[jared968]

Hey everyone,



I am new here and have been lurking for a while. I love this site. It is a great resource.



I was wondering if any of you have used a reputable shipping company to ship your car that you could recommend. I do not want to spend a fortune but I also want to be assured that my baby is in no way injured or even looked at in the wrong way. Thanks!

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[flash]

968gene just shipped his from tenessee to los angeles and then just recently to north carolina (or was it south carolina?) he should be receiving the car any day now - i'd ask him what he thinks of the shippers he used

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[Harvey]

I've preferred to take time off work and drive my cars home since I've heard some horror stories about many shippers. Slower than you expect...not cheap...and damage to car is not uncommon. Scared me! Then again, some people say they never have problems. Do a search on the Rennlist about shipping and you'll get more hits on this topic than you care to read.



Also, driving a strange car with unknown "gotchas" can be an issue. I just figured if I broke down, I'd rent a truck and trailer and tow the rest of the way...and figure I was having a bad week...unless I had a T-belt break, in which case I might have to be locked up for a few days. If the car is suspect...I'd tow or ship.



Harvey

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[SANDOVAL]

Dependable auto shippers uses canvas covered trucks. Shipping open transport is a gamble. Most of the autoshippers are brokers. The guys that drive the trucks usually own their truck and trailor. So the broker just schedules pickups and they get $150 (your deposit) as their fee. The rest is paid at the time of delivery to the guy that actually does the hauling.

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[Harvey]

So this sounds like you "pays your money and takes your chances" that you'll get a responsible shipper...and one who has a trailer that your car will fit on w/o messing up the spoiler. Pretty dicey. I know a guy in Utah who paid to have a car delivered from California and it took nearly 2 months, threats of lawsuits, they made him pay an extra $100 after the deal was struck, etc. Finally got the car though. I don't remember the company but it wasn't a fly by night outfit but one like was mentioned...middleman broker type deal.



Harvey

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[flash]

i've not yet heard any stellar experiences



when i bought my car, i was originally going to have it shipped - 3 weeks of shippers dropping th eall and missing pick up appointments, with no explanation or attempt to remedy, and i flew to cleveland and picked up the car and drove it home - still got damaged in the drive



gene called dependable and waited for weeks for them to pick it up, and we are not entirely sure they didn't mess things on the car up along the way - a lot of stuff showed up that was not in the pics, and the car was a mess when he got it, after sitting in their lot, in the rain , for 3 weeks before finally putting it on a truck - and he had the car detailed before it was delivered to the shipper - arrrrgh



not sure who he used for the return trip, or how that went

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[ds968]

It was very smooth sailing for me with D.A.S. ( shipped from Colorado to California ) - they picked it up in a week, and that was only because the seller

was unavailable for a couple of days, with covered transport all the way to my door. While in transit, I tracked it 24/7 online at their web site practically every every step of the way - I think the location of the car data was being updated quite frequently, so it was fun to keep an eye on the route as it was getting closer and closer.. It arrived at the Bay Area hub on the promised day and time , they called me to confirm when I will be home and gave me several choices for the delivery time, and it came with side protection tape on it, even a plastic steering wheel cover among other small "touches" like that which at least gave the appearance that it was treated kindly and very professionally. Needless to say I was pleased with having chosen DAS..



But there was one drawback: EXPENSIVE as h**l for such a short trip, IMO.

I don't recall exactly how much it was, but $ 1,500 sticks in my mind for some reason, so I think it was around that figure. And DAS was fairly competitive - I got at least two other quotes which were only about 5% -10% cheaper I believe.

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[BruceWard]

Fly out and drive it back.



It will be one of the best drives of your life. Why pay someone to take it away from you?

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[flash]

i have to agree here, but it was not all fun



my paint job took some serious abuse, glazed the windshield from getting stuck behind a sand truck, i racked up 2500 miles, found out that i was driving on a broken balance belt, the DME relay croaked on me, i nearly got 2 big tickets, and felt like crap for the next 2 days from the lack of sleep (nearly non-stop drive) and all fast food



i wouldn't have changed a thing though



if your'e really feeling adventourous, do what i am doing next week - rent a trailer and tow it behind an SUV

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[968gene]

I have shipped 1 car East to West and 4 cars West to East in the last few months. DAS sucks...they charged me for a covered shipment and left my car in the TN snow for nearly two weeks. My recent open car shipper on a Tahoe, a Sierra, and a Grand Prix left all of the cars unlocked. The GP was filthy when returned. The reason? stow-aways! Finally, Horseless Carriage shipped the 968 covered. The guy let me load the car and gave me his cell number. The car was delivered ahead of schedule and in perfect condition. (even the splitter!)

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[Greimann]

When I worked in the auto industry for a company that built million dollar prototype and show cars, the only transport company we used was Reliable Carriers.

http://www.reliable-carriers.com/

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[Dirk]

What about putting it in a 15' container?

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