Car Shippers

[Whit]

I am looking for input and experience with domestic car shippers. I need to ship my two family cars and my '60 Eldorado Biarritz from Florida to Minnesota. The array of shippers and brokers is confusing and depressing. I would like to find a reliable shipper that hopefully has his own rig and does not go through the broker posting board. The '60 Eldorado Biarritz must be enclosed but the other two can go open.

Any help or experience here would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks  Whit

[e.mason]

I have used Passport a few times and each time the service has been great.  They have been it at for almost forever.  Transporting cars is all they do, and they have the proper equipment and personnel.    Definitely avoid the brokers and shippers.  Just check their reviews and read the horror stories.  With a shipment of 3 cars, they might give you a discount, since they can pick up 3 cars at one location.  The sooner you call them, they easier the transaction will be.  You will need someone at the beginning and end of the transaction.  Nice feature, is that you don't pay them until the cars are delivered.  They don't require any down payment.

https://www.passporttransport.com

[Dave Shepherd]

Seconded, stay away from brokers, my experience is they use some fly by nite operations, cod demands and crappy equipment.

[76eldo]

Ditto on brokers.  I have a lot of experience with sending and receiving classic cars and it's always a crapshoot, especially with a wide car like a 60 Cadillac.

Brian

[Highwayman68]

Yep I tried the brokers too and you NEVER get the equipment they advertise because they don't know at the time they are quoting you who they will be using.

[35-709]

Reliable is another that has been around for a while, they are based in Florida (Orlando).
https://www.reliablecarriers.com/   

Horseless Carriage, another one with a good reputation that a neighbor of mine uses on occasion for moving or receiving his high dollar cars. 
http://www.horselesscarriage.com/

[dolph4golf]

Used Horseless Carriage to ship my 60 Biarritz from east coast to west coast with no problems. Ask that your car is positioned within the truck so it will not be moved until it reaches your location. I can also highly recommend Plycar Transportation.

Good luck,

Randolph 

[Whit]

Thanks to all for your responses, I will follow up on each one.

Whit

[e.mason]

Little more info on car shippers.

-Brokers are just that "brokers".  Most really don't have any equipment or drivers.  They basically just take your order and money, then put your car, location and destination on a manifest.  Independent operators then check the manifest to see what cars they can help transport the vehicle.  I use the word "help", because many times they won't take your car right to your ultimate destination.  They might pick up your car in Florida and drop it off for storage, God only knows where between Florida and Minnesota.  It will sit in storage until another operator can complete another leg of the movement. How long that will be is anyone's guess.  I believe with the "pros" the car stays on the same trailer throughout the entire trip.  The trailers are dedicated for "collector" cars.  They only hold 6 cars.  3 on the bottom and 3 on the top.  The ones on the top are put there, when the rear tailgate is dropped and becomes an elevator.  They run a plastic strip under the top cars, to catch any fluids that might come out of the top cars.  Yes it will cost more to use the pros, but its worth for the peace of mind you will have.

[jaxops]

Seconded, stay away from brokers, my experience is they use some fly by nite operations, cod demands and crappy equipment.

Absolutely.  I used a company that "outsourced" the work and my 1949 Cadillac limousine came down from Pennsy on a trailer behind a pickup truck. 

[Dave Shepherd]

That is exactly what happened to me!

[David Greenburg]

Reliable and Passport are good if you don’t mind their prices. Plycar is also well-regarded.  I used them recently and was very happy. I had planned to use Thomas Sunday, a smaller but quality operation, but  a few days after signing on, they informed me that due to scheduling and equipment issues, pickup would be delayed at least a couple of weeks, and encouraged me to make other arrangements if I didn’t want to wait.

Look at Transport Reviews for ratings and comments.  I agree you should be very careful with brokers, although there may be some good ones out there. The shop that fixed my car in Vegas at the 2016 GN claimed to have a good broker, and the company that delivered the car was great.  They appeared to specialize in very high end cars; my car came home with three highly customized Mercedes that were being delivered to a former NBA star, and the driver was very enthusiastic about my car, which he said was a welcome change from all the “Italian stuff” he often hauls.  But I may have just been lucky.  Prices do vary depending on the route and time of year, and I would expect you should get a discount for multiple cars going to the same location.

[76eldo]

You really can't win no matter who you use.  I'd check with your insurance co to see if the car is covered while in transit.

I worked on Joe Locandro's 60 Cadillac and we prepped it and went over it before his 2017 Route 66 tour.  He wanted me to ship the car from my garage here in eastern PA to his friend's house in Chicago.  I used a guy that is a private carrier with a two car enclosed trailer.  When he loaded the car he was dangerously close to rubbing the bottom of the right front fender on the small wheelwell that comes up into the trailer floor where the wheels are.  Really close.

Sure enough, when Joe picked up the car in Chicago, there was a long deep scratch in that exact location in a straight line.  Had to be that wheelwell scratching the fender.
Joe's friend received the car and did not really look the car over.  He wasn't a car guy and didn't know the car at all.  Joe saw the scratch right away.  Of course the truck driver denied it and said it must have happened after he dropped it off.

PS... Joe motored across the country in his 60 Caddy with no breakdowns and no problems from Chicago right to the Pacific Ocean.

Hopefully you will find someone and the cars will get shipped with no damage.

Brian

[e.mason]

You really can't win no matter who you use.  I'd check with your insurance co to see if the car is covered while in transit.

I worked on Joe Locandro's 60 Cadillac and we prepped it and went over it before his 2017 Route 66 tour.  He wanted me to ship the car from my garage here in eastern PA to his friend's house in Chicago.  I used a guy that is a private carrier with a two car enclosed trailer.  When he loaded the car he was dangerously close to rubbing the bottom of the right front fender on the small wheelwell that comes up into the trailer floor where the wheels are.  Really close.

Sure enough, when Joe picked up the car in Chicago, there was a long deep scratch in that exact location in a straight line.  Had to be that wheelwell scratching the fender.
Joe's friend received the car and did not really look the car over.  He wasn't a car guy and didn't know the car at all.  Joe saw the scratch right away.  Of course the truck driver denied it and said it must have happened after he dropped it off.

PS... Joe motored across the country in his 60 Caddy with no breakdowns and no problems from Chicago right to the Pacific Ocean.

Hopefully you will find someone and the cars will get shipped with no damage.

Brian

Disclaimer:  I have no financial interest or relationship with Passport.  My experiences with Passport has always been great.  They are a great company to deal with.  They have professional dedicated equipment and experienced drivers.  They inspect your vehicle before they load your car, and give you a sheet showing any damage.  You get to inspect the car when they deliver it.  Do they cost more?  Yes.  Somewhat considerably more but not outrageous.  For my money it was well worth it for peace of mind.  Pics from my last delivery.  Check out the interior and all the room.

[76eldo]

I agree with that.  In this instance you get what you pay for.  Low bidder is not the way to go on car shipping.

Brian

[wrench]

I sold a car to a guy who arranged the shipping. He got a bunch of runaround by several carriers. He was a collector who 'had a guy he trusted'. Well the trucker guy was having personal/financial problems and said he would pick up the car but never did. Finally some Russian guy shows up with a car hauler and my car was the last one on the truck, hanging off the back end of the trailer.

The buyer got the car, but I guarantee it was a rough ride for that old car...

I drive on the local interstate quite a bit and see car haulers with classic cars on them all the time.

Everytime, I think wtf?

I would just get someone to help drive the modern cars and then when the weather cleared would 'road trip' the classic.

Thats what makes life fun.

[stzomah]

I wanted to ship my 56 coupe from NJ to NY for work to be done.  It was about 3 hours drive each way.  I made the mistake of going on line and filling out a questionnaire.  YES, i'm too old to do something so stupid...  I was barraged with texts and phone calls for over 3 months.  I talked to the guy doing my work and he said that he gets cars from all over from these guys.  He said many come in that have been moved on/off the truck multiple times during the journey.  They don't know the Hydamatic reverse is all the way down...  He scared me so much, i just went to U Haul and rented a trailer.  It was the best choice if you have a truck to pull it..

[Fred Pennington 25635]

Go with the big guys and make sure your insurance covers the car while in transit.
I had a car damaged in shipping once and found out that the law is on the carriers side.
The carriers liability is limited by law. It is cargo not a car as it was explained to me by the carriers insurance company. (Progressive). My insurance company said I did not have the trailer / transit rider.
I could go on, but long story short you cant believe all insurance agents and you can't trust the small carriers.

There more threads on this subject, do the search.

[z3skybolt]

Passport Transport. I'd never use anyone else.

[Chuck Swanson]

I have used uShip.com many times with no problems, but you need to watch the ratings.  I would at least look at them for the two family cars.  Some will state that they are not brokers.   Avoid Montway.   Chuck