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I'm moving from Florida to New York this summer and will need to ship my Vantage up north. I'm looking for a covered car carrier.
Has anyone worked with a car-shipper in the past? If so, would you recommend them?
I have used Eship dot com in the past (2020) to ship from NY to CA and had a great first experience. I just got a V8V and was going to use them again but they kept increasing the price this time around. I decided to use RunBuggy instead and so far it has been a great experience - still waiting on delivery as we speak. They did take 4-5 days however to pick up the car so if you are in a rush, it may not work for you.
it helps to know how the industry is put together.
for the most part, there are brokers, middle men really, with various company names, that do the advertising and through that advertising become visible to the public. they are all over the internet. they sit in an offices somewhere, anywhere, and field calls from people looking to have their car transported. they offer open air and enclosed prices. all prices vary with the enclosure mode, and distance traveled.
they will take your information, and once they have that (and it may have been as simple as filling out a form on their internet site) they will immediately put a notice out to ALL carriers on an internet bulletin board of some sort that is essentially a bid to the carriers who watch the bulletin intensely. once a broker has been contacted and have received your information they are persistent with their emails. you may keep getting them for weeks after you have received your car through another broker. when they get the lowest bid (hopefully!) from the carriers, they will contact you again and offer you the price, pickup date, time and place and give you an estimate as to when it will be delivered.
if you agree to the price, they will ask for about 25% of the full price up front. credit cards are acceptable of course. that money is THEIR cut of the total price. they will then contact the carrier and tell them the game is on....you may never hear from the broker again.
...time passes (anxiously!) with absolutely NO contact from the broker or carrier....until...
sometime around the delivery date the actual carrier will call with information as to final delivery date and time. the balance of the total price with then be due. cash, in my case, was the only acceptable payment method. so one may need to be ready with a large amount of it. best to ask about these things up front.
at least this is the way it went with me a couple of months ago when i had a new-to-me old classic car delivered to me from boston to the west coast. BTW at that time, and it was BEFORE the recent crazy price hike in gasoline, it cost me about $2200 (boston to sacramento), took a couple weeks from pickup to delivery and came in a custom-enclosed, car hauler, holding about 12 cars, with two nice eastern european gentlemen drivers.
Can’t add to the debate..but that’s a fine looking ride…
Thank you! It's one of my favorite pics so far. Just love how the body swells around the wheels!
Originally Posted by 61mga
it helps to know how the industry is put together.
for the most part, there are brokers, middle men really, with various company names, that do the advertising and through that advertising become visible to the public. they are all over the internet. they sit in an offices somewhere, anywhere, and field calls from people looking to have their car transported. they offer open air and enclosed prices. all prices vary with the enclosure mode, and distance traveled.
they will take your information, and once they have that (and it may have been as simple as filling out a form on their internet site) they will immediately put a notice out to ALL carriers on an internet bulletin board of some sort that is essentially a bid to the carriers who watch the bulletin intensely. once a broker has been contacted and have received your information they are persistent with their emails. you may keep getting them for weeks after you have received your car through another broker. when they get the lowest bid (hopefully!) from the carriers, they will contact you again and offer you the price, pickup date, time and place and give you an estimate as to when it will be delivered.
if you agree to the price, they will ask for about 25% of the full price up front. credit cards are acceptable of course. that money is THEIR cut of the total price. they will then contact the carrier and tell them the game is on....you may never hear from the broker again.
...time passes (anxiously!) with absolutely NO contact from the broker or carrier....until...
sometime around the delivery date the actual carrier will call with information as to final delivery date and time. the balance of the total price with then be due. cash, in my case, was the only acceptable payment method. so one may need to be ready with a large amount of it. best to ask about these things up front.
at least this is the way it went with me a couple of months ago when i had a new-to-me old classic car delivered to me from boston to the west coast. BTW at that time, and it was BEFORE the recent crazy price hike in gasoline, it cost me about $2200 (boston to sacramento), took a couple weeks from pickup to delivery and came in a custom-enclosed, car hauler, holding about 12 cars, with two nice eastern european gentlemen drivers.
Thank you for this information! I didn't realize how it worked. If you don't mind me asking, which "broker" did you originally reach out to?
but remember, you'll end up with a hauler that responds to his posting of the "job". after all, these trucks cannot be everywhere all the time, you'll end up with a hauler that is near your point of departure at the time the job is posted and will travel to your destination, most likely with a number of other cars on the truck.
I've used Intercity Lines several times over the last decade. They always take great care with the cars themselves and keep you in the loop during the whole process.
https://intercitylines.com/
Last edited by GT3 Chuck; Mar 6, 2023 at 11:08 AM.
Just to close the loop, I went with covered transport from Horseless Carriage and am very happy with that decision. Everything happened on time, the driver was meticulous with my car and I always spoke to a real person. They were also $200-500 less than Reliable and Intercity.
Just to close the loop, I went with covered transport from Horseless Carriage and am very happy with that decision. Everything happened on time, the driver was meticulous with my car and I always spoke to a real person. They were also $200-500 less than Reliable and Intercity.
