transportation companies?

[wingsuit]

I've done a search through the forums, but I'm either using the wrong keywords or looking in the wrong place. 

 

 

I'm posting this in the s30 section as I'm guessing more people that are into 240's are using transportation companies (to bring in from non rust states)

 

any experiences with shipping companies and having ones you recommend? Or places to go to find auto transport companies? I need to get a z to bellvue, wa (essentially seattle) and I've got a couple potential buys in texas, and some other south east states.

 

I've never had to ship a vehicle but have heard a few horror stories.

 

A couple that I'm looking at have already been restored to some extent so I'm not just hauling a shell, I want care taken with this thing.

 

 

ideas?

 

 

cheers 

[Pharaohabq]

Well I've shipped a couple cars.  The thing about it is that using a transport company can give you a good price, and take care of most of the issues in between, but really, They just contract with other companies or most often private truckers.  It'd be best to get your insurance ahead of time through hagarty or some such, because you'll get cheaper pricing.  The next thing to look for is actually a trucker who goes that way. talk to truckers at your local truckstop. They can get you hooked up with a buddy and likely save you some $ off dealing with a company.  I'm not saying go without talking to a company, but dealing with a private trucker can save you money, but there may be more risk.   Through a company I paid $1100 to ship my Jeep from NJ to Albuquerque. Through a private trucker I shipped an Eclipse from VA to Albuquerque for a little more than $700.  Granted the weights are different, but  the distance was about the same. Both cars showed up dirty, but intact.  I've read the horror stories too, so it's a risk, but that's where the insurance comes from. Before pictures/inspection, then after it arrives what is the difference? That's what insurance is for.  Likely it'll be fine since 1000's of cars are shipped every day. I'd recommend covering your car either way you go.

[PLATA]

U ship>>>>>>>>>>> the are very competitive , and keep on mind that they are on bids for jobs   FWIW 

[OhBilly]

Another way you might do it is to post on your regional SCCA/NASA forums, as well as those SCCA/NASA forums near where you are buying, that you are looking for somebody to transport. Lots of those guys have trailers and are used to hauling cars around, and for the most part are a pretty honest group of people to deal with.

[Tony D]

I just shipped an 85 380SL Mercedes from Port of LA to Rotterdam, $1,100...

 

Overland transport can vary GREATLY in price month to month due to fuel prices alone.

 

I'd be leary of any unbonded or uninsured transport offers (unless you are towing it yourself!) I know of one instance of two " friends" using a tandem trailer...one driver made a wrong move, ripped the hitch off the truck, and thrashed the front most car on the trailer.

 

Since the driver of the truck at the time had his car on the back...he simply pushed his car off, and went on his merry way leaving the truck owner to deal with the mess he made saying "I don't see how this is any of my responsibility, your truck, your trailer, your car!"

 

DIY, or go,with a pro. Frankly the prices stated for transport barely cover fuel costs of a solo endeavour... So going with unbonded transport is foolish money "saved" IMO...

Edited May 14, 2013 by Tony D

[socorob]

I've shipped 2 cars from Washington state to Louisiana. Both times I went with big name companies, and when the cars got here they were on private carriers both times. Talking to both the drivers they say they just go to some website that the shipping companies put bids out on and accept the ones they want. I guess the larger companies have better insurance maybe? That's the only difference I could see between the 2 companies.Also you can pay a little extra for an enclosed trailer if its a time of year where they may drive through an area that has hail storms or some other environmental factor that could cause some damage. There are a few companies like the ones the auctions like Mecum and such use for their transport who own all the trucks and employ the drivers, but those are usually pricier.

Edited May 14, 2013 by socorob

[HowlerMonkey]

Biggest thing is making sure to ship from large cities to large cities or you could very well wait a very long time.

 

I bought a M30 located in Norfolk, Virginia for shipping to west palm beach and two shipping companies could not ship in in 2 months.

 

I flew up to drive the car back down to florida but found that the rear shocks had zero damping that caused the rear wheels to leap off the ground almost a foot on bridges and attracted a huge amount of attention from other drivers.

 

I simply drove it 100miles to washington DC. instead of 900 miles of bouncing like the van in Cheech and Chong's Next Movie and it only took one day to arrange pickup and shipping for 450 bucks.

 

Pricing is one thing but availability is much better in a major metropolitan area.

[Snowthel]

I've also heard some bad stories and usually you hear them from people who were using companies with the lowest prices. Here's the info on car shipping prices. Its better not to take risks and choose more or less reputable companies. I had 2 cars shipped 4 years ago from Florida to New Jersey and I didnt have any issues. 

Edited September 18, 2013 by Snowthel

[ryan95i4]

I used Cascade Vehicle Shipping, but like someone else said, most companies just contract your order out.  I believe Gemmell Transport was the actual truck that was used.  I had a good experience either way, Cascade kept me informed and the driver contacted me when he was close. It cost me $900 to ship from central cali to central fl, car arrived dirty but in good shape.

Someone mentioned U-Ship, I tried this as well but every bid I got was several hundred more than contacting companies directly and asking for quotes.  Could just be cause of the route i needed, but the best offers i got from u-ship were 300-500 more than what I ended up paying.

[BLOZ UP]

Yeah, it was hard to find a legit website that didn't seem like a xerox copy of every other shipping company's website. There are lots of duplicate companies that are all owned by the same parent company. And all of them just contract it out (save for Horseless Carriage, and all the other fancy ones). They give you a price that's 200-400 dollars more expensive than calling up the actual hauling truck/company yourself. Then again, they also deal with all the hassles. Sort of.

 

I shipped my 280Z from TX to NJ, for just under $1100. The company was nice and helpful, but in the end they and I had to deal with the trucker that they picked, who was a little hard to understand and late picking up and delivering. I have no problem forgiving the language barrier, but the biggest problem was he parked my car on the bottom under some POS Camaro that was leaking like a sieve. But he failed to protect my car. Instead of telling me he just wiped off my roof and handed me the car. I later found out when I opened the hatch and saw some nasty oil pooled up above the tail lights. I also took an entire day off work just to have him show up at 9pm anyway, but that's to be expected.

 

But, it got here and was otherwise undamaged.

 

The company also said they would give away a free transport once a month if you posted a positive review on "transportreviews.com" or whatever that site was. Total scam, twice over, I can't trust anything on that review site now, and I've never heard of anyone actually cashing in on this "giveaway". Won't deal with them again.

Edited September 17, 2013 by BLOZ UP

[Pharaohabq]

One of my buddies runs New Covenant transport. I've got his # at home if you're interrested. I'm not sure if he gets up to seattle very often. but it's definitely cheapest to deal directly with the truckers. I'd make sure the car was well insured before you shipped it, including before and after pictures. Your pickup location will need to do most of the work to ensure it's well covered and loaded safely.  There's plenty of horror stories, but these guys are well insured, or they'd be out of business.