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AndyH

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 23, 2010
Messages
6,388
Location
San Antonio
Ebay vehicle auctions have a 'shipping' tab that makes it easy to get free shipping quotes. If you can find a vehicle in the same zip code as your intended dealer it's even easier as the quote will be automatically generated for up to four shippers from the origin ZIP to your Ebay account ZIP code.

http://www.dasautoshippers.com/ebay/

This 'gigamoves' link is grabbed from an ebay auction for a Nissan Versa. Enter the origin and destination ZIPs and away you go!

http://www.gigamoves.com/motors/quo...VjClientAssembler._callback2&destination_zip=

I'm not affiliated with any of these companies, but have used the apps for 'what if' planning.
Good Hunting!
Andy
 
The above link did not work for me.
I googled and tried:
http://www.autotransportdirect.com
for an instant city-to-city online quote. Has "open" and "enclosed" options.

For a Nissan Versa ("open" shipping), it gave me about $350 from San Diego to Santa Barbara, CA ...
and about $675 from Orange County, CA (92653) to San Antonio, TX.
 
Be very careful using these and other online shipping companies, I have researched many from here and other areas and and I have shipped several full-sized EVs cross country. Get reviews, these all sound great but most do a terrible job, if it sounds too low it is. I would suggest a reputable covered carrier that even transports exotics, you can find a good price but if you go with a discount carrier and the car is damaged then you are usually out of luck. The reputable companies have good reviews, not fake ones. I suggest asking someone who has a good carrier VS using a broker/online. Don't forget if you intend to ship out of state you may have tax complications, there is an entire thread on Aptera.com about this.
 
Yes - I'd be careful in shipping.

Using the above site, Altima from Missouri to Seattle is $800 open and $1,500 closed. When I did the move to Seattle some 6 years back, I'd paid about $950 for a closed move (dasautoshippers.com). You also have the option of door-to-door or town-to-town. There are insurance & deductibles to decide on.

I think the best option is to ask the dealer to send it to you. You take ownership of the vehicle when you get it at home.
 
garygid said:
What if it arrives from the dealer damaged?
Refuse the shipment, ... or ???
What would be best to arrange beforehand?

Yes, refuse taking ownership (that way dealer can collect insurance). And yes, definitely come to an agreement with the dealer about it beforehand. Most shippers will tell you to refuse accepting goods if the shipment comes damaged.
 
Good info overall. I think it's important to remember that vehicles are not shipped to the dealer in an enclosed carrier. In addition, vehicles are frequently moved between dealers. One of my commercial customers runs a trucking company with an inter-dealer contract and they - like all the others - use standard two-level open vehicle transport trailers.

Absolutely - do your due diligence, get insurance, and find a company with which you're comfortable. The links I posted are only a starting point - there are many, many other suppliers of car transport services.

Check with your local car dealer and find out who they call when they need to move a car from 'up state'. It's not going to be 'Joe Smith III, Esq. Custom Lamborghini Transporting, LTD'. ;)

One other observation - from personal experience in the 'trenches' of this business... Transporting vehicles is not rocket science and the folks loading, driving, and unloading the trucks are not Doctoral candidates - and they don't need to be.

Andy
 
An additional shipping source is a 'hotshot' service. This might be a guy with an F350 pickup and a gooseneck trailer capable of holding from one to three vehicles.

There are also the standard 'towing' services with flat-bed trucks and/or trailers.
 
AndyH said:
Absolutely - do your due diligence, get insurance, and find a company with which you're comfortable.

Yep. Know the risks involved and match the risk tolerance you have to the company / person you get to move.

When I moved the cars - I did quite a bit of research. I found a lot of people bitching & moaning about the companies. With cheaper alternatives, if everything goes well, obviously everything is fine. If things go wrong - that is when a more reputable company with enough financial stregth to take a loss helps.

Ofcourse, in this case, with short distances involved - the chances of a problem are lower.
 
It is true what some of you have said. All of these people and companies you'll find online will end up being a broker company or a lead site and you'll get multiple broker companies. That is how this industry is run. There is not enough larger car hauling companies in the industry and for this industry to run, a broker is truly needed.

I am a car shipping broker business owner myself. All of these people mentioned above are my competitors. I am not here to dog them or say I'm great. I just want to provide you all with some truthful information. Everyone mentioned above in this forum have had their ups and down with customers. We all have. It is business and we cannot make everyone happy.

All of us brokers has to post your vehicle onto the same website to find you a trucker to transport your vehicle. We all have to do the same job, the differences between myself and a competitor is customer service and price. I normally tell customers to choose the price that is in the middle. Never choose the cheapest because the price will change last minute and also do n't choose the highest quote because they are price gauging you. As for customer service, it is best to find a company or person who is willing to give you a direct number and doesn't have the normal 9-5 business hours. I personally give my cell phone number out to my customers because if they need me for anything I want to make sure it is taken care of. I don't like negative reviews and I want to make sure my customer is taken care of.

There are many businesses better than mine, but I also know I am better than many other businesses within this industry. It is all about the customer and how comfortable the customer is with the particular business.

I own Car Shipping Carriers ( http://www.carshippingcarriers.com ) which is a brokerage company. I also own a lead generation website called Auto Transport Quote Services ( http://www.autotransportquoteservices.com ). I am only one person so when my business grew bigger than what I could handle I started the lead generation business. With the lead site a customer will get 3-5 different companies quoting them.

My advice would be to get a few different quotes, look up the companies online and find out if they have good reviews or not and then choose the one that makes you feel comfortable.

Hope this help!
 
Another bit of advice, especially if using a service like U-Ship: allow enough time to wait for the second and third "waves" of quotes, as the first ones will almost always be from gougers who hope that you are in a rush and will pay much more. They seem to coordinate, in that the less expensive quotes always seem to take at least 5 days to start arriving, so it looks like you will have no choice but to use the inflated rates in the first batch of quotes.
 
Just make sure whatever quote/estimate you get is in writing and it should include any expected costs, as well as what to do if there's any damage or you need to file a claim about anything. They have to be very clear about this process and many of the online options are not. I've used A-1 Auto Transport to ship an EV before and they were good - I think ebay partners with one of the brokers in the industry for their estimates but I forget which one.
 
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