shipping hardtops
 

Sometimes I think I might want/need a hardtop, and you see them on ebay every so often. But all the sellers are usually wary of shipping them. Do they bend easily? If not properly supported, I could see where it might be an issue. How does Porsche ship them? Anybody shipped one before? Just curious -

I think the factory ships them in a crate. Not sure how eBay'ers have gotten theirs shipped. Would also be interested to know.

I have sold large things on eBay before and I would gather to guess that eBay sellers are "wary of shipping" because it is very difficult for someone to ship.
Think of getting a box big enough and packaging good enough. And you can't send it UPS, USPS, or FedEx because if you did it would cost upward to $150-$200 to ship something that large(trust me I know this from past esperience, and the buyer didn't like it either). SO who whats to deal with that????

I have read that Greyhound has excellent shipping and pricing on large items. Bus station to station, seller drops off, buyer picks up.

Wow that is unbelievably cheap to ship via Greyhound. $60 from FL to IL.
Other quotes so far have been from 200 - 455 ( although the high end is door to door ).

Bad thing insurance available is max $300.

So I guess you have to take your chances.

I bought my hardtop from Brandywine Porsche and it was shipped in a wooden crate via Watkins Truck Freight. Inside the crate was padding where the hardtop touched the crate and padding on the top of the hardtop. Also inside the crate for lack of better terms, were ledges that the top sat into. Arrived in perfect condition and the shipping was included in the price of the top.

Mike

Brandywine here too (shipped via Roadway)...

http://www.kryzak.com/storage/986-hardtop1.jpg

http://www.kryzak.com/storage/986-hardtop2.jpg

http://www.kryzak.com/storage/986-hardtop3.jpg

Great pics, bet the custom crate cost half of what the top costs. Wonder what do they do with the crate once it's shipped?

The crate is all yours when they ship it. Mine is still in the garage. That's where I put my hardtop when I'm not using it (where I am, that's March & November).

It's screw-sealed with a top that you can't see in any of these pictures.

I still use the crate as a holder for the hardtop when its not on my car. I just screw the top back on. Works great!!

Mike