So, this is kind of new to me. I just signed up for UPack thanks to the board here, and I’m needing to ship a car cross-country. I get that moving companies are generally kind of shady, so is there anything I need to know? Recommendations?
A friend of mine shipped a car using Fed-Ex and didn’t have anything bad to say about it.
I shipped a car once. The company apparently works with independent truckers. This caused problems, since the driver kept missing appointments. Also, the company was poor maintaining contact with me. I expect to be updated. The trucker didn’t show up until like a week after I moved. Thankfully, Shayna took care of it for me – at no small hassle to herself.
We’ve shipped two cars across Canada.
Look for a specialty shipper–that is, one that only ships cars. We got the name of such a one from our moving company. A little investigating showed us that it was a reputable company, and so, we approached them. Some questions you might want to ask:
– Do we take the car to your facility, or do you pick it up from our home? Similarly, do we take delivery at your facility, or do you deliver it to our address?
– When you take the car into your care, will your operator do a walk-round with me, noting any damage (e.g. a dent, chipped paint, etc.), and recording the mileage?
– When we get the car at its destination, will your operator do the same, so we can compare and find out if any damage and/or excessive driving happened in transit?
– What is your insurance like, if the car is damaged while in your care?
– Can you guarantee a delivery date? Note that sometimes, this might be a little difficult owing to schedules and unforeseen delays and whatnot, but they should be able to give you a reasonable range of dates (e.g. “We’ll have it there between September 25th and 30th.”).
We opted to allow the shipper to pick up the cars at our old address, and deliver them to our new address, which made things a lot easier. I’ll add that our cars had no more than three kilometers added to the mileage when they arrived, which could be explained by shunting them around storage yards and on and off the train they travelled on. In the end, our cars arrived at their destination with no problem.
My sister had her daughter’s car shipped from Indiana to Arizona when she got off school for the summer, rather than have her driven unaccompanied. In the end, between savings on gas and hotel and food, she figured it didn’t cost much. The car was delivered right on schedule with no problems.
StG
Look for an “auto transport” company.
My dad is kind of a silent partner in a classic Mustang restoration business. They do it all the time, by truck and sometimes by train, with dedicated auto transport companies.
My brother(and wife and their babies) just moved to Hawaii with his new car, I think it it’s a KIA Sportage. I’m not totally sure how they shipped it, but the car got there there before them or a few days after.
I haven’t done it, but I’ve researched it not too long ago and was recommended this company by some people who are very particular about their cars: http://intercitylines.com/
I can’t vouch for them directly since I haven’t used their services. But they got a quote back to me very quickly.
ETA: I also know people who have had cars shipped via various other means, and there are numerous horror stories. Not to say that the majority of people have problems, but I don’t get the impression that most of the services (especially the cheaper ones) are very careful.
I had a car shipped from the US to the UK along with a motorcycle and all by stuff as part of a company transfer. I drove it down to the shipper’s yard in Houston and it (and all the other stuff) turned up in the UK about 4 weeks later.
From Hawaii, we used Matson but Horizon was also available. Look in any copy of Hemmings Car magazines to find dozens of auto shippers - with insurance and references.
I signed up for a few free quotes from the top sites google referred, and have received probably a dozen phone calls from seven different companies offering to ship my car. I hate talking on the phone and sales calls, and get maybe one phone call every other day, so you can imagine how much irrational hate I have for these companies.
We may have a friend willing to drive the car across the country in exchange for hotels + return airfare, which actually saves us about $300.
FWIW, the one I linked to did my quote totally online without talking to anyone on the phone. I too hate having to talk to people on the phone, especially for stuff like this.
Having a trusted friend drive it for you is a decent way to go. Most likely cheaper than the high end companies and safer than the low end ones. I’d guess the expensive companies are safer, because a car inside an enclosed truck is less likely to get in an accident, have the windshield broken by a rock, etc. than one being driven. And they obviously save hundreds or thousands of miles on the car. But unless it’s a brand new or pristine car, those things may be less important to you than the cost. If you’re really picky about your cars, $300 isn’t a very big savings. Just tradeoffs…