Transporting a car?
 

Asking the brain trust here for help. My son has a Honda car in Southern California and is looking to have it shipped here to the Nashville Tennessee area. I know you folks will have an answer on who to use so what say the brain trust?

Thanks for the help,

Dave

I have never done it, but from what I have heard, the cheaper the shipper, the less likely of good job. Find someone that actually has a truck, and is not just a broker. And be sure they are bonded and insured.

I have heard stories of the "shipper" actually getting in the car and driving it, and then eating in the car, and smoking, and making a mess of the interior.

You're probably looking at $1,000-1,500 for a legitimate open carrier transport. Cheaper = riskier. I wouldn't worry about enclosed carry, but I'd insist the car not be on the top of the trailer in the front.

$1300 to enclosed trailer a car through Horseless Carriage from Oregon's Willamette Valley to a New Jersey shipping port. This was in July of 2007. All went well...

http://www.horselesscarriage.com/

I used Angels Moving Autos for my GT3 as they were recommended by Porsche of Minneapolis. I was happy with the service.

I wouldn’t use Horseless Carriage on somebody else’s nickel. My bad experience with them has been discussed here several times. I always use Passport/Fedex and Intercity. Reliable is also good. Enclosed transport may be a little expensive for an every day car.

I’ve sold a couple courage to people that didn’t go with my recommendations on the shipper, had three of them nearly had significant problems. I was on hand for the loading and prevented certain damage. Not everybody knows what they are doing.

Your best price is going to be if you are completely flexible on pick up and delivery dates and let them use your car to finish making a load, when they need it. Delivering the car for loading and picking it up from unloading at local truckstops or other convenient locations for the truck will also help.

If you are a little flexible on time frame that will help a little on the cost . Shippers like to build a " full load " for efficiency . Price for an open trailer should be in the 1K range with closed being closer to 1500.00 . Expect that most drivers will be of Eastern European descent ( nothing wrong with that ) . While shipping cars for most of us is unknown territory it happens EVERY day 7 days a week . Just find a decent broker , your request will go out for bid and your phone will start ringing :D Give the job to whoever you understand their broken English to ;)

Trying to do this myself right now for a car in Maryland, trying to get it to Iowa. First went to uship (I know) and it's the same 3 brokers bidding back and forth. Started at $1500 and is now down to $1100. Had 2 smaller companies contact me and we talked back and forth but as soon as it gets to putting in a bid they disappear.

Just got a quote from Intercity and it's over $2K for 1200 miles and it'll take 2 weeks before they even know if they can do it.

Couple other carriers I've requested quotes from directly and no answer. At this point it looks like I'll be flying out and driving back. Don't want to but I'm not paying $2K and waiting a month for the only company with positive reviews here to get around to do it. I live 1 mile from the busiest cross country interstate in the country, there should be no reason for that.

How much is the car worth? Might be more cost effective to sell it, and buy something local.

My son moved a car from CO to FL for $600, went on-line to a bid site for moving cars...went very well. Given, it was an older car so in-closed transport wasn't an issue...was insured, etc. Deals are out there.

I moved my 81SC from Colorado to Jacksonville, Florida, open, $800.

Be careful when shopping around for an auto transport company. If you happen to get hold of a broker, you'll be getting phone calls for months from all kinds of outfits that want your business. Kind of like Fred's post today about getting bombarded with calls from people wanting to sell him a car after posting about it on-line.

I've used J&S Transportation in the past and have been very satisfied with their service. They're shippers, not brokers, and they run their own fleet of trucks.
https://www.jandstransport.com/

I used United Routes (https://unitedroutes.com) for an enclosed pickup and delivery in March. It went well for the trip from Houston to New Jersey and cost $1600. The only problem I had was that the dealer put the wrong car on the truck! Instead of the 2010 911S I purchased, they loaded a 2017 GT3 Touring!!!

It was caught after 6 hours (darn!) and despite the 12 hour delay, United delivered the car on time. I'm sure the dealer had to pay for that mistake!

Flight to bwi should be cheap. I'm close it you need a hand or to crash.

So, sounds like I was lucky...or rather, the buyer was.