hiring a transporter

[joea99]

How to go about hiring a transporter? I'm in search of a mid to small size TLB and sometimes see one of interest in another State. Trying to decide if the price of the machine + shipping is worth it is not so easy, when ya don't know where to start. Plus, how to figure out who is reputable, safe and reasonable in price.

Pointers?

 

[cockeyedMFer]

I've used Uship.com several times in the past and its worked out well. You can get shipping estimates or post a request and shippers can bid on it.

Uship lets you review each driver's profile and user feedback, but you still need to be careful with who you choose. There's a lot of low-buck operators out there.

 

[JJZ 109]

I just hired a transport outfit to haul a bucket truck I've got sold. If you place a Uship ad, get ready to have the phone number and email that you provide get bombarded by all kind of transporters. I don't think I'd even hit the button to select an option when the phone started to ring. But might be first time user error on my part.
I made/returned a few of the calls and hired a company. I can't yet speak about the service because I won't ship the truck for another 6 days. I will say that prices vary pretty good. I went with my gut and chose an outfit that wasn't rock bottom price, but was lower than many. They tell me that the truck is insured while in their possession and that GPS tracking is provided during the journey as well as the driver's cell number.
If I can remember when it's over, I can post back how it turns out if anyone is interested.

joea99 - I see that you're also in NY state. If I have good luck with the company that I've hired, I'll let you know. They'll be coming from North Baldwin on Long Island to my place and transporting a truck to New Jersey for me.

 

[kw22614]

+1 for U-Ship.com. Just go to their site and learn all about it.

 

[joea99]

I'll probably have to check out Uship as you all suggest. Do the outfits quote flat rate or per loaded mile? Ballpark figures?

JJZ 109, Please post pack. Seems like North Baldwin must be 6 hours to you. Mapquest guess 4.5 from me. Must get a lot of snow up there.

 

[kennyd]

I used uShip to get my JD455 from middle TN to my home here in MD and was very happy with the outcome. I refused a few crazy offers, and finally a guy contacted me that lives near here and offered to get it on his way home, worked out for both of us.

Be flexible in your pickup and return times and dates for better prices as the they can work it in with other loads and routes that way.

 

[JJZ 109]

I'll probably have to check out Uship as you all suggest. Do the outfits quote flat rate or per loaded mile? Ballpark figures?

JJZ 109, Please post pack. Seems like North Baldwin must be 6 hours to you. Mapquest guess 4.5 from me. Must get a lot of snow up there.

I'm also guessing about 6 hours from N. Baldwin to me, but I don't think the truck may necessarily be from there. I think they may just line up a trucker with a job but they cover insurance, tracking, etc. and probably take their fee and pay the trucker. Not sure if they own any trucks or not.
If you request a quote on Uship you'll usually get some offers that show estimated mileage and a price. But make sure you actually speak to someone on the phone and give them the specifics of your load. I got some quotes that I knew were too low for my vehicle so I made sure to tell them up front that it was a dually and a bucket truck. The price was higher because a low bed trailer will have to be used. I have no complaint with that and I expected it.
Like Kenny says, don't go for the lowball deal. The price I found was middle of the road, but the person that I felt most comfortable speaking on the phone with was the outfit that got hired. Others were a tad pushy and were quick to bad mouth the competition. They got ruled out immediately. As a business owner myself, I think it's bad form to publicly trash your competitors. (even if some of them deserve it! :laughing

 

[445A]

As a business owner myself, I think it's bad form to publicly trash your competitors. (even if some of them deserve it!

Talking "trash" about your competition tells me your product/service is inferior. It instantly puts you on my "scumball" list. 445A

 

[JJZ 109]

Talking "trash" about your competition tells me your product/service is inferior. It instantly puts you on my "scumball" list. 445A

That would be the first person I spoke to about this move. First words out of his mouth were that I was going to get calls from a lot of other transporters that were full of BS and that he would do the right thing.
He talked himself out of the job immediately and I moved on.

 

[Scrambler82]

First... When you setup a Pickup Request, U-Ship gives you two amounts, a high and a low range.
Most people would pick the low, I went a little higher than low. Once you setup everything and say go your next e-mail from u-ship is for you to raise your offer you posted and the second and the third are all the same, if you go higher you will get a reply. Why not give you a higher price range to start things off and this is suppose to be a place for truckers to make an offer so to fill a load not get the highest price for the move.

I had no luck so far from U-Ship to move my recent purchase, I put in a dollar value based on U-Ship's range, got nothing so far. Not even an offer from a trucker saying to raise my price, where's the bidding in this thing.

Still waiting to find someone to move my tractor.

Good luck with the U-Ship thing.