Who's shipped large weird stuff? Roll Cage?

Alright, I've come across an opportunity to buy a pretty unique and nice bolt in roll cage in Pittsburgh, but I'm in CT. It's 8-9 hrs each way, so I'm evaluating options for how to drag it home.

Thoughts: 

1. Rent a minivan (I don't trust my truck for such a long trip) for 2 days - drive out, collect the cage and drive back. May need to stop for a nap on the return trip because I'm soft.
2. Fly out, rent minivan and drive back one way. Flights are $120, rentals are about $80 thru my company. Probably $100 in gas and tolls?
3. Ship? Who's got experience? The main hoop is flat, the front A pillar bars and halo are all welded together - but it's for a tiny car. Maybe it'll fit on a pallet and be up to 2-3' high?  Has anyone done this before? Who have you used?
4. GRM relay? Do we know anyone driving thru Pittsburgh in about a month, heading generally east?

I shipped one from Connecticut to Florida using Woody + uship. 

It was many years ago but it was cheap. 

UPS Freight  

I have shipped two like this.

I had my BMW roll bar (welded) shipped from FL to PA via Greyhound. Very inexpensive. Took a couple weeks to get it though. Have to pick it up at the terminal.

In reply to Brotus7 :

You said rentals are about $80 thru my company.  Is that for a one-way rental?  Because, one ways can often be much more expensive than local, in-town, rentals.  Of course, I don't know what the company deal is.  

Thanks for the feedback.  I have some time, so I'll weigh the shipping options.  Time to learn about freight class for UPS freight :)

Re: John

My company has a sweetheart deal with Avis - one way SUV rental from Pittsburg to Hartford is $63 including tax, $.23/mi though.  Unfortunately they don't appear to have minivans or small pickups at the airport.  Round trip is cheaper with unlimited miles, but that's alot of driving.

Woah, UPS freight is on the order of $180?!  I'll talk to the seller and see if he's OK strapping the cage to a pallet.

Brotus7 said:

Woah, UPS freight is on the order of $180?!  I'll talk to the seller and see if he's OK strapping the cage to a pallet.

I just wrapped the ends of the tubes and feet with cardboard and packing tape.

I put a FSAE car in a 4'x3'x10' box and mailed it from WV to GA.  I used Fastenal.  I've received old Land Rover fenders sent via Greyhound.  Also received 911 engines via Fastenal, no damage.  Conway delivered a Land Rover chassis pretty cheap.  Those companies were very reasonably priced and without issue.  UPS, however, attempted to bill me (the receiver) for some bogus extra handling service for big-but-lightweight Porsche 906 windows after the shipper already paid them.  Never used FedEx or USPS for big things.

I've used freightquote.com several times. Drop off/pick up at local terminals. And I've also used Greyhound a couple times which is also drop off/pick up at terminals.

Don't know if it was mentioned but . . . Fastenal 

I know nothing about them but I heard shipnerd is a cheap way to ship things.  Have no clue about if or how they do large things like the cage

Biggest weirdest thing I have shipped was a TR7 exhaust header, unless you count the TR6 trans.  For the trans I made a plywood bell housing cover and bolted it to the opening. It stuck up high enough so I could cut a handle out.  On the rear I mounted a a piece of 4x4 to rear trans mount so it would sit level.  I had a piece or nylon rope secured to the rear trans mount.   The rope had a handle so the driver dock hands had a great place to pick it from.   Wrapped it in a plastic trash bag and covered that with a lot of bubble wrap and shipping tape.  Sent it via UPS with no problems.

Odd shaped stuff though might be worth it to send via Forward Air.  When I worked for the air freight company we would use Forward Air sometimes.