My dad wants to move his 1974 Karmann Ghia from Iowa to New York, but doesn’t want to drive it there. He’s asked me to search for a car transport carrier, but Google just brings up one auto-generated site after another. These are ad-driven eyeball-harvesting sites that spit out nothing but names, with no way to know whom you’re dealing with, where they are, or what people think of them.
Has anybody had experience with car transporters? What should you ask for? Look out for? Expect to pay? Should you deal with a firm near you? Near your destination?
From Movers.com
Also check whether the carrier has an active liability and cargo insurance. Check whether it covers the value of your vehicle. If the insurance is limited ask for additional coverage. Better take a written proof of transport insurance coverage.
Before choosing the auto transporter check whether the transporter is registered with the Department of Transportation and has an active MC and USDOT number. Brokers will only have MC numbers.
I used moving car as my google search and found better results on page 2 than on page 1
Does he not want it driven at all, and so you’re talking about putting it on a truck, or does he just not want to drive it himself? If it can be driven, he might consider a driveaway company and ask for a professional driver to take it (“Expedited Service”). It’s more expensive than Standard Service, which has no guaranteed delivery date, but most likely far less expensive than a truck. I worked for Auto Driveaway for many many years, both in the office and as a professional Pickup/Expedited Driver. There are many other driveaway companies, but AD has been around since 1952 and has offices all over the country. None in Iowa though. It would have to be driven to a nearby office or picked up by someone from the nearest office.
I sold a car on eBay, the buyer chose Horseless Carriage to ship the car. It was shipped from the Seattle area to Memphis, Tennessee on a space available basis, this saved the buy about 50% over the standard shipping rate. It took about 17 days for his car to arrive.
I think eBay motors partners with DAS, and in fact I ended up hiring them to move my Grandville. I haven’t picked a date, yet. If they can move that monster, a Karmann Ghia ought to be easy. I’ll have to have paid a little extra due to “not running,” but if you don’t have that problem, then it’ll be a little cheaper.
Only reason I’ve not picked a date is because of the not-running, and not sure yet if the car hauler can make it down my street or not!
We are using DAS to move our car from Atlanta to Sacramento. It has already been picked up, but I guess I should wait until it is safely on the other side before recommending them!