shipping a car, advice

[Kershaw]

Hey R3v,

i just bought another e30, off ebay, sight unseen. lets see how this works out.... it needs some work, but the chassis seems true and rust free. which is a huge plus. its drivable, but it sat for 6 years and during that time someone stole the cats. the front strut is also frozen.

it is in youngstowne ohio and im in hyattsville md. 5.5 hour drive.

i have a few retrieval options:

1. fly out there, rent a truck and trailer.
2. drive up with exhaust, strut, and my current e30 tags
3. have it shipped

i have already received one estimate for shipping, and that was $400. flying and renting with gas seems at least $250, plus an entire day wasted. drive up there with parts... ehh.. possibly as little as $200, with 2 days used. possibly running into unknown problems and possibly having the car impounded for unregistered vehicle with wrong tags. not that i havent done this before.

im thinking if i can have it shipped for $300 that would be the way to go. but that price seems implausible.

anyone done this before? advice is appreciated. reputable & cheap shipping companies are also appreciated. the seller says his neighbor has a car shipping company and he'll inquire as to the cost. that seems dubious, but i have no reason not to trust him.

[Pussy30]

You dont have any access to borrowing a trailer or something? Renting is always a huge PITA and cost more then it should.

[Danny]

spend teh monies.

[8380 Labs]

$400 seems pretty cheap, and would be the least hassle by a mile.

[MrSlacker]

Can the car drive onto a trailer? If so, having it delivered to you would be the best bet. Ebay provides some good quotes usually.

[Bimmerista]

Ship it for $400. The peace of mind will be well worth it.

[Kershaw]

yeah, it seems like my best bet.

[CabrioPunk]

Ship it. Or get a hold of ill4noreason, he may be up for a trip.

[Rigmaster]

Ship it for $400. The peace of mind will be well worth it.

^this

$400 is cheap, just make damn sure they know that the car is inoperable, or partially inop, and that they can handle it without any extra fees or hassles.


Another possibility is www.uship.com

I have not found anyone using uship, but I've gotten some quotes, and alot of people seem to use them. Last car I had shipped, I posted up on the local CL asking if anyone could haul a car my way and found a guy who had an open spot on his trailer from NH to FLA (I'm in NC). He ended up bringing me the car for $500, which was pretty good compared to other quotes I got.

[FKNFASTM5]

My pops owns a transport company. Hit him up and tell him your on the E30 forums.

Transportmasters.com

also can be found in dupont registry

[Kershaw]

the car is fully movable under its own power. its just really really loud as its basically dumping open header.

[Blendercloud]

Last month I bought my e30 off ebay in a similar fashion. I can tell you that trying to ship the car was the most painful experience as a consumer that I've ever had. The auto shipping industry as a whole is filled with very crooked tactics which include:

1. Giving you a quote for 50% of what it will actually cost to book a truck/driver
2. Charging you a deposit so you can't back out when they don't pick your car up after two straight week of "we'll be there between 3:00 and 4:00 PM".
3. Committing you (behind your back) to a "cash on delivery" that is several hundred dollars more than you agreed to pay. When confronted about this, they tell you they are intentionally lying to the truck driver to get them to take the load, citing it as a "trade secret". Meanwhile, if they do book that truck and the driver picks your car up he would likely not relinquish possession of your car until he receives what he was promised.
4. Did I mention that they promise to pick it up every day for weeks on end? That's enough to lose your eBay reputation right there.

My advice to you is to go pick the car up yourself. That's what I ended up doing. I put the deposit on my Visa so now I am at least disputing the charge citing they never actually performed any services to merit the payment.

[MrSlacker]

Last month I bought my e30 off ebay in a similar fashion. I can tell you that trying to ship the car was the most painful experience as a consumer that I've ever had. The auto shipping industry as a whole is filled with very crooked tactics which include:

1. Giving you a quote for 50% of what it will actually cost to book a truck/driver
2. Charging you a deposit so you can't back out when they don't pick your car up after two straight week of "we'll be there between 3:00 and 4:00 PM".
3. Committing you (behind your back) to a "cash on delivery" that is several hundred dollars more than you agreed to pay. When confronted about this, they tell you they are intentionally lying to the truck driver to get them to take the load, citing it as a "trade secret". Meanwhile, if they do book that truck and the driver picks your car up he would likely not relinquish possession of your car until he receives what he was promised.
4. Did I mention that they promise to pick it up every day for weeks on end? That's enough to lose your eBay reputation right there.

My advice to you is to go pick the car up yourself. That's what I ended up doing. I put the deposit on my Visa so now I am at least disputing the charge citing they never actually performed any services to merit the payment.

How did you book this car? I deal with truckers every single day as part of my job and this does not happen often. Yes, sometimes truckers are late on pick up or delivery due to different reasons, but never 2 weeks late. You need to make sure you book it through some website that has trucker's documents on file. I use a dealer only website for booking all shipments and never have any problems.

[Blendercloud]

How did you book this car? I deal with truckers every single day as part of my job and this does not happen often. Yes, sometimes truckers are late on pick up or delivery due to different reasons, but never 2 weeks late. You need to make sure you book it through some website that has trucker's documents on file. I use a dealer only website for booking all shipments and never have any problems.

The company I tried to use was called Castle Luxury Auto Shipping Services. Their dispatch department would tell me at 10:00 AM the truck would be there between 3:00 and 4:00. So, in turn, I would report that to the seller who would take off work early. When I would call at 5:00, the dispatch personnel would tell me that the driver bailed on the shipment because the price was too low. They would then try to up the price (even though they already had without my knowledge). It's important to note that the shipping 'broker' is at fault, not any driver. I'm quite certain there was never a driver assigned to begin with as my order was on the dispatch board for the entire time and never removed.