Best/Cheapest Car Shipping

[Stroked & Blown]

Whatever you do, make sure the carrier is insured and/or check to see if your car insurance will cover any damage during shipping.

[mikefocke]

I used to drive-away cars for owners relocating from Northern Climates to Florida. Great way to get to spring break. Let me tell you the benefits of driving the Caddy owned by a brewery VP. The downside was no trunk space for luggage.

Seriously it can work out just fine or be a horror show. Depends on the people involved. Mine always worked fine and there were no insurance incidents. Not sure what the legalities should be in today's more litigious climate.

That was in the day you could hitchhike back. Now you have to figure plane fare back and one way tickets cost many loonies. It may be just as cheap to have it shipped.

One thing you may not have considered is the complexity of the cross border transit for either shipping or drive-away. In today's sad situation, the transit for a non-owner may be a bit of trouble. Can you pick the car up just on the US side of the border and import it yourself as the owner.

In any case, I'd get a bunch of pictures on the day the pick up is made sent to me before it drove off the lot just to establish the condition at pickup.

[Cloudsurfer]

First of all, "best" and "cheapest" do not go in the same sentence together!

I've used both Interstate lines and Reliable, and have nothing but good things to say about them. They are, however, not the cheapest. Like most things in life, I've found you get what you pay for.

One thing I would avoid is using a shipping broker. They frequently will move your car point A to point B on multiple carriers. This often takes longer, but more importantly, I want to minimize the number of times my car gets moved on the transport, so I'm not a fan of this at all. Furthermore, if anything does get damaged, it can be difficult to handle the claim since there is more than one carrier often involved.

[r9i8c7k]

Purchased my car from Texas at 2 P.M. on a Friday. The car was delivered that Sunday at 3 P.M. to me in California. The truck was a covered carrier and the car was so clean it did not need a wash. Total price was $750.

Carrier : Auto Trans Experts, LLC
Address : 4705 E 13th Ave
City : spokane valley, WA 99212
MC Number : 558862
Contact : Allie, Irina, Victoria, Zoya
Phone (1) : 509-535-7824
Phone (2) : 509-535-7824
Phone (Fax) : 509-535-4101

[boxsternut]

I used Earth Auto Shippers (google it) from Dallas Texas. They were great for communication and pretty fast (3 days). It cost me $800 through the dealer I purchased the car from, so you may get a better price if you deal directly with them. As far as across the border, do it yourself and save $$$. I had my car dropped at a mall in Niagara Falls USA and met the truck there. Signed a paper, and drove it across the border myself. The whole 'ordeal' at the US and Canadian border took approx. 1 hour (10 minutes in USA and 40 minutes at Canadian-they didn't even inspect the car!). You DON'T need a broker at the border. If you want additional details, just ask. It was pretty easy but you need to know a few details.

[Tricknique]

We use Pilot and Reliable at my office to ship prototypes and so forth (automotive R&D). Don't be shy to hammer on the price no matter who you choose.

Pilot Transport

-Matt

[coolbreeze551]

It seems like the best/ most inexpensive way to go about it, because I am in Canada, is to have the company ship it to the border crossing and to just jump over and drive it back. That has cut the price by more than half, which equates to about the price of the plane tickets (my brother and I). I save on gas, and the drive time is cut by more than half, which is worth it on its own. Thanks for all the suggestions, they are most helpful. I have yet to book one but it is getting really close.