Fly2HMO From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Posted (2 years 4 months 2 weeks 4 days 20 hours ago) and read 9005 times:
Long story short, I moved to VA from AZ but I left my car behind. I flew to VA as it would be much much cheaper than driving the car myself once you figure in gas and hotel costs (close to $1000). But now I REALLY need the car and shipping it is apparently still cheaper than driving myself.
Doing TONS of online searches I cant find anything other than shady websites saying "FREE 7 Instant Quotes!" and similar spam-like websites that ask for everything about you and even your grandma's dog's name. I can't seem to find a legitimate dedicated shipping website for a single company.
okie From United States of America, joined Jul 2003, 2376 posts, RR: 3 Reply 1, posted (2 years 4 months 2 weeks 4 days 19 hours ago) and read 8986 times:
I know there are a several companies that move "collector" cars around the country you might inquire with a collector club in your area for references.
Also might see if someone like AAA recommends a shipper, usually military personnel have some contacts as well.
asuflyer05 From United States of America, joined Feb 2004, 2369 posts, RR: 3 Reply 3, posted (2 years 4 months 2 weeks 4 days 19 hours ago) and read 8960 times:
I paid $900 to ship my car on an open carrier from Scottsdale to Chantilly last May. I booked the carrier using CentralDispatch which is a website for auto dealers and brokers to book shipping space. I believe they have a separate website for consumers to submit a vehicle for shipping, then get bids from different trucking companies.
Just make sure the carrier is licensed, bonded and insured. Make sure they give you a timeframe for the delivery of the vehicle. These car haulers aren't like FedEx especially if you're looking to move a car on the cheap. They'll generally say 7-10 days for AZ to VA and call you a couple of hours before they deliver.
Fly2hmo From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 4, posted (2 years 4 months 2 weeks 4 days 17 hours ago) and read 8932 times:
So far the average prices I've been quoted have been well above my limit. I haven't gotten quotes under $900. The cheapest solution Ive come up with is having my dad drive halfway of the trip to DFW in my car, then I fly in to DFW and meet him there, then pick up my car and drive back the rest of the way.
RJLover From Canada, joined Dec 2006, 567 posts, RR: 1 Reply 5, posted (2 years 4 months 2 weeks 4 days 17 hours ago) and read 8925 times:
I'm moving from YYJ to YHZ sometime later this month and will be driving my car, via the US. To send a car by train YVR -> YHZ I was told $1,200, so I figured screw it, I'll do the drive. I'm estimating it'll be ~$1,000 to do the drive.
It should be fun!
Last Flight(s): YHZ-EWR-FLL // MIA-YYZ-YOW-YHZ.....Next Flight(s):
ALTF4 From United States of America, joined Jul 2010, 1143 posts, RR: 4 Reply 8, posted (2 years 4 months 2 weeks 4 days 6 hours ago) and read 8809 times:
Quoting rlwynn (Reply 6): My father has shipped thousands of cars with them over the past 30 years. He said the only problem he has ever was twice whn the truck crashed.
Did they cover any damage done to the cars, or did they say "sorry, not out fault"?
The above post is my opinion. Don't like it? Don't read it.
Indeed, I'm no stranger to extremely long solo drives and I always enjoy road trips, but the costs are just way out of my league right now, I'm extremely broke and still jobless.
Two years ago, I used All America Auto Transport to ship my 1977 Lincoln Town Car from a small farm town in rural Wisconsin to Los Angeles (KevenL1011's shop).
The car weights 5410 pounds and was not running at the time it was shipped.
They were able to pinpoint the exact time of delivery to the minute and they were accurate and kept me updated throughout the journey across the US.
It cost me $950.00.
Do you have friends in middle-America along I-10, I-40 and I-70 that would let you crash at their place overnight?
That is one way to keep cost down.
Driving solo can be fun because you can listen to your tapes & CDs as loud as you want without having to concern yourself with weather or not your passenger likes it or not.
Fly2hmo From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 11, posted (2 years 4 months 2 weeks 4 days 3 hours ago) and read 8755 times:
Quoting Superfly (Reply 10): Do you have friends in middle-America along I-10, I-40 and I-70 that would let you crash at their place overnight?
Possibly... I'd have to make some calls.
Quoting Superfly (Reply 10):
Driving solo can be fun because you can listen to your tapes & CDs as loud as you want without having to concern yourself with weather or not your passenger likes it or not.
I actually like to cruise with no music. Call me crazy, but I rather hear the engine and road noise, even though it's a brand new car, I like to listen for mechanical-noise warning signs before things go awfully wrong.
N1120A From United States of America, joined Dec 2003, 25852 posts, RR: 79 Reply 13, posted (2 years 4 months 2 weeks 13 hours ago) and read 8600 times:
Quoting Fly2HMO (Thread starter): I flew to VA as it would be much much cheaper than driving the car myself once you figure in gas and hotel costs (close to $1000).
Don't you have a rather fuel efficient car? I doubt it would cost that much, especially if you keep your hotel cost to $60 or less (very doable at decent places in middle America).
Mangeons les French fries, mais surtout pratiquons avec fierte le French kiss
Geezer From United States of America, joined Aug 2010, 1421 posts, RR: 1 Reply 14, posted (2 years 4 months 1 week 6 days 13 hours ago) and read 8536 times:
This probably won't help because i don't think you have considered it; but I'll explain it anyway; you will see many ads where people are "going someplace", and they advertise for someone wanting to get a car shipped; so, they drive your car, you buy the gas, and they get free transportation. Sometimes they even buy the gas.
This setup is just as good, or just as bad, as the guy doing the driving. I had a friend who had this guy drive his Porsche from Ohio to Florida. What a nightmare ! The car got trashed, and the guy driving it got in jail. ( That was 20 yrs ago; let's hope he's still in jail ! )
Actually, it used to be pretty common, but everything has changed in the last 10 years or so.
Someone to look at, all the big household movers haul cars; half the Global, Bekins, etc. you see have a car in the trailer, and actually it's quite safe; but it's definitely not cheap. Safe yes, cheap no.
A very close friend of mine moved from Phoenix to Panama City Fla back in May, and shipped two of his cars in the moving van; then moved again to NYC; again, no problemo; he drove his SUV with his wife and 3 Chiwawas; (Sp?)
It worked just fine, mainly because a big airline was footing all the bills, including his food and motels. I guess that's a good reason to work up to a good job with an airline ! They need your "talent" !
If I were in your place, I would definitely find a way to drive the car myself, even if I had to hitch-hike to Arizona to start the trip.
But whatever you do........don't let an "un-known" drive your car, hoping to "save"; it's the worst option.
Good luck;
Charley
Stupidity: Doing the same thing over and over and over again and expecting a different result; Albert Einstein
Molykote From United States of America, joined Aug 2005, 1336 posts, RR: 30 Reply 15, posted (2 years 4 months 1 week 6 days 12 hours ago) and read 8531 times:
My father has shipped thousands of cars with them over the past 30 years. He said the only problem he has ever was twice whn the truck crashed.
I've used these guys. The car arrived before the (conservatively) quoted time.
A few notes from my experience (2 years ago):
- Prices varied heavily depending on which day of the week/truck you wanted your car sent on.
- They offer "extras" like insurance, "we'll put your car on the top of the truck", etc for extra money.
- Depot to depot price is the base rate. Door to door on either end of the journey is about an extra $100.
- The receiving depot supposedly washes the car, though mine was really done half-assed. I don't care if the car is dirty but not being able to see out the windows is another matter. Had I not picked up the car near closing time I might have (1) noticed the filth in better light and (2) made them at least clean the windows. Fortunately, the depot was only 25 minutes from home for me. I'd also suspect that some sort of powered brush was used to wash the car - after seeing it in the next day's light, it appeared that the massive amount of dirt that had accumulated on the vehicle ended up abrading the finish during the washing process (though I had no real recourse for this as I had bought a used car unseen and couldn't firmly establish where it may have happened).
All told, I have no real complaints from my transaction. I shipped a small/medium (3 series) car from Houston to Pittsburgh for a base rate of $440. I paid for a $100 "door to door" charge from the dealer in Houston but that might have been unnecessary given the number of cars that this dealer sells. I think I ended up biting on the "top of the truck" option for $20, though I had no rational reason for doing so.
$560 to get a car from the dealer in Houston to the depot in Pittsburgh was worth it for me. Even given a free airline ticket to Houston, avoiding the ~1,300mi/23hr trip, lodging, food, etc was reason enough to ship the car rather than drive. In my case I was also dealing with driving to Pittsburgh on 225/245mm summer tires in January on a newly purchased (uninspected) used car. Obviously, your circumstances are a bit different but shipping was a slam dunk for me.
DocLightning From United States of America, joined Nov 2005, 16824 posts, RR: 57 Reply 16, posted (2 years 4 months 1 week 6 days 12 hours ago) and read 8528 times:
Quoting Molykote (Reply 15): - The receiving depot supposedly washes the car, though mine was really done half-assed.
Really? The one time I used such a service (and I don't remember who it was) the car showed up filthy. I sprayed the windshield with the washer so that I could drive it and then went to a car wash. $5 and 5 min. later, I had a shiny clean car.
Molykote From United States of America, joined Aug 2005, 1336 posts, RR: 30 Reply 17, posted (2 years 4 months 1 week 6 days 6 hours ago) and read 8488 times:
Quoting DocLightning (Reply 16): Really? The one time I used such a service (and I don't remember who it was) the car showed up filthy. I sprayed the windshield with the washer so that I could drive it and then went to a car wash. $5 and 5 min. later, I had a shiny clean car.
My experience was as you described. I chalked it up to freezing January temperatures making a better wash impractical and shrugged it off.
Fly2hmo From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 18, posted (2 years 4 months 1 week 6 days 4 hours ago) and read 8465 times:
Quoting N1120A (Reply 13):
Don't you have a rather fuel efficient car?
HA! I wish... I get 20mpgs on the city if i'm lucky. It's a guzzler, but I blame that mostly on the crappy Pemex gas, the fact that the engine is virtually unchanged since it first was introduced 40 years ago, and my lead foot syndrome.
Quoting Geezer (Reply 14): This probably won't help because i don't think you have considered it;
My mom mentioned something like that, and I know there's websites for that, but hell no I'm not getting any stranger in my car.
Now I'm caught in between buying a beater car here or driving mine up, I REALLY want my car though, it all depends whether my dad will have a business trip to DFW and if that's the case he'll drive there, and I'll fly in and pick it up and drive the rest of the way.
Superfly From Thailand, joined May 2000, 38505 posts, RR: 80 Reply 21, posted (2 years 4 months 1 week 5 days 17 hours ago) and read 8400 times:
Quoting Fly2HMO (Reply 20): The last tank only gave me 17mpgs. Which for a 2.0L 4 banger is quite thirsty, for todays standards at least.
Yes that is thirsty. I didn't know your car had a small engine. What kind of car is it again?
Those numbers is the same as my 1987 Chrysler Lebaron convertible. It got horrible mileage for such a gutless car. It was rated at 146HP but felt more like 90HP. The turbo added some power but made the exhaust loud, run hot and drink lots of gas.
That mileage you're getting is what some V8s are getting. A Ford Mustang GT get's the same numbers.
Quoting Fly2HMO (Reply 20): Yeah they wanted $930ish, nobody has quoted me anything under $905, which is quite a stretch for my wallet, or lack thereof
That is the going rate.
I can at least testify that their service is good and extremely professional. Your car will get to it's destination without a scratch at the time they promise. They'll keep you updated along the journey as well.
Another important thing to consider is the trucks they use. This company doesn't use chains that hang from the above rack. Some companies still use those and they can fall and hit your car if parked on the bottom.
Just something to consider.
On the highway, you should get close to 30MPG and hotels & restaurants are cheaper in middle-America. You might be able to do this trip for less than $930.
If you have friends & family along the way that you can crash with, you can do this journey very cheap.
SEAT (that's say-at) Ibiza 2010, think Ford Fiesta, but better (well, minus the guzzler part )
But I bought it for how well it drives and quality, don't really give a damn about MPGs or eco-niceness when buying cars, because f-you, Greenpeace.
Quoting Superfly (Reply 21): You might be able to do this trip for less than $930.
If you have friends & family along the way that you can crash with, you can do this journey very cheap.
I've done the math. Best case scenario I've figured at the very least is $800. Mind you, I'm also crossing the US/Mexico border with it.
I just hope that if I bring it over to the states I don't have any problems with the law, AZ cops are used to seeing cars with Mexican plates all the time, but I hear cops in VA are as Nazi as they get, not to mention radar detectors are illegal. But in my mind the only people that have a say on whether my car can be here or not is the CBP, and their only restriction is that foreign cars can only be temporarily imported for a year, at which point I'd just drive to Canada to export it then back down again to reset the yearly requirement
DiamondFlyer From United States of America, joined Oct 2008, 1294 posts, RR: 3 Reply 23, posted (2 years 4 months 1 week 5 days 17 hours ago) and read 8390 times:
Quoting Fly2HMO (Reply 22): SEAT (that's say-at) Ibiza 2010, think Ford Fiesta, but better (well, minus the guzzler part )
I was going to ask how you only get 17 MPG out of a 2.0, but then I realized its the 2.slow, not the 2.0T. Such a shame, but its still a sweet car.
Superfly From Thailand, joined May 2000, 38505 posts, RR: 80 Reply 24, posted (2 years 4 months 1 week 5 days 15 hours ago) and read 8360 times:
Quoting Fly2HMO (Reply 22): I hear cops in VA are as Nazi as they get,
Lot's of small cities in Virginia with cops that are board. Yes they'll harass you and ask you tons of questions.
Make sure you always park the car indoors and out of view of the street. That way the police can't always see your license plate.
Bring back the Concorde
25 KevinL1011: Only small cities in VA. Huh? I think I remember you and I getting rolled in a city with a population of 170,000 by not one, but two police units und
26 Superfly: 170,000 population is still small enough for cops to concern themselves with petty stuff like this. It's the larger cities of 1 million or larger whe
27 KevinL1011: You lived in the bay area long enough to know there's a separate police force of it's own called "Parking Enforcement". Probably the largest revenue
28 Superfly: Ugh, that is one elemnt of San Francisco I do not miss! You should read my Yelp.com review of San Francisco Department of Traffic. Despite their deco
29 KevinL1011: Yes, and also the ones that weren't successful.
30 Fly2HMO: Yup, good 'ole 1970's 8v LOL. It's horrid in the Jettas, but in the Ibiza it feels so much more punchy, and it has a great tranny too, very short rat
31 N1120A: That's shocking, because my car does that for me, and is 1.2l larger. Good mileage relative to one of those land yachts you tool around in. Did you g
32 DiamondFlyer: You know they put that engine in the MkVI Jetta now too, right? But yeah, swap a 2.0T in that car, and it would be wicked fast. Heck, if you are will
33 IMissPiedmont: I had a car driven by someone from FL to AZ about 30 years ago and as I recall he was found through AAA, cost me nothing and gave a retiree wheels and
34 Fly2HMO: Yeah, at least from what I hear they have (the sticks at least) the same short ratio 5 speed tranny my Ibiza has, which fits the 2 point slow rather
35 PWM2TXLHopper: I'm surprised nobody has mentioned shipping by rail. I know people who've shipped their cars long distance, cross county this way. It can be cheaper t
36 asuflyer05: What part of VA are you in? Do you even want to bother with parking and paying personal property tax?
37 Fly2HMO: I got quotes from all those a week ago. All those websites are phony, sort of. When you ask for a quote, even if you used or requested a train shippi
38 RJLover: I got to my interm destination, YXU, yesterday. It look 4 days, 3 nights to go from YYJ to YXU, via the US (on I-90 most of the way). I was spending a
39 PWM2TXLHopper: I see. I just came up with those sites after a quick search. I didn't spend a lot of time investigating, but I'm sure you can ship by rail. I once kn
40 Fly2HMO: Yeah, been searching like crazy how to do it directly via rail, but there's not much info out there. However what little I've found seems to indicate
41 UAL747DEN: I find it hard to believe it would cost you more than $900 to just drive it from AZ to VA. Your young its not like you need to stop at a hotel every 8
42 Fly2HMO: I know people who've done the drive. The one guy told me he did in fact do it in just one day. But by the time he arrived he had hallucinations and n
43 PWM2TXLHopper: I don't know about that? Expenses add up. That's why it's become cheaper to fly. For me to drive 1,200 over two days, it would cost me about $250 in
44 UAL747DEN: Only one accident in my life and I was not at fault. I do agree however that most people should not and cannot do this, I just happen to be a better
45 PITingres: I used to do Pgh to Denver in 35+ hours in a car. Leave at midnight, take a short nap past Indianapolis at 5-6+ hours, and a longer (3-4) hour sleep
46 comorin: I used Horseless Carriage to ship my car back from SFO to NYC after a cross-country. They did a really good job - $1K. www.horselesscarriage.com
47 rlwynn: How are you going to insure a Seat (Americans would say, Say-ott) Ibiza in America? There are no Seat's and that car would not be to American standard
48 DiamondFlyer: Probably the same way people insure and register kit cars. I know of a guy who has a mid 70's VW Beetle, converted to a dune buggy, that is nothing m
49 Fly2HMO: My Mexican Insurance has liability insurance coverage included in the US as well, with a US underwriter. I even get roadside support for free. Even i
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