For shipping cars, keep in mind that many so-called car-transport companies are really only brokers or middlemen, who sub-contract the shipping to individual shippers. I recently confirmed this shipping my wife's car from FL to CO. I had to pay the broker, whom I had initially contacted, a $200 "deposit" via credit card to set up the service, then paid the driver $500 in cash upon arrival. The driver told me that the $500 was the only money he saw and that he had no idea what the broker charged. That said, the driver gave me the number of his company and told me that he would charge me the same $500 for the same trip at a later date. Thus I could avoid the brokerage fees next time. So there are two morals to the story: first, if possible try to deal directly with a driver, and second, if you have to deal with a broker, know that there is plenty of bargaining room on his/her commission/fee.

I'm sure this is also the case with other shipping contractors, whether one is shipping cars or engines/parts.

As far as uship goes, all of the bids for my trip were far higher than what I found soliciting shipping bids by more conventional means directly on the internet.