FL to KS: Non-running Vehicle Transport

Lets call this a theoretical situation for now, as I don't want to over-commit to anything just yet.

I am seriously considering buying a ran-when-parked car (sight unseen) in Florida and hauling it home to Kansas. Small car, lightweight, might or might not be a MK1 Mini (remember, purely hypothetical at this juncture). I don't need to be enabled, I'm half tempted to leave for FL tonight, but I'm not sure how to go about it.

Option 1. Rent a Uhaul truck and go get it (or fly down, rent the truck, drive back). Expensive and overkill in terms of size.

Option 2. Drive down with a two-wheel dolly or trailer and get the car. Slightly less expensive, slightly more time consuming. The trucks I have immediate access to either a) get less than 15mpg or b) are darn-near too limp-wristed to haul the 1500lb car home. My wife's '98 Ranger (4cyl, manual) MIGHT cut it, but I can't say that with confidence.

Option 3. Have it shipped freight. Expensive.

Option 4. Have it shipped via professional car delivery service. Expensive. I know very very little about this option beyond a tentative Google search.

Option 5. Try to get a GRM convoy going, in hopes that I can pay several members in beer to get the car at least partway to Kansas. I'm skeptical, but if someone wants to prove me wrong, please feel free.

Option 6?

I hate to flake out on the seller, but I'm having a hard time convincing myself that this is attainable.

Any thoughts?

I would use your wife's Ranger and rent the tow dolly in Florida. That said I would also take a tool box along to remove and repack the wheel bearings on the car before bring it home. Tires, best? pair on back. Allen

might want to check with U-Haul about towing; Ranger 4cly.+ tow dolly + car weight.

I'd probably go with the Ranger and tow dolly, personally. I pulled non-runners all over the eastern half of the country with my '85 Toyota 2WD and a dolly.

Really though, if you have access to larger trucks are aren't considering them because of fuel economy, consider how bad the economy will be if you're foot-to-the-floor in the Ranger. My Toyota got the same fuel economy as my Dad's 5.3-powered Silverado when towing 2400lb car.

Just checked the capacity on the Ranger bumper; 200lb tongue load, 2000lb gross trailer weight.

The two larger trucks I have access to are my FIL's F350 SuperDuty and my '71 C10. F350 has sketchy rear brakes following being wrecked by the sister-in-law, and gets 13mpg on a good day (more like 8 or 9 with a trailer). C10 runs and drives well, but has locking brakes and gets 10mpg by itself on the highway.

I think this is a question of how valuable your time is. I would look hard at having it shipped. If you take the ranger and average 15mpg on your 2100+ mile round trip (Wathena to Panama City, FL, since we don't know where the mini is) you will spend over $500 in gas. This does not include food, lodging, dolley rental, etc... I bet that you can have the mini shipped for less than 1K.

singleslammer wrote: I think this is a question of how valuable your time is. I would look hard at having it shipped. If you take the ranger and average 15mpg on your 2100+ mile round trip (Wathena to Panama City, FL, since we don't know where the mini is) you will spend over $500 in gas. This does not include food, lodging, dolley rental, etc... I bet that you can have the mini shipped for less than 1K.

Definitely agree with this. Why spend your time, tear up your ranger and deal with all the intangibles when you can just be patient and get someone to tow up. Though on a car like that I would use Uship.com. That will be your cheapest option.

Uship was where I looked. Cheapest option is $865.

I'm not having much luck finding a tow dolly to borrow for a weekend. Uhaul wants $250 for the mileage in question. I could buy one for $500 and resell it when I get through with it.

With the fuel economy the Ranger typically gets on the highway, $500 for gas is doable. With dolly rental or purchase on top of that, its getting toward $800+, which would suggest shipping would be cheaper, but either way, that gets me a $3k non-running vehicle.

If I keep thinking like this, I'll talk myself out of it altogether.

Remember... You cant put a price on memories!

At least thats what I tell myself when planning such a road trip. I do have alot of awesome stories about picking up cars all over the eastern US. A leaking top on a Capri XR2 i picked up in Maine during a rainy October introduced me to the phrase "A dry and warm wife is a happy wife"

JohnInKansas wrote: Uship was where I looked. Cheapest option is $865.

This surprises me. Within the past year I had two cars transported. IL to FL was $500 and WA to FL was $900.

Do you have a Miata?

Towing with an underpowered or barely-adequately powered vehicle isn't fun over very long distances.

But you have to consider that towing Florida to Kansas is not like towing across Utah and Colorado. A Ranger pulling an early Mini should have no problems running a southern (less hilly) route.

I-10 out of FL to US-45 to US-78 to I-55 to I-70 to Kansas. No major hills and very little running on non-4-lane highways.

I've run that route many times in a very heavily loaded 18-wheeler and it's a very easy drive. I think a Ranger pulling a Mini would have no problem with any section of that route.

I'm probably too close to really offer a good stop-over point (only about 3 hours away or less), but if you needed a place to crash, you got it. Seriously, though, unless you value your time at zero AND have a sense of adventure, AND have plenty of free time (you're going to burn a couple days of vacation, I'm guessing) I would suggest keep shopping Uship. Or talk yourself out of it and find one that's closer (I know...they're just not around these parts).

No first hand experience, but I'm also surmising the ranger will DO the job, but it'll be slow and you'll be stressed about what's going to break and who's going to pull out in front of you and such.

I pulled a Miata from KC to Columbia on a dolly behind an '84 toyota and it was...shall we say...brave of me.

If shipping is still an option, I'd call Frank at Pro Transport based in Miami.

Shipped my car at $100 cheaper than the cheapest ebay option, and it was here in two days, compared to 3 weeks with DAS and 4 weeks with Alpine, both of which I have used before. My car was here Wednesday, the title won't be here until Friday.

He DOES sub out the work to individual drivers, but they are pros and use the big carriers, like 6-7 car double-decker, sho-nuff car carriers, and he only uses drivers he knows. Worth a call since it's coming from FL.

Well... I pulled the trigger last night.

Yet to be determined how its coming home for sure, but probably behind the Ranger with a dolly. Haven't decided if the dolly will be borrowed or rented or bought/resold-when-done. I'll either be going down Labor Day weekend or the weekend after that. It'll be an adventure.

Thanks fellas for the enabling.

Check on both options for the dolly rental:

1) rent at pickup site, tow back, return locally.

2) rent locally, tow both ways, return locally.

Depending on the per diem charge, the latter frequently ends up cheaper, even including the extra fuel spent towing it empty one way.

Or option 3: buy dolly on Craigslist at any point along route, tow home, sell on Craigslist locally.

I bought a tow dolly from u haul. When I checked on rental for a week 550 ,ouch but the guy behind the counter said I could buy one for 700, done. That was for 2002 challenge. I have used a Mazda pickup,79 Malibu, and a jeep Cherokee. Things only get uneasy when the towed is heavier than the tower.

It may have just been the dolly I used, but my experience is an unloaded one makes for a miserable trip as it bounces and jerks around.

logdog wrote: It may have just been the dolly I used, but my experience is an unloaded one makes for a miserable trip as it bounces and jerks around.

nope... thats par for the course... might be better if you strap some luggage to it and drop the tire PSI WAY down.... hard towing tires with no load makes it bounce around, and the pivot table makes all kinds of racket when it bounces...

JohnInKansas wrote: Well... I pulled the trigger last night.

Take a lot of pics. Give us a story.....

In reply to Datsun310Guy:

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/200x-classifieds/challenged-priced-austin-mini-2012/52756/page1/

This one. I'll take pictures and post them when I get it home.

My wife is at the police academy for the next 11 weeks or so (comes home on weekends), and wanted to know (jokingly) what I was going to get her for graduation. The above thread came up the next afternoon. We've both been keen on classic Minis for a long time, and as I posted in the above thread, she did squeal like a little girl when she saw pictures. Once she saw pictures, I pretty much had to make it happen.

Best make sure about that tow dolly rental. Years ago Uhaul refused to rent us anything when we turned-up with a Ranger and needed to drag a dead Cavalier back home (across town). They said the Ranger was outside their safe-towing parameters for hauling any car.

Man... you could almost put that Mini in the bead of a pick-up. If you try that, get photos and send it to thereifixedit. com

cwaters wrote: Best make sure about that tow dolly rental. Years ago Uhaul refused to rent us anything when we turned-up with a Ranger and needed to drag a dead Cavalier back home (across town). They said the Ranger was outside their safe-towing parameters for hauling any car.

You can go on the Uhaul website and plug your car in to see if it will be approved and reserve it too.

I would buy a dolly in Florida, resell it in Kansas. Also, the section of I70 from 55 to KC is pretty hilly, it'll heat up the trans in a little truck like that towing if you aren't careful.

Able trucking is who I used last time and they brought a scirocco to me from council bluffs for 550. Direct shot but it was less that I would have spent making the trip.