Best/Cheapest Car Shipping

[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.

[VRsyncro]

Originally Posted by 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.

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).

[crod]

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.
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.
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.


CR