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Auto transporters?


smithe1811
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I'm thinking of having a manche shipped and was wondering if anyone has done this before and had some info, like average cost and how long delivery takes or some suggestions on company's.Thanks

 

Erik :beerhead:

 

You didn't buy a $10,000 MJ form SoCal did you?

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To have my Suburban shipped from Dallas/Ft Worth area to rural NE/E Ohio cost $1300, and that was 8 years ago when gas was $1.60 a gallon, diesel about the same. I was told about 3 weeks, but it arrived within 4 days on a 48 foot open trailer (two other vehicles on it as well) behind a Dodge dually diesel with a sleeper. Two men operation. He drove, she stays at home to man the phone and tell him where to pick up/drop off vehicles.

 

If it is reliable enough to drive, your best bet would be to take the greyhound, or fly or whatever and drive the truck home, unless you have access to a truck with a decent sized engine and a trailer to go get it.

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Ok, juiced up now. So, if you Google auto transporters you'll get a ton and also sites that send out quote requests and then you'll get inundated with quotes. The ones that seem to be too good to be true, from what I researched, usually are. Then you get some quotes that are twice as much, and obviously ones that fall in between. I know that sounds obvious but you have to resist the temptation to just go with the cheapest.

 

You have transport brokers, the majority of quotes you'll get, and transport companies, i.e. they have their own trucks. The latter is the most reliable but also the most expensive. Although, I found that most transport companies also do brokerage. Anyway, I also researched the BBB on each company I considered. The ones that ask you for a deposit are brokers, basically they are just making sure they get their fee up front. A lot of the lower end quotes supposedly are just the amount the actual transporter is charging, and the broker has not included their fee yet, which seems to usually be between $100-250. Then the transporter tells you he needs another $X amount before he'll unload your truck, but that's because the broker has witheld the amount of their fee from what the transporter is to get. So, best bet is to confirm with whoever you use whether they are a broker or the actual transporter and if there will be any additional fees over and above the quote they are giving you, upon delivery, i.e. fuel surcharges, "unloading fees", and/or their own fees if it is a broker. Some owner-operated transport companies will tell you should never give a deposit, but that's a little misleading in relation to what I just said. That's just how they market themselves against brokers. I ended up going with a broker and it went fine. Do be prepared though that the loading of your truck may end up taking longer than expected as they, whether a broker or owner-operator, wait to fill up the trailer and/or put together a run with all deliveries going in the same direction. Or, they're trying to secure a back-haul to for the trip home. I told them I wouldn't pay a deposit until there was proof the truck was loaded on a trailer.

 

Well, I've gone on enough, but common sense and asking a lot of questions usually will reduce your risk of getting ripped off. Hope this helps.

 

Oh yeah, where would it be coming from? As i said before, mine came from Missouri last September and was about 7 or 800 miles I think, and I paid $700. $500-$600 were the low bids, but they couldn't give me a load date. $1100-1300 was the high end from owner-operators and companies who only hauled with enclosed trailers.

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Ok, juiced up now. So, if you Google auto transporters you'll get a ton and also sites that send out quote requests and then you'll get inundated with quotes. The ones that seem to be too good to be true, from what I researched, usually are. Then you get some quotes that are twice as much, and obviously ones that fall in between. I know that sounds obvious but you have to resist the temptation to just go with the cheapest.

 

You have transport brokers, the majority of quotes you'll get, and transport companies, i.e. they have their own trucks. The latter is the most reliable but also the most expensive. Although, I found that most transport companies also do brokerage. Anyway, I also researched the BBB on each company I considered. The ones that ask you for a deposit are brokers, basically they are just making sure they get their fee up front. A lot of the lower end quotes supposedly are just the amount the actual transporter is charging, and the broker has not included their fee yet, which seems to usually be between $100-250. Then the transporter tells you he needs another $X amount before he'll unload your truck, but that's because the broker has witheld the amount of their fee from what the transporter is to get. So, best bet is to confirm with whoever you use whether they are a broker or the actual transporter and if there will be any additional fees over and above the quote they are giving you, upon delivery, i.e. fuel surcharges, "unloading fees", and/or their own fees if it is a broker. Some owner-operated transport companies will tell you should never give a deposit, but that's a little misleading in relation to what I just said. That's just how they market themselves against brokers. I ended up going with a broker and it went fine. Do be prepared though that the loading of your truck may end up taking longer than expected as they, whether a broker or owner-operator, wait to fill up the trailer and/or put together a run with all deliveries going in the same direction. Or, they're trying to secure a back-haul to for the trip home. I told them I wouldn't pay a deposit until there was proof the truck was loaded on a trailer.

 

Well, I've gone on enough, but common sense and asking a lot of questions usually will reduce your risk of getting ripped off. Hope this helps.

 

Oh yeah, where would it be coming from? As i said before, mine came from Missouri last September and was about 7 or 800 miles I think, and I paid $700. $500-$600 were the low bids, but they couldn't give me a load date. $1100-1300 was the high end from owner-operators and companies who only hauled with enclosed trailers.

 

WOW Wahoo... You had me at "OK"... I need to go have another BL Lime just so I can finish reading your novel...Damn...

 

#2

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Just be sure to do lots of research and read the fine print. Don't trust any verbal agreements. One company that should be completely avoided is Agape. They are dishonest and couldn't care what happens to your vehicle after they get your deposit. We shipped our MJ from TX to WA last year. After several weeks and more lies, they took $75 from us for nothing. We finally went with a different company who shipped it to us within a week.

 

Willy

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looking to ship from VA to PA

 

That's kind of a short haul......what 200-250 miles????

 

U-haul car dolly = $46 /day.

 

Check with your local body shops / towing company's, they will probability be less that some national auto transport company.

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  • 9 years later...

Resurrecting an old thread ... 

 

Anyone have good/bad experiences with auto transport companies?  I'm using the following to calculate some pricing >> https://www.autotransportdirect.com/ 

 

I've used transport companies twice in the past ... once through eBay, and once through a random search.   I'm trying to avoid the barrage of email and offers that requests often generate.  

 

Looking at East coast transfer from the Georgia-ish to my driveway in New Hampshire. 

 

Any feedback would be appreciated!

 

 

 

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we used uship.com a few years back to get the z-28 down to GA.  was completely uneventful aside from jitters of watching some stranger drive our baby backwards up a big car-hauler. :P   cost about the same as when I fetched my MJ and I didn't have to risk my life towing in the snow to do it!  (uhaul trailers and snow is not a safe combo)

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I used IronClad transport to have an '07 Duraburban shipped from Colorado to Maryland this past summer.  Can't think of a heavier vehicle than a Suburban with a Duramax diesel engine in it and it went almost coast to coast.

 

Total cost was $870.  Had great communication the entire time and had a direct cell phone number to the driver who would text me updates along the way.  He wound up being a day late because he got a call from his dispatcher when he was in Kansas City because a member of the NFL Chiefs just purchased a brand new car from a dealer and didn't want to go pick it up and offered to pay $500 to have it delivered to his house so they wanted the easy money.  Didn't bother me one bit since I was informed of the delay and was able to plan accordingly.

 

 

IMG_20170804_201441.jpg

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