Car Shipping 101: Because You Can't Drive Every Project Home

We spoke with Nicholas Dutko, the owner of Car Shipping Carriers, a vehicle shipping brokerage that has a slightly different mission than your average freight handler: Be transparent, and educate the consumer--starting with us. What did we learn? …

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Had the 'V' shipped from Portland, Or to Houston metro area......my only complaint was not using an enclosed transporter.....the gray filth was almost borderline grout.....the wipers were minimal at best.

It was actually cheaper for me to ship 2 of my cars than to fly and drive. The only one I didn't ship was Atomic Betty as no one was going through that part of the world for a bit so it was going to be very expensive. 

I have no problems. Shoot, When I whipped the Barracuda to Greg, He got the thing next day moving from Austin to Daytona area. 

Interesting, I'll eventually need to have my Conquest shell shipped from Cali to central Texas. I'm going to get my jaguar myself because it's in a storage unit and I don't want a hauler to even deal with the logistics of that. But, gas+lodging (60 a night)+food works out to be about the same as shipping. Well maybe a little bit more. 

Edit: I just did a quote via uShip and I'm getting offers of $800+ thats about 1.5 more expensive than doing it myself! 

In reply to yupididit :

I'd say it depends on how far you are shipping and how much time you can give towards the trip.  When I bought my '64 Mini back in early 2013, I considered flying out Los Angles and driving across the country to Philly.  Besides the pre-inspection shop not recommending it, it would have been tough to fly one or two people across the country, along with probably a weeks worth of hotel rooms and meals for the $1000 it cost me to have the car shipped.

Never mind the likelihood that after 3000 miles in a classic Mini, I'd need another vacation to recover...  I still kinda wish I'd done it, tho... it would have been a real adventure.  If I ever buy another car from the West Coast, it'll definitely be a fly-and-drive. 

I also used a broker: https://pricedriteautotransport.com/  No complaints with service or communication.

I'm going to look at a car about 100 miles from home tomorrow. I'm going to take my truck and a rental car carrier trailer. I've got to drive there anyway, and it's not that far. 

Shipping makes sense for most long distances, though.

Seeing the pics of the Boxster that got dropped off the back of the trailer with no ramps, plus my personal experience with carriers that damaged the car I had them haul, I would say that shipping a car is not the time to price-shop.  Now I'm stuck with body damage, and suddenly the carrier's phone won't pick up, so I'm pretty much eating a grand in body damage on a $600 car that had cherry sheetmetal.

Yup my car got damaged in transit. The shipping broker offers a guarantee but its just 500 bucks to cover your deductible and after song and dance with how one carrier hands off to another its just a finger pointing blame game where no one fixes your car.

In reply to Ian F :

I shipped the same car from Virginia to southern California for $800. Noticed the theme? This car follows me everywhere!

I've done both fly & drive and shipping. Shipping is great if you have the right carrier and / or are too busy to do it yourself. However...

2008. Buddy of mine calls to see if I'd know anyone interested in TWO Mk2 Supras for $1000. Considering my Mk3 had just blew the engine (well, I did that...), yeah, I did know someone. Only catch? The cars were 1000 miles away in Arizona, and had been sitting for a while. This was Toyota at it's best though, the early 80's, those things are indestructible!

So, I place an order to freshen the car up at a Chandler area Checker, fly down with a bag of clothes and my bag of tools (that surprisingly, was ok to carry on), and proceed to fix this car up to drive home. Well, preliminary shake down runs go smoothly, car pulls great, gears out at about 130 (hey, I didn't really notice, truthfully, it was very quiet and smooth!), and... has a bit of an overheating issue.

So, that's not gonna work. End up replacing the entire cooling system, cheapest to most expensive. Yep, my luck kicked in, and it was a gummed up, possibly original, radiator, that was causing the issue. Replaced that, drove the piss out of it to make sure I'd have no surprises, then pointed north. About 16 or so hours later, I'm home, exhausted, and ready for a vacation from my vacation. Car ran great for many years, never gave me any issue, apart from a lack of power at the altitude I live, loved that car.

Long story short? Shipping is great, but you'll never have the adventure of a fly and drive!

I have priced it several times for rollers across the country and it has always been about $1,450 or so. To me that is money well spent.  Runners are usually cheaper. 

Hello everyone, my name is Nicholas Dutko, owner of Car Shipping Carriers.  I own the business this article is talking about.  I noticed a few people mentioned other brokers and uship.  I find it useful to get 2-4 different quotes so the customer can get a good idea of different pricing and customer service each business gives.

Also, I have never been a fan of uShip because the companies quoting you are a mix of brokers and carriers.  The problem with this is that if you choose a broker and their price, Uship gets paid, then you pay the broker and then the carrier.  The same happens if you choose a carrier... uShip will collect their fee (which is essentially a broker fee).  Usually your price will be $100+ higher than if you just got a quote from a broker directly without using uShip.  You'll almost always find brokers online when you search on Google, Yahoo or Bing.  These brokers will help you find the right hauler for your route.

If you are looking to learn more about how to ship a car, click the highlighted text.

Thank you for read the article here on Grassroots Motorsports and I hope to earn your business sometime in the future.

I've had great luck shipping numerous cars across the country and even overseas.  All that was spoiled by one bad driver who neglected to secure my car to the trailer.  It came loose and hit the car behind it - or rather - started to grind away the perfect - unrestored - barn find 71 240Z.  Who knows how many miles were covered before he noticed.  Judging from the condition of the car.... more than a few.  Adding insult to injury, the shipping company decided the damages were worth a fraction of the repair costs.  Next time, I'll buy something ready to drive home.  I'll fly there and drive it home myself.  The road trip adventure will make a better story.

dutko2385 said:

Hello everyone, my name is Nicholas Dutko, owner of Car Shipping Carriers.  I own the business this article is talking about.  I noticed a few people mentioned other brokers and uship.  I find it useful to get 2-4 different quotes so the customer can get a good idea of different pricing and customer service each business gives.

Also, I have never been a fan of uShip because the companies quoting you are a mix of brokers and carriers.  The problem with this is that if you choose a broker and their price, Uship gets paid, then you pay the broker and then the carrier.  The same happens if you choose a carrier... uShip will collect their fee (which is essentially a broker fee).  Usually your price will be $100+ higher than if you just got a quote from a broker directly without using uShip.  You'll almost always find brokers online when you search on Google, Yahoo or Bing.  These brokers will help you find the right hauler for your route.

If you are looking to learn more about how to ship a car, click the highlighted text.

Thank you for read the article here on Grassroots Motorsports and I hope to earn your business sometime in the future.

i don't suppose you ship motorcycles, do you?

In reply to stroker :

Yes sir.  We do ship motorcycles.  Check out our motorcycle shipping page.  Feel free to get a free quote if you'd like.  We will give you 3-5 different quotes to choose from.

In reply to FPZguy :

Sorry to hear about your experience FPZguy.  There are horror stories everywhere and in every industry.  I wouldn't hold this one experience as a norm because it is not.  Next time, this is where a broker would help you.  We have the insurance docs for the haulers (from the website all us brokers and carriers use) and we could have submitted a claim to their insurance company for you.  Then you would have had a fair shake and got the money you deserved for the work that needed to be done.

If I do a quote, will I get bombarded with emails and what not?

Auto transporting services :

This type of [canoe transportation] is the most common. This is due to the low cost. Open Air involves loading a car onto a multi-purpose vehicle along with other vehicles. Despite its popularity, customers who prefer to provide the best protection for their car, choose the closed type. As these car transport services do not protect against rain, debris, etc.