I need to ship a vehicle from Michigan to California.
Anybody with experience/ suggestions/ recommendation for a good shipper?
How much should I expect to pay?

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1982 300D Turbo 3.0L 275K- sold
1992 300D Turbo 2.5L 300K
1997 Miata 115K
2004 Audi A4 Quattro 120K

USHIP dot com will get you rates from several carriers.

I've had no problems with DAS. You can get a free/no strings estimate at dasautoshippers.com. I hear UShip is a good service too.

Sixto
87 300D

Just be careful. Never go for the cheapest.

Use this site....I got a ton of quotes.....I am going with the cheapest....don't see why the most expensive place should get my business...

Professional Auto Transport Company | Car Shipping Quotes by ATD

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The cheapest quote may be a dude with an F150 and a uhaul just FYI. Sold a couple cars where the buyer used u ship and that's what picked the car up. If that doesn't bother you then it doesn't matter, just when you pick the lowest number don't expect an enclosed freightliner with a driver with 1,000 years of experience.

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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

That chasing classic cars geezer seems to always pay in excess of $1600!

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1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

They shipped my 240D for me when I moved up to Delaware from the New Orleans areal sat year. Picked up on time and delivered the car a few days early too. I have no idea of the exact cost since it was part of a relocation package.

Thanks all. So, good experience with DAS- I'll get a quote from them.
And yeah, don't want a guy pulling a u-haul :-(

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1982 300D Turbo 3.0L 275K- sold
1992 300D Turbo 2.5L 300K
1997 Miata 115K
2004 Audi A4 Quattro 120K

Never go with the cheapest. Most of those reviews are faked from what I've read. Just google the company you wish to use and you'll find more informatoin on them. Either they are late, don't show up, or aren't insured. I've heard of the price suddenly going up when they deliver with the car on the back. Good luck fighting that fight.

I payed 745 to have my 300d moved from arkansas to nj and used Door to Door towing. They weren't the cheapest, but also not the most expensive. The cheapest quote was 550 dollars and after reading reviews on the that company, I opted to move on. 745 was still cheaper than flying there and driving it back.

DAS for sure.

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1982 240D auto 152k
1984 380SL 113k
2015 Ram 2500 6.7 Cummins
Previous:
1985 300DT
1984 190D 5sp Euro

There are several of the sites that feature 'reviews' and I agree with the other poster, most are certainly fake.

How well transport works depends on where you are, versus the travel patterns for the transporters -- they don't want dead heads, they want to be able to book another car onto the truck fairly close to where they drop yours. For example, if you are trying to get a car dropped off in northern NY state, no one wants to take the job as there is almost nothing moving up there (voice of experience).

Despite what the websites may make it appear, most of the companies are brokers, who take the order, subtract their commission, then farm out the work to owner/operators or actual carriers. The lower you go on price, generally speaking, the less the job is paying the guy doing the run.

You need to ask questions. If a company is quoting way over others, it may be because they are guaranteeing a "single truck" run from pickup to destination. Otherwise the car may move on and off two more more trucks. Or possibly they guarantee the arrival time within 12 hours, in writing. Speaking of, ask what any 'guarantee' of delivery time means. In many cases, zero, if they blow the guarantee they just shrug (again, voice of...).

In your case, MI to CA, you are probably going to get a good rate as there are more cars coming east than vice versa.

IF you can deal with the actual company (for example, if DAS has its own fleet), then I highly recommend that over a broker.

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Mac
2002 e320 4matic estate│1985 300d│1980 300td
Previous: 1979 & 1982 & 1983 300sd │ 1982 240d

“Let's take a drive into the middle of nowhere with a packet of Marlboro lights and talk about our lives.” ― Joseph Heller, Catch-22

As I recall, DAS was/is one of the highest priced shippers on the Net. Just because you hire the highest priced shipper, doesn't mean they'll do no harm, just as it's not a lock that the lowest-priced shipper will. BOTH of them are capable of some wear/damage to your shipment - regardless whether their mode of cartage is enclosed or not. I would go with the lowest priced shipper, then be certain to ascertain whether any type of wear or damage is done by the shipper.

There was a member here that cited watching the carrier driver damage the air-dam while off-loading his prized 500SL from the transport. When he pointed it out to the driver the guy denied it! The member went in and called the carrier supervisor to get credit for the damage. The carrier was not a guy with a pickup and a trailer either. It was an 18-wheeler car transport.

ok- so i decided to go with DAS. SHipping from Michigan to Cali.
I dropped off the car on Jan 17. Today, Feb 8, it is still sitting at the origin terminal. Initial arrival date they gave me was 1/31; then it became 2/10; now they are giving a new date of who knows when???
The gal who is my rep is a mechanical robot- just keeps saying she will get back with a new date. I keep asking for a "load date" but they won't give that.

Oh well... just thought I'd vent...

__________________
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1982 300D Turbo 3.0L 275K- sold
1992 300D Turbo 2.5L 300K
1997 Miata 115K
2004 Audi A4 Quattro 120K

Sounds pretty crap

__________________
1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!