I am buying a car that is in NY state and I'm 1100 miles away. I would rather use a shipper or hotshot company than drive up, rent a tow dolly and pull it back. I called a broker and got a quote. Is that it or do y'all know a good carrier, anybody to stay away from, etc? Thanks
Does it operate? I'll drive it to you for expenses.
I recently looked and flights from Portsmouth, NH (20 mins from me) to TN were like $60. No clue about NH to NY.
i love doing E36 M3 like that. My best is a Fury III from tayler, or tyler, TX to Pittsburgh, PA. Broke down in Hurricane Mills, TN.
Experiences brother. It's where it's at.
In reply to preach (fs) :
Yep. It runs but it's a Triumph Spitfire and I wouldn't wish that I40/81 corridor in a Spitfire on my worst enemy. 
How soon?
chandler said:How soon?
I think the sale will be done by the first of next week. No real rush on the transport. Syosset NY to Hickory Valley TN
I recently used PlyCar to get my VW corrado from Boston to denver. Had a good experience, I'd use them again
In reply to docwyte :
Thanks! I'll look into them.
I rented a car and drove from Wilkes-Barre, PA to Muleshoe, TX to pick up an Austin Healey kit car. I bought the car back in 1990 or so from an ad in Hemmings Motor News and had the owner send me a few Polaroid photos of the car. I sent him a check(remember this is the early 90's before the interwebs), made arrangements to meet and began the roadtrip. I packed a toolbox, brought a milk crate full of wiring, a fuel pump a remote fuse block, some fuses, Rain-X, duct tape and some fluids. My father and I had an EPIC trip that we still talk about to this day. We picked up the car, headed up to Route 66, stayed in a crappy themed hotel, had the windshield wipers break in the middle of a torrential rain storm, got soaked inside when it leaked from may seals around the top, but who cares, it was an adventure.
This is GRM, go for it and document the whole thing. It's an older car and easily repaired with basic tools. You also have a resource of the membership who can assist along the way with places to work on it, a tow if necessary and a forum to follow you along the way.
My vote is GO FOR IT!
I've had good experience with Intercity Lines, which does come at a price. Not so good experience with brokers via UShip, so I personally wouldn't consider that option for anything remotely time critical. And it wasn't only me - the lady that bought my S2k had the same experience that the pickup of the car was delayed by I think close to a week and that was also a broker via UShip.
In reply to lotusseven7 (Forum Supporter) :
Cool story! It's tempting.
In reply to BoxheadTim :
Noted and thanks!
Another warning about UShip. Tim and I ended up driving a borrowed Suburban from Nevada to Cali and back home to Florida earlier this summer when the shipper we'd arranged with weeks earlier to ship our own truck out there simply ghosted us days before we were to meet it and pick up a Morgan and a trailer. Also, the amount of spam phone calls generated by putting the job out to bid was literally overwhelming.
Margie
Thanks Marjorie. I called a broker that a friend recently used and learned a bit more. The broker will post a load and drivers can take it or leave it. He gave me a quote and said that if it was much lower than that- no one would pick it up. He has standards that all of his haulers must meet. I did click on Montway.com com to see how this works the other day and used my "for junk" email address and it was flooded with bids from all over.
NermalSnert (Forum Supporter) said:Thanks Marjorie. I called a broker that a friend recently used and learned a bit more. The broker will post a load and drivers can take it or leave it. He gave me a quote and said that if it was much lower than that- no one would pick it up.
This is the problem with the whole car transport industry for anything other than the big enclosed guys (Reliable, Intercity, etc). Even if you have a broker you like to work with, it's going to be a random dude doing the move and your lifeline to information and progress updates. Some are good and some awful.
you can also have it shipped to the companies terminal near you,
then you do not have to sit around waiting.
I did this a couple times with Plycar
I've had only good experiences with Uship but that was also years ago like 2016-2018. The original intention of Uship was to have the website be the broker and the independent drivers could pick trip off the board. These are the types of driver's I used in the past.
What Uship has turned into is no longer a place visited by just independent drivers but now there are brokers watching the board every day. Within minutes of posting a trip/job the bg brokers will be contacting you with a with a price...a really high price!
As an example, the brokers will tell you $2,500 for a long haul. If you say yes, they will then try to find a driver to do it for $1,000. The rest is brokers profit. As the date gets closer the broker might offer a driver $1,300. etc.
Two pieces of major advice for Uship:
1. Do not accept an offer for the first 3 days your job is out there. A typical independent driver is driving 12 hours per day and then searching for new loads after that. The only people seeing the job before that are desk jockeys (brokers)
2. There is a chat function to Uship but be aware that all suitors can see the full chat. So, f you tell one guy that if he comes down to $1,200 you'd accept the job then expect no one to come in any cheaper than $1200. But, use this chat to your advantage. Be quick to reply asking the suitor if he is a broker. Flat out ask them! Tell him (and all others) that you are looking to speak with Independent Owner Operators and bypass the brokers. Also use this chat to just clearly spell out your target price. That is as simple as a reply like, "thank you for your offer of $2,500 but I am more interested in making contact with an Independent Owner Operator and I have a target price of $1,000"
glueguy (Forum Supporter) said:NermalSnert (Forum Supporter) said:Thanks Marjorie. I called a broker that a friend recently used and learned a bit more. The broker will post a load and drivers can take it or leave it. He gave me a quote and said that if it was much lower than that- no one would pick it up.
This is the problem with the whole car transport industry for anything other than the big enclosed guys (Reliable, Intercity, etc). Even if you have a broker you like to work with, it's going to be a random dude doing the move and your lifeline to information and progress updates. Some are good and some awful.
I like the sound of the broker that I called today- Just one guy with a phone. I feel like I can call him and talk if there is a problem. The drivers that haul for him must do a pre-load check list with photos, have so much insurance, etc. I asked him to put the haul up for less than he recommended to see if I get any takers.
In reply to NermalSnert (Forum Supporter) :
The broker you called is just doing what any other broker is doing and putting the job out on central dispatch. I've used sgt auto transport twice now shipping cars from FL to VA and both times it was a week from putting the bid out to having the car at my door.
In reply to iammclovin804 :
Right. I see that now. So unless I use a high end shipper, which I'm not, it's pretty much luck of the draw. At least I'll be able to communicate with the broker.
In this old thread you can see my actual screen shots of my Uship experience complete with all the chat.
My offers went from a nearly immediate offer of $751 to $380.
I ultimately cheated and "bypassed Uship" for just $330.
This move was 440 miles. The earliest offer was $1.70 per mile. The $380 would have been $0.86. Direct for $330 was $0.75
If you read the last chat, I actually got a late offer for just $300 ( $0.68 per mile) if I could send the car the same day, which I could have. But, I already had committed to $330.
NermalSnert (Forum Supporter) said:In reply to iammclovin804 :
Right. I see that now. So unless I use a high end shipper, which I'm not, it's pretty much luck of the draw. At least I'll be able to communicate with the broker.
I've done this six time I think. Once the load is assigned, the broker is out. He's on to new loads and has no lasting relationship or sway with the delivery driver. Maybe your broker is different and has specific guys that he uses. If you find that the broker continues to be useful please post his name and I'll definitely use him next time. I bring this up to help you manage your expectations.
Pictures and a detailed form to show pre-existing damage are pretty common. The insurance minimums are to make sure the driver is treating this like a legit business and not a total low-ball law skirter. My brokers did that, too. The broker is trying to make sure he is out of the deal once the load is assigned. If he puts the load with a sketch who gets his rig DOT-impounded with your car on it, you're coming back to yell at the broker. He's making sure this doesn't happen and he can just say "here's the dude's insurance info" if something goes bad.
Another vote for fly and drive it back. The Rampage trip I did ended with a tow but we still talk about how much fun it was.
And mine was Kentucky to North Idaho, not a small drive
I've dealt with Uship a few times but it was some years back. I always made sure I was dealing with the owner/operator directly, not a broker.
Otherwise it's been the big boys, Intercity, Reliable and Plycar, all of which were outstanding.
docwyte said:I've dealt with Uship a few times but it was some years back. I always made sure I was dealing with the owner/operator directly, not a broker.
Otherwise it's been the big boys, Intercity, Reliable and Plycar, all of which were outstanding.
How were you able to deal with the owner/operator directly? I'll be able to be in touch with the actual driver after the deal is made.
In reply to NermalSnert (Forum Supporter) :
Like John says, I get in a chat with the person and flat out ask them if they're a broker. If they are, I tell them I only want to deal with owner/operators. I look at their business profile, it's usually pretty easy to see the owners, as they only have 1-2 trucks...
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