OT: car transport

[PSC]

Fly your daughter up and you two drive it to Texas and spend time together. Fun, even if it's lots of driving in short period of time.

[C40_guy]

Originally Posted by .RJ

Do those even exist anymore?

Sure. InterCity is one example, cited above.

I had one guy tell me he was 50 miles away and would be there in an hour - except he was on the other side of DC on a Friday afternoon, I laughed and told him I'd see him in about 3 hours. Another guy showed up 2 days early with about 20 minutes notice. Others days late with a pile of excuses. At the end of the day the cars always arrived on the other end intact.

Some of these drivers aren't the brightest bulbs in the package. When my son had his Q5 shipped from Dallas to Boulder, the driver stopped on the main road outside his apartment complex (as expected) and unloaded.

When Mr. Broken Trailer delivered my Cayenne, he drove right up to our house at the end of our winding cul de sac. I guess he wasn't paying much attention to Google Maps at 3 am. I had fully expected him to call/text me from the larger road at the entrance to our cul de sac.

After he unloaded the truck, he asked" "How do I get out of here?", perhaps expecting some magic trap door. Instead, he had to back his pickup truck and three car roll back trailer down the winding side road, in the dark (no streetlights) with his back up horn beeping. Took him 20 minutes.

[zmudshark]

I'm going to ship my Miata from AZ to MI in the near future.

Anyone have experience with Roadrunner Auto Transport?

[.RJ]

Originally Posted by C40_guy

After he unloaded the truck, he asked" "How do I get out of here?", perhaps expecting some magic trap door. Instead, he had to back his pickup truck and three car roll back trailer down the winding side road, in the dark (no streetlights) with his back up horn beeping. Took him 20 minutes.

That tracks, and I have the same situation at my house so we load/unload up the street.

Nearly always one of my boomer neighbors will come back and glare at the whole scene like we're doing some sort of drug deal unloading a car and then complain that we're blocking the road, never mind that its 4 lanes.

[MatchDave]

Originally Posted by PSC

Fly your daughter up and you two drive it to Texas and spend time together. Fun, even if it's lots of driving in short period of time.

Second this recommendation! Did a cross country U-Haul move a whole bunch of years ago. College sophomore daughter made the trip with me. Although she'd previously driven a horse trailer on local roads, she wound up wanting nothing to do with driving truck on highways. Despite me doing all the driving, a genuinely special, wonderful time. 25 years later, we still marvel about an hour hiding in a highway underpass during an OMG hailstorm in west Texas, and cringe about finding out I'd done an early morning bike ride past a supermax prison in the Midwest. And laugh about never, ever eating at a truck stop Denny's again, a promise we've both kept.

[CBaron]

Originally Posted by .RJ

I've shipped a lot of cars - you can bid them out at uship.com and after 3-4 days you'll have your price. Every one of the shipping brokers bid them out to drivers and its kind of a mess of who owns/pays what but you just pay the broker. They all use the same booking/bidding systems.

I've had some experiences where everything is smooth sailing but more often than not just expect to be flexible on the scheduling, both pick up and delivery, and you'll be fine. If you get angry at the drivers it wont help you, plus they're armed and dont care.

I had one guy tell me he was 50 miles away and would be there in an hour - except he was on the other side of DC on a Friday afternoon, I laughed and told him I'd see him in about 3 hours. Another guy showed up 2 days early with about 20 minutes notice. Others days late with a pile of excuses. At the end of the day the cars always arrived on the other end intact.

My son and I have bought and sold many classsic cars and have shipped a few (as both buyers & sellers). What RJ is stating here is our experience also. Its wierd and somewhat shady process but its always worked out. I could probably dig up the coontact info of the last broker I used. They were on-point and thorough with finding me the right shipper. All that said, I do opt for a lower-cost solution (but not lowest). If you went with a more premium service you MIGHT be able to avoid some of the seemiingly shadiness.

Originally Posted by bigbill

I used Horseless Carriage for my 67 Mustang and a broker for a 2018 Ford Escape. If you use a broker, be prepared to receive constant calls asking if you still need your vehicle shipped. Like months after it was shipped.

It went on for two weeks, even though my truck was at the dealer the next morning.

^^^This is so true. My phone blew up for over a week with people hounding me. I had no idea how much of a bull-dog they could be.


Good luck to the OP. I bet I might be able to find a college friend of my son's who might fly out to NJ and drive the car back for a reasonable fee. FYI- we are in (Austin) TX.

Cheers,
CJB

[duff_duffy]

Thanks for all the tips! Finished drive today, started yesterday at noon in NJ, missed earthquake, here by 10am. Not bad!! Now sleep. Flight back tomorrow.

Car thankfully made it. Oldie but goodie. Anyone have any good mechanics (Toyota/Lexus) we can count on? About 15 minutes NE of Dallas. 25 year old car, AC works and no oil burnin and hope she can keep it going a few years.

[p nut]

Originally Posted by duff_duffy

Thanks for all the tips! Finished drive today, started yesterday at noon in NJ, missed earthquake, here by 10am. Not bad!! Now sleep. Flight back tomorrow.

Car thankfully made it. Oldie but goodie. Anyone have any good mechanics (Toyota/Lexus) we can count on? About 15 minutes NE of Dallas. 25 year old car, AC works and no oil burnin and hope she can keep it going a few years.

I’ll be dropping my daughter off at college in the not too distant future. I’m eager but also not looking forward to it at the same time.
Glad you made it.
Should’ve stayed in TX for the eclipse today!