Interstate vehicle transport recommendations?

Hey fellow BCF'ers,

As some of you know I purchased a new truck. Well due to the fact that we have two other vehicles (my 78B, & the better half’s SUV) that necessitates that I sell my 2000 Dodge Intrepid. I already have it listed for sale on line and with the local Autotrader publication. But at luck would have it we have a family (wife’s) member back in Pittsburgh PA that is in need of a car. It looks like a done deal but we are looking at transportation costs. The cheapest would probably be to drive it myself but I can’t afford taking that much time off. So that leaves paying someone to transport the car for us.

Right now I would prefer to pay to have it trailered, but wouldn’t mind paying someone to drive it from San Diego CA to Pittsburgh PA. Any recommendations or advice would be welcome.

Thanks in advance,
Bret

Expect to pay about a grand to have it shipped in an open trailer. Check out https://www.vivisimo.com and look up Auto transport. There are many companies, but look for one that has their own fleet of trucks. The ones that contract it out are usually not as reliable. There's a lot of other stuff to consider. I'd drive it for you, but I've got no way to get to Cali.

Hi.
I was going to have a Landcruiser shipped a few months ago, It was going to cost from $795.00 to 1,295.00 depending on how fast I needed it and if it was in a covered truck, After waiting for almost 1 month for it to be picked up, I decided to fly out and drive it home. Louisville, KY to Salt Lake City, UT. It only cost $200.00 more this way, That included airfare hotel and food-n-gas.
Good luck!

The quotes I’m getting are between $800 and $1000 for an open trailer. Some are saying it will take between 10 to 15 days for delivery. Some of the quotes are doorstep to doorstep. While others are terminal-to-terminal requiring that you go and get the vehicle yourself. I like the idea of having it delivered to the doorstep but we’d have to make sure someone is home during the window it is scheduled for delivery. Besides where the wife’s family is from I’m not sure one of those car carrier rigs could fit or even be allowed in the old streets. I think I like the terminal idea more as they allow up to 3 days of free storage as part of the deal.

As for the suggestion of driving it myself. Well I’d like to do that, but I just don’t have the vacation time on the books right now. Besides the drive from San Diego to Pittsburgh is almost 2500 miles. That’s about 38 hours “none stop”. Costs vary, but I figure with gas, food, least one or two overnight stops at a hotel the cost could ad up. Making it worst is the cost of a one-way return ticket back to San Diego.

All of that makes me I think I’d better off a $1,000 to just ship the car back.

What about hiring someone to drive it back. Does anybody do that?

We've shipped several cars from southern CA to the east coast via open transport over the past few years. Our experiences have been mixed, even with the same company. We've had on-schedule pickups and deliveries twice, one pickup a day early with an hour's warning, and one case where the car was simply never picked up. This was all with the same outfit.

In the case where they just never showed up, they said they didn't have a full truck and needed to wait for more contracts. After waiting three weeks, we canceled and went with another company. The company that never showed insisted that we pay them 50% anyway and said they'd sue to get it. (We never paid, they never sued.)

My son has had his cars shipped back and forth across country a few times with no scheduling or other problems.

In no case did we have any damage. I think your $800-$1000 figure is typical. In my cases, it was door-to-door. I'm not sure about his since Uncle Sam made his arrangements.

I guess the net is that you can't always go by past performance – individual carriers can be inconsistent. Be sure to read any contracts you sign and ask in advance how confident they are that they'll meet their dates.

I remember seeing ads in the LA Times that offered drivers but never liked the idea. If you know any college kids you'd trust who will be out on summer break that'd probably work as well. Make sure the car's insured properly, naturally.

Good luck.