Have you ever shipped a vehicle across the country?

[Diggin It]

20 years ago, I did the same thing. Twice.


But that was 20 years ago.

 

[scootr]

20 years ago we bought a truck out of state, 1000 miles away. Rented a car for the ride out and drove the truck back with temp plates. We wrapped a 3 day vacation around the trip with the kids. Shipping it would have been cheaper, but the 3 day road trip was much more fun.

Road TRIP! Can be fun. Taking an unknown car on a road trip, maybe not.

 

[Diggin It]

The three finalists seem to be Mercury, UFT and Elite. All of their quotes are within $100 of each other. All have communicated via phone or messaging and say that can pick it up this week. All say an initial depost when it's picked up and final payment on delivery. All say they do full inspections at both ends.

Mercury Auto Transport & Car Shipping | Over 4000+ 5-Star Reviews

Mercury Auto Transport is America's auto transport & car shipping expert. Find out why we have over 4000+ 5-star reviews and an A+ from the Better Business Bureau.

mercuryautotransport.com

United Freeway Transportation - Best Car Shipping Company and Auto Transport Carrier in USA

For over 4 years, United Freeway Transportation most trusted car & bike shipping services in Florida, Texas, California, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Arizona & Colorado. Call 610 982-1101 to get a free auto shipping quote to ship a car anywhere in The United States.

uftransportation.com

Elite Car Shipping Company in the US | ? #1 International Car Shipping

We are the Preferred Five Star Elite Car Shipping Company & International Car Shipping Company in The US. Call & get up to 20% Discount!

www.elitecarshippingcompany.com

I want to try to get this booked in the morning, so if there are any other comments ....

 

[scootr]

Google Mercury transport reviews. It's a crap shoot but you may read something to sway you one way or the other... do it for all 3.
Mercury has been in the car transport game for a long time. Experience counts. GL

 

[Diggin It]

Duck beats Goo.


UFT's reviews are pretty good, if you can believe them. Mercury's rep has been a bit slow to respond to questions, but it's the weekend.

 

[BoylermanCT]

Can you fly one way and then drive the Tahoe home?

 

[dodge man]

If Oosik looked at for free he should drive it to your door for free. I don’t really like to drive that much anymore but I’d probably still fly out and drive it back.

 

[Cougsfan]

MY only experience was I wanted to get an idea of what it cost to ship a motorcycle across the country. I contacted someone I found on line and was immediately contacted, over and over and over again by numerous companies wanting to give me quotes for not only shipping my motorcycle, shipping all of my belongings across the country. I quickly got quite experienced at blocking phone numbers on my phone.

 

[oosik]

Dodge man - I would have gladly driven the Tahoe to Diggin it's house. Only one problem - I'm very, VERY certain my hemorrhoids wouldn't enjoy the trip so much. Anything much beyond a couple days and the joy of the trip has almost completely vanished.

And to think - when we lived in Alaska - we all enjoyed the drive home to see our parents. 2500 miles - four or five day drive. And that was was when the ALCAN was still 100% gravel.

 

[BadDecisions]

Taking an unknown car on a road trip, maybe not.

People think I'm nuts for taking my truck and trailer to pick up a "new to me" used vehicle purchased locally. Whether it's 5 miles or 50 miles away. There's only so much inspection I can do to a vehicle while it's sitting in someone's driveway or dealer lot, and I've had a couple times where schitt happened on the drive home, and my purchase price just got jacked up a couple hundred dollars more after paying for a tow truck. In my case, diesel for my pickup is a lot cheaper than paying for a tow truck.

Given what future, planned, shipping costs to get a vehicle across the country these days, I'd imagine an unplanned tow over long distances would be pretty astronomical and probably would have to deal with several different towing companies as I doubt any of them are going to go much over a couple hundred miles one way. Might even approach the point of just saying "heck with it", leave the vehicle on the side of the road, and taking a train home...

 

[Diggin It]

I ended up paying about $1500. They left up there about 9PM Friday night and delivered it to me at 7AM Monday morning. That's a WHOLE lotta driving in 2 1/2 days. Couple of Russian guys that could barely speak English. Big Ford pickup with a three car trailer. Had two on plus mine, but no telling how many they might have picked up or dropped in between.

I tried to figure it out ahead of time and there's no way I could have made that trip for much less.

 

[oosik]

I agree Diggin It. They, obviously, traded off on the driving. 2 1/2 days - they drove straight through. I tried that once. And it was 38 years ago when I was a whole lot younger. At 725 straight miles - I gave up. The problem - I was so hyped up on No Doze - I couldn't get to sleep.

Going from Papillion, NE to Anchorage, AK. 3250 miles.

 

[Diggin It]

I did 1,250 in 23 hours a couple of times. Stops only for go juice and to .. well, go.

But that was a LONG time ago. These days an hour is about it and stuff starts aching so bad I have to get out and walk around for a bit.

 

[oosik]

Long trips on my motorcycle ended up being multiple stops near the end. And it was a Harley Low Rider - with the softest seat I could find. Tylenol washed down with JD. Kept the mood UP and the butt pain tolerable.

 

[TractorTYMe]

Ugh.....I just did a 624 mile work trip from Bend, OR back to NW Montana in 10 hours.

 

[BadDecisions]

Long trips on my motorcycle ended up being multiple stops near the end. And it was a Harley Low Rider - with the softest seat I could find. Tylenol washed down with JD. Kept the mood UP and the butt pain tolerable.

After having done a 2,000+ mile cross country trip on a Honda XR250, I figure anything done in a car is a piece of cake A few years later I did the same trip in a Volvo 850, and I was able to easily pull off a 1,000 mile 24 hour pull....felt like I could have stretched it out to 1,500 miles, but figured I should stop in a better safe than sorry kind of way.

 

[Jstpssng]

A neighbor bought an F150 online from one of the southern states and flew down, intending to drive it back. Someplace in Massachusetts smoke started billowing out of the hood... he said he just had time to grab his phone and "Tom Tom" device before it was engulfed. I believe that he rode a grey dog the rest of the way home.

His insurance company was not impressed when he made the claim.

 

[azbinder]

1968 when I was young, dumb, and stupid, I drove straight through from northern Indiana to Phoenix in a little over 32 hours. Can't do it now.

 

[kwijybo]

I shipped my 1991 Ford Ranger to my Dad back in 2018. I don't remember who I used, but it was one of the lower priced middlemen. They set a ship date, and ghosted me (wouldn't answer or return my calls). Finally contacted me a couple of days before the ship date, and said they had to raise the price by $200, as they couldn't get a hauler to take it. I agreed, as time was short. A trucker contacted me, picked it up, and got it near my parents in a few days. The trucker then asked for the original amount of the contract, which my mother gave him (I sent her a check to get the cash to pay him).

Now the fun part: the middleman called me and told me that I shorted the amount paid to the trucker! I told him my mother gave the trucker exactly what he asked for (she did), and he didn't like it at all, but realized that his scam was in the light. He never called me back.