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Next summer my boyfriend & I are moving from NH to sunny San Diego! We will be driving across the country in his car but I would like to have mine out there as well. Our only option is to have it transported over there through an Auto Shipping company.
Ive received a few quotes from different companies and have checked out their websites, etc. and they all seem legit but just wanted to see if anyone has had some experience in this and maybe refer me to a company.
thanks!!
I had good luck with a transporter out of CT to the Western USA, but the car had to be delivered to their terminal (they didn't pick up at your home address except with a small flatbed wrecker type truck, for an additional charge, of course).
Overall, however, I've had many more bad experiences with auto transporters from the New England area to the West than good. Most of the transport outfits in NE only service the Eastern USA. You'll find that the promises of service from most of them are not fulfilled, especially if you are using a "broker" (who may misrepresent themselves as a trucking company with a fleet of trucks just waiting to pick up and deliver your car), and that most of the trucks in the business are a bunch of opportunistic gypsies with a very poor record of service, no insurance, and a lot of damaged cars.
The most reliable and competent service I found in your area was DAS (Dependable Auto Shippers), but they were ... by far and away ... the most expensive. I don't have a quote from them, but I'd expect to see a cost around $2,000 to ship your car coast to coast, terminal to terminal. It would most likely be even more to ship it door-to-door. At this type of expense, you could readily fly back from SanDiego to NH, and take another driving vacation trip to bring your car to California .... and save a lot of money with a leisurely drive even while stopping for each day with no longer than 8 hours of driving per day, lunches on the road, tourist stops, nice motels, etc.
The only advantage to a shipper is that the car moves on somebody else's tires and saves your time and the wear of a 3,000 mile trip.
If you are still set on having the car transported, be sure to ask the company you are dealing with if they are an actual transporter with their own company truck(s) and driver(s), or are you dealing with a broker? If it's a broker, then do they have an actual truck lined up for the route/service you need in the next (reasonable) time frame?
If it's an actual transport company, then ask for their guaranty of service, insurance policies on the vehicles they tranport, what their inspection/condition report policy is before and after a vehicle is transported, claims/loss procedure, and so forth. Satisfy yourself that they can deliver as promised and that ... if something goes wrong ... that you have recourse that can and will make you whole without a lot of brain damage to the process. Literally ... when they give you an insurance company name and agent, CALL the agency and verify the coverage and the claims process. You may well find out that the coverage is not what you expect to protect your vehicle. Most trucking outfits don't want claims because it affects their overall insurance package ... and many simply don't have coverage anymore for the business they're doing.
Do not, under any circumstance, pay money up front to a "broker" ... their typical "scam" is to get a "deposit" up front, which is their earned commission. The balance, which you must pay with cash (or certified funds) on delivery is the actual fee paid to the trucker for their services. The problem with this is if ... as I have found out many times in the past ... if the "broker" cannot get a truck to accept the proposed fee for service or a truck is not actually headed your way, you are sitting there out the monies and have no recourse for the services you did not receive. I've waited months for a truck to be brokered, not received service ... and fought with a broker for months to get a refund. It's not easy, especially if you are dealing with someone out of the area from where you are located. They'll play all kinds of games ... like, we're not getting a trucker to take your load for the price we quoted, so maybe we should offer another $200, or more, to get someone to take your load; is that OK with you? and so on .... Only pay money to a broker if they have an actual truck and schedule. If they won't do business that way with you, then you are much better off not doing business with them. I've been lied to by the best in the business ....
Your biggest problem then with a brokered load ... outside of damage claims ... will be that the broker has no interest in the quality of the services you receive or the resolution of any dispute re damage of lack of services received. That will be between you and the trucker, who may simply not have insurance or an interest in your satisfaction.
You may find better success for transporting by calling one of the home mover companies. They mave have space available on a load headed your way, and tend to be more reliable than LTL independent truckers.
I would urge you to google transport company consumer websites. You may find out that a specific company you're looking at doing business with has a number of horror stories about their work posted on the web by unsatisfied customers. You may also find out that they've a good rep with their client base (few and far between, but they are out there).
You might also call the local used car lots in your area and find out who they've used for reliable auto transport. Some will have a shipper in mind, some use pro drivers ... who quote a flat fee plus expenses and a plane ticket home, or a mileage charge plus expenses +++.
We got our car transported from Ohio to NJ last month. We used Specialty Mobile systems for transporting the car (I think they are based in Ohio) .We were entirely happy with them. They were on time to pick up the car, fast pick up , and we got it in NJ within a week, so we were more than happy. Also the transport company guy went out of the way to help us and drop the car to the hotel in which we were put up until we could find a home, though initally it was decided that the car would be dropped off at a different place. Price wise also we got a good deal. You can check out their reviews on Transport Reviews.com - Ratings and Reviews of Auto Transport Companies - Your Source For Finding a Quality Auto Transporter! . It also has info on many other transporters and should be of some use to you. All the best .
thanks to the both of you for your help! Ill definitely be taking your advice sunsprit, & really take the time to check out any companies i am interested in!!
thanks all for great info. we are using DAS auto shippers. great quotes. we will be saving ~$1200 on 2 cars changing from Allied/United/Mayflower to DAS autoshippers.
We also had both cars shipped from Florida to California when we moved. They gave us a window of 2 days to 2 weeks. My husband's arrived a little after the 2 week mark and on a Sunday. He wasn't in town (he was back east for the weekend) and they kept the car at their terminal. He picked it up on Tuesday morning. My car left on a Friday and was there by Sunday. My car arrived in CA before I did! It was great to arrive and just get in my own car!
Next summer my boyfriend & I are moving from NH to sunny San Diego! We will be driving across the country in his car but I would like to have mine out there as well. Our only option is to have it transported over there through an Auto Shipping company.
Ive received a few quotes from different companies and have checked out their websites, etc. and they all seem legit but just wanted to see if anyone has had some experience in this and maybe refer me to a company.
thanks!!
I might put an ad in the New Hampshire Craigslist, under "Rideshare", and see if you find anyone who wants to drive themselves to San Diego. It's a pretty popular vacation spot. You'd have to check out references pretty carefully.
I might put an ad in the New Hampshire Craigslist, under "Rideshare", and see if you find anyone who wants to drive themselves to San Diego. It's a pretty popular vacation spot. You'd have to check out references pretty carefully.
When I was young an even cheaper than I am now, I needed a car to drive across the US. I contacted AA transport out of Manhattan and got a car. They gave me 11 days and a tank of gas. I was to wash it and deliver in San Diego. Worked for me.
The type of car that you have will have some bearing on whether someone would want to do it. Gas economy etc. There will be wear and tear. I think craigslist is a good idea. You might want to post in MA and VT too.
Sunsprit wrote, in part: "The most reliable and competent service I found in your area was DAS (Dependable Auto Shippers), but they were ... by far and away ... the most expensive. I don't have a quote from them, but I'd expect to see a cost around $2,000 to ship your car coast to coast, terminal to terminal. .... At this type of expense, you could readily fly back from SanDiego to NH, and take another driving vacation trip to bring your car to California .... and save a lot of money....."
I respectfully disagree that one could save money by driving a car across country. It costs around .50 cents a mile to drive a car (not only fuel, but wear and tear has to be considered). A 3,000 mile trip would be at least $1,500 dollars, plus around $125 dollars a day in food and lodging. I believe you'd be much better off money wise to have the car shipped.
Rich, you can choose to disagree all you care to based upon your generalized guesses of costs, but my real world numbers simply don't work in your favor.
Since I still dabble in the car business and have friends in the NewEngland area as well as San Diego ... and had another friend needing a car delivered to Boston (all expenses plus per diem and fee for the delivery) ... I took a return trip last fall from Vermont to San Diego in a car that got 26+ mpg (Subie Wagon), taking 6 days for the trip.
I don't eat at anything except local sit down "joints" ... never franchise "fast food" places ... and seek out local places with "character" ... fresh seafood when I can get it, steaks or local specialties, or otherwise I stock up at the local supermarket and can do a sandwich feast on the road (from my cooler). I try to stop in industrial areas, blue-collar working zones instead of "tourist trap" places along the roadways. I drink water, don't stop for coffee, and like to get an early start each day and be off the road by 5 PM, which gives me adequate time to locate a motel for the night before dark and settle in for a decent meal.
My expenses for that last delivery trip: Fuel $440, motels $325, food $180 ... which met my target of a $1,000 trip. It would have been less expensive if I'd stayed at more Motel 6 variety places ... I'm there for the overnight bedroom and shower, not a vacation resort and I don't need the places with swimming pools and other amenities on site, but I'm getting to appreciate the "nicer" motels at $20-30 more per night in some places of the country. I "splurged" on a couple of pretty good steaks, too. If I'd used the internet fuel price resources and knew my way around a little bit better back East, I'd have saved a bit on the fuel, too ... because I didn't plan my fuel stops on price, but on convenience relative to the cruise range of the car (fueling every 325-375 miles).
I negotiate prices at every motel I stay at ... I'm a "government contractor", AAA member (as well as a number of other groups that have counter discount rates), or any other ploy ... including simply asking for the best possible rate the manager can give me. It helps that I travel in non-peak tourist time, and check in early enough that the motel knows how the night's traffic is shaping up. Obviously, there are times I inquire and they're booked up, or not negotiable, or simply out of my price range ... and I keep on heading down the road and will check out other places. I haven't failed yet in many years except for a couple of nights to get an acceptable rate ....
I would have saved yet even more money if I'd have headed much further south before turning West on I-80 (all the way south to I40), and stayed overnight with friends for a couple of nights, but that would have defeated my travel timetable to be out on the road in the very early AM each day.
So, how much "wear and tear" do you think 3,000 miles represents on a car built to last 250,000 miles? I'm assuming your fifty cents per mile figure is based upon government deduction guidelines, which include "average" deductible costs of operation, insurance, and ownership for tax purposes ... which is way high compared to my actual expenses.
My profit on the car was well worth my taking the trip ... about $500 per day ... which more than covered a plane ride back almost home with another friend out fishing from San Diego. I split the cost of the plane's fuel ($150 my 1/2, and I did most of the enroute flying) with him for the ride home ... 5.5 hours, Ramona to Centennial (with an enroute fuel stop/stretch in Farmington), where another friend picked me up on his way home and got me to Greeley for my wife to pick me up. A bit of making connections and having to wait a around a little bit for my rides' convenience, but it all worked out. Not much different than most of my cross country trips ....
The only thing I screwed up for that trip was not getting to SanD a few days earlier and getting out on the boat to go fishing down in the Coronado's with my friends .... I took too long in Boston visiting friends there and checking out the seafood before heading to VT to get my delivery car trip started.
I think the key detail to successful cross country drives is to allow yourself enough time (and days) to travel reasonably with the potential for good enroute stops and decent rest. I rarely take less than a hour for lunch ... read the local paper, sample the food, get a decent break from the road, scope out the locals a bit. I tend to set the cruise control on the speed limits and just enjoy the drive and scenery (if that's possible ... there is a lot of fly-over boring USA in the mid-continent). 500 mile days are about all I care to do anymore ... that's a 10 hour travel day on average between fuel stops, lunch, supermarket stops, etc ... and starting out around 5-6AM in the morning, which usually beats the local "rush hour" if I'm near a big city. When my wife is along, we definitely do the supermarket breakfast/lunch thing and find interesting places just off the road to stop and enjoy our food. I do try to plan my stops/stays out of the big city areas, and am known to take the secondary US Highway roads instead of the interstates if they generally parallel the interstates, or even state roads if they can cut a lot of distance off the trip. In many trips, I can make as good a time, even with the lower speed limits on the secondary highway system compared to the interstates. Plus, I get to stop in some more interesting places, little towns along the way ... and miss out on a lot of the big city traffic. Fuel prices can be a little higher ... or a little lower ... than the big city/interstate prices. Overall, a much mellower trip than trying to grind out 3,000+ miles in 4 days, as I've known many people to do.
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