Car Transportation Services?

[jyl]

I need to have a car transported from VA to OR. Strongly prefer enclosed transport. Any recommendations or tips? How would you go about finding a good company? Ballpark price I should be looking for?

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by jyl

I need to have a car transported from VA to OR. Strongly prefer enclosed transport. Any recommendations or tips? How would you go about finding a good company? Ballpark price I should be looking for?

Here is what I know.

When you start googling for companies 90% of what comes back will be brokers.

You don't want to deal with a broker if you can avoid it as all they are really doing is making an introduction for a cut of the fee.

Often they don't know more about the vendor than you will and their exposure to liability is pretty low, meaning if there is an issue they may be of little help.

If you can't speak directly to the driver or drivers direct employer that's not optimal.

You'll want to see what liability they carry.

Probably the big one, the industry does have a FedEx like centralized distribution hub component.

You want to know / have a guarantee that the vehicle will stay on the transport from pickup to final destination.

The horror stories are from people whose car sat in the desert baking in the sun at a distribution hub for months waiting for a truck running to the final destination.

Cost, It kind of all comes down to how valuable is the vehicle to you.

You can find cheap transport but accept you may have to deal with some frustrations.

Or you pay what it costs to get the service you want.

When I moved from NY to TX I found a guy who that was his run, he just shuttled back and forth every week. Was an open 3 car trailer. Personal customer service and good price. I used him for the DD's.

I've also used Horseless Carriage for the 911 and MB and they were great. Pricey but worth it. But it's been a decade so can't speak to very recent service.

[Steve Carlton]

Not everything above is always true. If you want to have an honest discussion with a broker I’ve used for 12 years, call Teresa at White Lightning Transport. Minimum is $2,000 for open carry in that direction, $2,500-2,600 for enclosed. 253-205-6799

[Arizona_928]

Freight is up. I would be looking at 2$+ a loaded mile

[RS America]

I've used CFR Rinkins in Paramount several times to ship my RS America back and forth to Europe.
https://cfrrinkens.com

I was scheduled to ship my 914-6, then the virus hit. It was $2200 from my driveway to Felixstowe, UK. All shipping in a enclosed container.

[jyl]

Thanks. Waiting on some quotes, including from the specific services mentioned above.

A standard Google search and filling out the online quote forms is giving me around $2200-2500 enclosed, $1400-1800 open. Not checked those out at all yet.

This is a just-restored vehicle and I don't want to drive it x-country with 4000 miles of stone chips, so I'm assuming I should avoid open transport too - right?

[ben parrish]

Open transport is not an issue if the car is prepped....like what you see for new cars on a multi-car transport. There is some type of heavy film applied to the top surfaces and doors to protect. Actually, the chance of damage is extremely low on a transport once it is loaded....I second the recommendation to make sure it is on the same trailer, not moved from pickup to drop off.

[speeder]

I also need an enclosed transport recommendation for a friend, was going to do a search here. Isn't Intercity one of the good ones, (high-end)?

[Steve Carlton]

Originally Posted by jyl

This is a just-restored vehicle and I don't want to drive it x-country with 4000 miles of stone chips, so I'm assuming I should avoid open transport too - right?

If there are used cars on the trailer, I wouldn't recommend being on the bottom row. And being in the front on the top sucks. Sometimes those bugs are really hard to remove, even if you deal with it right away. Especially with soft paint. If the difference is only $500-600, I'd go enclosed.

[javadog]

Intercity is one of the good ones. FedEx/Passport is another. I’d probably get a quote from Reliable, although I’ve never used them personally.

I will tell you to avoid Horseless Carriage like the plague.

Open transport is absolutely no good for a restored car across that many miles. The savings just isn’t worth it.

I would never use a broker, I always want to deal directly with the company that is shipping it, from the get go. I’ve had people buy cars for me that used a brokered shipper and a couple of those were no Bueno.

If you want a good price, tell them that you are flexible on the pick up and delivery dates and you will deliver the car for loading to an easily accessible area adjacent to the major highway through town that they’ll be coming in on, to save the driver from having to waste time navigating through the city streets to get to the pick up location. Offer to do the same thing to delivery end. When you’re flexible with the dates, it allows them some time to put together a load that makes the most sense for them, logistically.

[ChrisHoover]

I used intercity to ship my Cayman and 911. The service was very good. The driver was excellent. He left San Francisco with two more pickups on Friday and dropped my cars off in Round Rock on Tuesday.