Best/Cheapest Car Shipping
 

Looking for suggestions from people who have bought cars that they have had shipped to them. Either cross state/province, cross country and especially across the border. I am hoping that people have found reliable services at prices that they are happy with, but would also like to hear horror stories or companies to stay away from. :cheers:

I used aa-automovers.com a few years back based on a reference from a friend and a BBB rating of 'A'. Turns out that they are a booking agency that has a network of truckers they work with. AA-Automovers also provides the insurance.

The earlier in the year you book, the better off you are. I had my box moved from the Hilton Head area to Boston around April/May, and most drivers were loading up to full capacity in FL and making stops up the coast. I had to wait a week or so for a truck that had room by the time it hit SC.

I don't know who they used but my car was delivered in a covered, tow behind, belted to the floor, everything padded. I highly recommend that type of service for keeping the car clean and safe.

In my experience, the way you save $ with any transport company is to be as flexible as possible with your pick up and drop off schedule, although with some companies you have no choice. The more cars a shipper can fit on his truck, the more $ he makes.

I just bought a project car and was looking around for transport pricing.
I must have typed in my stuff on some form somewhere because i had 20 trucking companies asking for my business.
To have a car shipped from Birmingham Alabama to Charlotte NC and the quotes went from $325 to $900. $900 was Fedex.

The mean price was $375. Do a google search and enter in your info. It's a really tough market out there so prices will be reasonable.

Thanks for the tips
 

I appreciate the heads up. Does anyone have names of companies or websites that I can contact?

Google search...uShip...hire an independent...stay open on pickup and delivery. Here you my find a hauler working your area. Plus, you can make a deal. Post the pickup and delivery zips and place a price on what you want to pay. Sit back and see what happens. :cheers:

I had this same dilemma and used Reliable Auto Carriers http://www.reliable-carriers.com/ to ship my Boxster from Ohio to Texas in Feb of this year and I can't say enough good things about them. Everything was very professional, enclosed trailer, etc. I wouldn't hesitate to use them again.

Great suggestion!!
 

That's more like it. There should be more of these kinds of sites where companies compete for your business. I signed up and will hopefully be getting a good deal soon. Great Idea! Cheers :cheers:

One option to consider would be POD storage.

I bought a BMW 2002 Parts Car (a roller) to aid in the restoration of my 2002 from a seller in San Luis Obispo, CA. It just fit into the PODS container and the seller was willing to do the appropriate tie-down, padding, etc.

PODS had the container picked-up same-day and transported it to my location in the Midwest via Rail. I needed to buy a $15 overnight storage permit from my municipality to keep the emptied POD on the street overnight until pick-up the next day, but all-in, it cost me $325.00 and the car arrived safely and in 5 days.

PODS isn't the only game in town using container storage, and I'm not certain a Boxster would fit. But if it does, this is a viable, safe, efficient and inexpensive option.

Cheers!

I like that PODS idea. That seems like it would be the best of the ones I have heard so far. Has anyone paid an individual to drive their car to them? If so, what was that experience like?

Thanks

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

In college
 

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.

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.

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

Shipping from Texas to Canada
 

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.

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

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. :cheers:

There is a bit more to it than that.

Depending on the US border crossing, most points only allow vehicle exports Monday to Friday: 8am - 4pm (NO EXCEPTIONS).

Also, the border crossing will not allow any shipping or storage of cars overnight, so you may have to park it in a lot, the duty free shop, etc...

You will also have to ensure that the title is brought to the border crossing 72 hours or more in advance of the vehicle export. They check for any liens, etc...

Once the title is stamped for Export, you now have the fun part of bringing the car into Canada.

If you are doing this through a Private Sale, make sure you have all of the correspondence (e-mails, e-bay posting, web classified ad, etc...)
You will also have to bring corresponding proof that the bill of sale price is matched by proof of how much you paid (either Bank Draft Receipt, Paypal, or Bank Wire Transfer, etc...)

Good luck and let me know if you have any questions.

My experience: I shipped to the border, guy transporting the car showed up late, I had to hide the car somewhere, get someone to drive me back again for first thing in the morning, export the car, then import, then drop off at garage while I waited for RIV paperwork to go through (in the meantime I had E-Test and Safety completed).

Tons of people I know used Uship.com. It is like an Ebay for shipping so you post what you need and you get bids from tons of companies and you can read the feedback on all of them.
In my case (in Canada as well) I just decided to drive it back thanks to the long Easter weekend. Hell of a trip, from Santa Monica to Ottawa. 4,800km on the car!
As I had new tires, new PVC window, new MAF, new oil, etc I was confident I would make it. :D
At the border, took me 30 seconds (no kidding) on the US side and 10 minutes on the Canadian one (as they need to fill out a form).
As mentioned, make sure you fax what they ask to the US Customs 72 hours in advance (basically Certificate of Title, Bill of Sale and a cover letter with all the details on what you are doing - exporting the car with VIN# ABCD).
On the Canadian side, yes, they did ask me proof of payment but as they do NOT mention that anywhere on the CBSA/RIV/CRA website I told them it was NOT my fault I did not have it and they let me go, no questions asked.
If you will ask the seller to put a lower amount on the bill of sale to save on the taxes, make sure you pay him using two different wire transfers/paypal/whatever so at the border you show them the one that matches the agreed price on the Bill of Sale. :D
This way they cannot refute at all what you are saying you paid for, assuming it is indeed in the range shown on the Blue Book for example.
Then you will pay 11.1% tax at the border plus $100 for the air conditioning. Once registering the vehicle you will have to pay 8% PST in Ontario at the MTO.
The day I crossed, the CAD was higher than the USD so I ended up paying almost nothing on GST!
Any questions feel free to ask as I am currently in the middle of getting the car plated in ON.
:cheers:

CR