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Does anyone have any experience with transporters?

tankcj

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Looking to maybe order a GT out of state and would like it delivered to my house. There must be thousands of transporters out there and they all promise happy endings but I’ve heard horror stories. Anyone have a recommendation or things to watch out for?
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JAM486HP

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Plycar, it's not a broker carrier, they have their own fleet. Mine made an 800 mile trip, enclosed truck arrived in 2 days in perfect condition. Was able to GPS track the truck every step of the way and had direct contact number to the driver. Highly recommended https://plycargroup.com/enclosed-auto-transport

You only get one shot, why skimp and risk it...IMO
 
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tankcj

tankcj

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Plycar, it's not a broker carrier, they have their own fleet. Mine made an 800 mile trip, enclosed truck arrived in 2 days in perfect condition. Was able to GPS track the truck every step of the way and had direct contact number to the driver. Highly recommended https://plycargroup.com/enclosed-auto-transport

You only get one shot, why skimp and risk it...IMO
that’s exactly what I’m looking for!
 

BimmerDriver

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95% of car tranports* go through brokers. They will give you free no obligation quotes, but usually afterwards they'll tell you that they can't find anyone and you'll need to raise your offer. Who they get is a random choice from a shipping message board, regardless of what they may tell you.

Horror stories abound, however 98% of shipments go through with no problem.*

Where and when I can, I prefer to deal directly with the driver. Sometimes it's cheaper (no broker fees) but always you know exactly what's going on and who's got your car. Sometimes the dealer will know a good driver (like when I got my DH) other times you get a referral and once I saw a truck on the road and just wrote down (and called) the number written on his door.

Best of luck!

* - I made up those percentages.
 
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tankcj

tankcj

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95% of car tranports* go through brokers. They will give you free no obligation quotes, but usually afterwards they'll tell you that they can't find anyone and you'll need to raise your offer. Who they get is a random choice from a shipping message board, regardless of what they may tell you.

Horror stories abound, however 98% of shipments go through with no problem.*

Where and when I can, I prefer to deal directly with the driver. Sometimes it's cheaper (no broker fees) but always you know exactly what's going on and who's got your car. Sometimes the dealer will know a good driver (like when I got my DH) other times you get a referral and once I saw a truck on the road and just wrote down (and called) the number written on his door.

Best of luck!

* - I made up those percentages.
good info. Thanks!
 

robvas

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I've shipped a bunch and had a bunch shipped.

When you google 'car shipping', it's like @BimmerDriver said, you get a bunch of generic websites and 800 numbers that offer you quotes, they all seem to put the jobs up in the same areas and the same drivers pick them all up.

That said, you have a very different experience depending on what company and what driver picks it up.

Most of these guys are Russian or Eastern European or something? They do a great job but English isn't their best attribute. And your contact at the shipping company usually forgets about you as soon as you send over the $ for the deposit (you pay the driver when they drop the car off)

I've had cars "lost" for a day or two, drivers not show up, drivers not call back...you really have to try to answer the phone as soon as they call (and so does the other person who is shipping/receiving the car) to make things go as smoothly as possible.

I've also been called at 7:00am, without even knowing the car was picked up the night before.

"Hello? Are you for Mustang Cobra"

"uhhh yea. did you pick the car up?"

"I am outside. *click*"

Also, your best bet is to ship it in a covered hauler. Especially if the car is lowered, or nice, or going through bad weather.

Some of the trucks show up with race ramps etc, some of them just use random wood they found on the side of the road. I had this guy pick up a car and tore the splitter of my Cobra, they ended up having to pay out the guy that bought the car.

S650 Mustang Does anyone have any experience with transporters? IMG_7537
 

jawsr101

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buy a plane ticket and enjoy the ride home! I got mine from Kansas City MO and drove 1000 miles back to SC. So much fun
 

robvas

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buy a plane ticket and enjoy the ride home! I got mine from Kansas City MO and drove 1000 miles back to SC. So much fun
Only problem with this, is if you don't know the car. If it's a year or two old you're probably fine, but if it's modified, or a hackjob, who knows whats going to happen.
 

DeeDub SC

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I have shipped several cars cross-country using MoveAuto out of the SF area. Always did a great job with good communications and quality truckers. They are just a broker but seem to be very good at finding the right truckers to handle things for you. My contact is Frankie Chiu, [email protected] My experiences with him and this broker were all good.
 

jawsr101

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Make sure they load it in backwards.
 

Neggytive

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Unless you are buying from Lebanon Ford and getting the power adder installed by them, there should be enough cars close enough to you to go pick out what you want.

If pricing is an issue, join the Mustang Club of America for 35 bucks, wait 90 days and get an X code, that gives you a fixed price and a discounted DOC fee.

The cost of shipping will wipe out any savings you get elsewhere, and once the keys are handed to the driver and shipping damage is on you to get fixed.

But as others have said, Plycar, Reliable, and https://intercitylines.com/ seem to be the big ones moving high dollar cars with care from some high end shops and collectors.
 
 








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