Shipping recommendations...?
05-10-2018 | 10:45 PM
#18
Rennlist Member
Joined: Apr 2018
Posts: 53
Likes: 5
I just used https://totalcaretrans.com/ from Kansas City to Northwest Florida with no issues at all. Nate got it scheduled quick with Enclosed trailer.
06-04-2018 | 02:34 PM
#21
Pro
Joined: Nov 2017
Posts: 742
Likes: 73
From: Southwest Florida
I know conventional wisdom is to ship with an enclosed carrier, but I want to challenge that from my experience with 3 recent luxury cars (2 range rovers and the E63S Wagon that is my other daily driver). All were shipped from Florida on open trailers and suffered no damage. Ironically, another car that I had shipped on an enclosed carrier did have bumper damage when the driver loaded it and bumped another car into it!
I'm not in the business but have shipped enough cars to learn about it.
1) you are mostly dealing with brokers who are working with independent carriers and loading/unloading cars are various points, both to switch trucks and as they make deliveries. There a lot of shady people in this business, get to know them before committing (I have a couple that I would recommend but it has been a year since I last shipped a car).
2) For an open carrier, loading on top is essential because it keeps the vehicle in the cleaner air and you don't have things dropping down on it from above. Loading on top and up front means your car is not getting offloaded to move another car.
3) Time of year and weather are factors. I would not ship a car coast-to-coast when the midwest gets severe storms.
4) Short distance, 1k miles or less, I'd do an enclosed carrier for 1-2 cars in a trailer on a 5th wheel pickup just because your car will arrive clean. On a large carrier, open or closed doesn't matter, your car will need a serious bath.
Closed carrier coast-to-coast can get expensive, well over $3k and if you are on Reliable, even more. My criteria are stack ranked for the following: reliable and safe transportation, timeframe, cost. On open carriers with good brokers, I have satisfied all three and got my car (I buy a lot of cars in Florida, have them shipped to me in the Bay Area) in about 10 days for, typically, around $1,500-1,800.
If I were shipping a million dollar supercar, yeah spare no expense. If I was having a GT3 or equivalent with a lot of bodywork to worry about, yes go with enclosed and pay the premium.
I'm not in the business but have shipped enough cars to learn about it.
1) you are mostly dealing with brokers who are working with independent carriers and loading/unloading cars are various points, both to switch trucks and as they make deliveries. There a lot of shady people in this business, get to know them before committing (I have a couple that I would recommend but it has been a year since I last shipped a car).
2) For an open carrier, loading on top is essential because it keeps the vehicle in the cleaner air and you don't have things dropping down on it from above. Loading on top and up front means your car is not getting offloaded to move another car.
3) Time of year and weather are factors. I would not ship a car coast-to-coast when the midwest gets severe storms.
4) Short distance, 1k miles or less, I'd do an enclosed carrier for 1-2 cars in a trailer on a 5th wheel pickup just because your car will arrive clean. On a large carrier, open or closed doesn't matter, your car will need a serious bath.
Closed carrier coast-to-coast can get expensive, well over $3k and if you are on Reliable, even more. My criteria are stack ranked for the following: reliable and safe transportation, timeframe, cost. On open carriers with good brokers, I have satisfied all three and got my car (I buy a lot of cars in Florida, have them shipped to me in the Bay Area) in about 10 days for, typically, around $1,500-1,800.
If I were shipping a million dollar supercar, yeah spare no expense. If I was having a GT3 or equivalent with a lot of bodywork to worry about, yes go with enclosed and pay the premium.
06-04-2018 | 05:11 PM
#22
Banned
Joined: Dec 2017
Posts: 1,422
Likes: 3
I know conventional wisdom is to ship with an enclosed carrier, but I want to challenge that from my experience with 3 recent luxury cars (2 range rovers and the E63S Wagon that is my other daily driver). All were shipped from Florida on open trailers and suffered no damage. Ironically, another car that I had shipped on an enclosed carrier did have bumper damage when the driver loaded it and bumped another car into it!
I'm not in the business but have shipped enough cars to learn about it.
1) you are mostly dealing with brokers who are working with independent carriers and loading/unloading cars are various points, both to switch trucks and as they make deliveries. There a lot of shady people in this business, get to know them before committing (I have a couple that I would recommend but it has been a year since I last shipped a car).
2) For an open carrier, loading on top is essential because it keeps the vehicle in the cleaner air and you don't have things dropping down on it from above. Loading on top and up front means your car is not getting offloaded to move another car.
3) Time of year and weather are factors. I would not ship a car coast-to-coast when the midwest gets severe storms.
4) Short distance, 1k miles or less, I'd do an enclosed carrier for 1-2 cars in a trailer on a 5th wheel pickup just because your car will arrive clean. On a large carrier, open or closed doesn't matter, your car will need a serious bath.
Closed carrier coast-to-coast can get expensive, well over $3k and if you are on Reliable, even more. My criteria are stack ranked for the following: reliable and safe transportation, timeframe, cost. On open carriers with good brokers, I have satisfied all three and got my car (I buy a lot of cars in Florida, have them shipped to me in the Bay Area) in about 10 days for, typically, around $1,500-1,800.
If I were shipping a million dollar supercar, yeah spare no expense. If I was having a GT3 or equivalent with a lot of bodywork to worry about, yes go with enclosed and pay the premium.
I'm not in the business but have shipped enough cars to learn about it.
1) you are mostly dealing with brokers who are working with independent carriers and loading/unloading cars are various points, both to switch trucks and as they make deliveries. There a lot of shady people in this business, get to know them before committing (I have a couple that I would recommend but it has been a year since I last shipped a car).
2) For an open carrier, loading on top is essential because it keeps the vehicle in the cleaner air and you don't have things dropping down on it from above. Loading on top and up front means your car is not getting offloaded to move another car.
3) Time of year and weather are factors. I would not ship a car coast-to-coast when the midwest gets severe storms.
4) Short distance, 1k miles or less, I'd do an enclosed carrier for 1-2 cars in a trailer on a 5th wheel pickup just because your car will arrive clean. On a large carrier, open or closed doesn't matter, your car will need a serious bath.
Closed carrier coast-to-coast can get expensive, well over $3k and if you are on Reliable, even more. My criteria are stack ranked for the following: reliable and safe transportation, timeframe, cost. On open carriers with good brokers, I have satisfied all three and got my car (I buy a lot of cars in Florida, have them shipped to me in the Bay Area) in about 10 days for, typically, around $1,500-1,800.
If I were shipping a million dollar supercar, yeah spare no expense. If I was having a GT3 or equivalent with a lot of bodywork to worry about, yes go with enclosed and pay the premium.
06-04-2018 | 05:36 PM
#23
Pro
Joined: Nov 2017
Posts: 742
Likes: 73
From: Southwest Florida
The flow of cars is east-to-west as a result, carriers move a lot of air going west-to-east as they reposition the trailers. It's just less expensive to ship from CA to the east coast. Time of year is another factor. In my case, Miami (Coral Gables, Naples, and Ft. Lauderdale are the other cities I have had cars shipped from) to SFO is an expensive haul in an enclosed carrier. The minimum is $3k and Reliable was closer to $5k. I still wouldn't pay extra $ to have my car travel in darkness.
Think about how many manufacturers ship their cars on open carriers.
Think about how many manufacturers ship their cars on open carriers.
06-04-2018 | 05:50 PM
#24
Banned
Joined: Dec 2017
Posts: 1,422
Likes: 3
The flow of cars is east-to-west as a result, carriers move a lot of air going west-to-east as they reposition the trailers. It's just less expensive to ship from CA to the east coast. Time of year is another factor. In my case, Miami (Coral Gables, Naples, and Ft. Lauderdale are the other cities I have had cars shipped from) to SFO is an expensive haul in an enclosed carrier. The minimum is $3k and Reliable was closer to $5k. I still wouldn't pay extra $ to have my car travel in darkness.
Think about how many manufacturers ship their cars on open carriers.
Think about how many manufacturers ship their cars on open carriers.