What are the recommended outfits for transporting or shipping a car? Specifically, from San Jose to St. Tampa. Focusing on cost. Don't need a covered carrier or specific position on the truck.

Thanks,
Sixto
MB-less

montway auto transport.
Ready auto transport
uship.com

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1985 500SL Euro w/ AMG bits 130k
1984 300SD Turbodiesel 192k
1980 240D Stick China 188k
2001 CLK55 AMG 101k
2007 S600 Biturbo 149k Overheated Project, IT'S ALIVE!!!

Try to get your car as close to the cab as possible. If the rig hits a big bump the trailer acts like a diving board. I've seen LOTS of cars on the end get messed up bad.

x2 on Montway. they've moved some things for me, Excellent people and the driver we got was nice. though they did drive the wrong way down the street trying to get out of here lol, not their fault. the roads in here are screwy. I highly recommend them

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hum.....
1987 300TD 311,000M Stolen. Presumed destroyed

UShip or UHaul

Do you care about the car at all? ( as in are you OK with damage in transit? ) Does the car run enough to get on and off a trailer?

Having had a car shipped x country and having it arrive with significant damage:

The car will ride on multiple trailers, it must be and stay running.

You don't get to pick where the car rides. The Porsche 914 I had requested be shipped somewhere on the lower level was shipped top level backwards. I know this because the roof panel caught air and was lost.

Insurance carried by shippers pays by the pound not actual value of the car, are you OK with scrap metal compensation in the event of a loss?

This was with a shipper that turned out to be just a broker.

As for other methods, uship is just a web site that connects shippers and customers. I had a skid steer shipped 400 miles without a problem. It turned out that the " guy with a truck and trailer running under the ICC radar " was making passing by and was able to make me a great deal. Even better he lived 10 miles away from the pickup point. But there is no way to know who will show up.

U haul rents pickup trucks and trailers, if you go this route get the "commercial" or high mileage rate. The are lots of "adders and fees" so be sure to work up the total before hand. The F 150 and trailer I rented got ~ 19 MPG hauling a 4000 LB car. The distance was such that renting a truck that got more than my 12 MPG with 4.11 gear worth it.

Are you able to get the car to / near an auto auction and can you pickup from / near an auto auction on your end? You might be able to get an open spot and a good rate.

Had you received any quotes or estimates before posting here? Just curious what you found.

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'89 260e (212K Mi.), '92 400e (208K Mi.), '92 400e (not a misprint) (146K Mi.), '95 C220, '81 240D--Sold

Shipping prices are hugely dependent on how busy of a market you are coming into, or going out of. Some places have a ton of inbound, and zero outbound and truckers will do it nearly for free to get something on the trailer and some diesel in the tank.

I shipped a W124 from Seattle to Ohio for around $500 last fall because so much goes to Seattle ports, but very little leaves, trucker needed a load to get out of town.

Now I'm pricing from Sacramento to Ohio and I'm getting prices nearly $1,100. Plenty of people trying to ship stuff out of California so they aren't as hungry for the work, and residential Sacramento is sort of a pain when they can go to ports and other businesses and get a full load cars in the same place rather than deal with onesy-twosy personal BS like me.

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68 280SL - 70 280SL - 70 300SEL 3.5 - 72 350SL - 72 280SEL 4.5 - 72 220 - 72 220D - 73 450SL - 84 230GE - 87 200TD - 90 190E 2.0 - 03 G500

Nissan GTR - Nissan Skyline GTS25T - Toyota GTFour - Rover Mini - Toyota Land Cruiser HJ60 - Cadillac Eldorado - BMW E30 - BMW 135i

Thanks!

This '09 Civic is a friend's second car. She's getting quotes of $1000-1200 and Montway's direct quote (bypassing uship) is $960 if you pay the trucker directly which sounds weird. I'd jump on that based on what I've paid DAS in the past but she's looking for a better deal without putting miles on the car. She's halfway there driving and I'm sure she won't fly back to do it again I offered to drop it at a depot on this end which knocks off some for DAS. I don't see that option with uship or Montway.

I haven't had any issues with DAS shipping 3 cars... unless they bent the rods of the '93 SD

Sixto
MB-less

Not really, I'm betting Montway uses sub contractors to move cars.

Truckers get a discount by paying cash for their diesel. So they prefer to get paid cash on delivery.

__________________
1985 500SL Euro w/ AMG bits 130k
1984 300SD Turbodiesel 192k
1980 240D Stick China 188k
2001 CLK55 AMG 101k
2007 S600 Biturbo 149k Overheated Project, IT'S ALIVE!!!

Don't use uship. I have lovely stories of people using brokers, NOT!

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93' 190E Sportline LE
80' 450SEL 6.9
67' 250SE

I see this is a little old, but I can probably offer some input if others have similar questions. If you're main concern is minimizing the cost (and it won't be cheap for that distance), then you're looking for an open carrier that hauls multiple cars at once. I would think any shipper out there has this option available. I've used A1AutoTransportInc in the past & would recommend them, but if the cost is your primary concern, calling up long distance shippers and comparing price is the best option. (The price may vary due to available spots on the carrier, time of year, cost of gas, etc.) Hope this helps.