrates the carton material and the tape forms a permanent bond with the carton and creating a tamper-evident seal.

Water-activated tape fits the bill for a host of automotive and automotive aftermarket companies that want their products to arrive at a customer’s business or home intact.  

Want to know if water activated tape is right for your automotive company? Get in touch for more information and pricing below.