My son is in a hospital in Texas and we will have to fly him back to California. I need to have his car transported back. Open transport is fine, it’s not a new or fancy car.
I was looking at the AAA Transporters Service. They say they give you multiple quotes from different transporters who are bonded, licensed and insured.

Anyone here use that or another transport service they would recommend?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: sjtill,

Don't have a car transport connection, did transport a motorcycle from SFO to CVG years ago, used a local shipper in the city.

however I'd like to wish your son and family good luck with his health issues....

If you contact one of those services, I suggest you use a burner phone to take the calls. I got calls for months after I attempted to get a quote on a car transport. What I found was that even the most highly rated transport companies had lots of horrible reviews. I could not find a single company that had a track record I would trust.

If you ask around dealerships they can probably give you some names of individuals that do private transport. Perhaps $300 per day plus expenses, including a flight back (or there). Maybe more expensive than a transport, but probably safer and more reliable.

Another alternative if the vehicle is nothing special is just sell it in Texas, maybe a quick CarMax deal. If you could buy some similar with less of a loss than the cost of transport.

honestlou (sounds like a used car dealer, right?)--selling it might be an option, I'll have to talk to my son about it; it's his car, and he's awake and oriented enough now that together we can probably make a decision.

quote:

Originally posted by honestlou:
If you contact one of those services, I suggest you use a burner phone to take the calls. I got calls for months after I attempted to get a quote on a car transport. What I found was that even the most highly rated transport companies had lots of horrible reviews. I could not find a single company that had a track record I would trust.

If you decide to go the hauler route, rather than buying a burner phone, you can set up a free Google voice account and use the number as a filter, forwarded to your regular phone.
As soon as your business is concluded, turn off the forwarding, and you won't be bothered by spam calls at all.

Where is the car in Texas (it’s a huge state) and where does it need to go to in California (another huge state)?

I have a contact who transported my cars to/from El Paso-Los Angeles years ago.

Or maybe a forum member can drive it out for compensation?

try Intercity or Applewood

I used Intercity to ship my car from NC to NH and Applewood to ship from NH to AZ

if you get stuck, give me a call - I might be able to find a driver (one of my engineers) that needs to head west on a project

I just shipped a 2006 Chevy Silverado crew cab from Virginia to California using Mercury Auto Transport who brokered with Guyette Auto Transport to get the truck there. Cost me $1400 but it got there in 6 days and the guy who owns Guyette did a really nice job of getting it there damage free.

This was the broker
https://mercuryautotransport.com/

This is who actually transported the vehicle
https://www.yelp.com/biz/guyet...ransport-san-jacinto

I had to transport a car from CT to Minn for my daughter. Lowest price is not always the best. It seems the Transport companies go thru a broker, who fills the transport based on location pickup. Time frame is +/- 1 week on delivery time. Pick up is in a large shopping parking lot close to the Interstate. Drop off is the same. You can GPS track the shipment as it goes cross country. You do get updates as the transport goes cross country.
You can pack the car with clothing, etc so that's one benefit.

Every one of the shippers told me that no personal items were allowed in the vehicles. It was on the contract I signed. The BMW on the truck in my picture had a bunch of stuff in it and I asked the driver if that was allowed and he said no, it was his girlfriend's car and he was making an exception for her.

Also, if you go to a bidding website, it is brokers that are bidding on your shipment, not the actual shippers. The brokers will give you a bid. And if you accept the bid and go with that broker, they will then look for a shipper to do it for that price. The first broker bid $950, but couldn't find a shipper to do it under $1600. I then cancelled with them and went with the next broker, Mercury, who bid $1100. The only shipper they could find in a reasonable amount of time was Guyette's who charged $1400. So there is a bit of a bait and switch going on in this industry.


Sometimes you have the option to pick a "ship it now" price with a broker with a guaranteed ship date. But these prices are way higher than what the actual shipper charges, and the broker keeps the difference. I tried that, too and got a bid of $2,250. $650 higher than what the actual shipper actually charged. I decided to stick with Mercury and they found a broker in a short amount of time (a couple of weeks).

Micro, that is a heck of a deal. When I looked at this that is a fraction of the cost I was told and the haul was quite a bit shorter. That shocks me.

Had good luck with Sherpa from NC to CA including a car full of stuff. I think it was $1,500 total.

quote:

Another alternative if the vehicle is nothing special is just sell it in Texas, maybe a quick CarMax deal

Not a bad option, if you get the right price, Let CarMax give you the cash on the spot offer, figure it's replacement cost, less transport cost and if you come out ahead,

Bigger issue will be replacement, used car market is hot right now, dealers are fighting for inventory (decent inventory) they can sell, Auction houses are opening back up, most have been digital for a long time. Many dealers are selling cars they normally would wholesale.

Had some experience shipping cars over the years. My take is that most of them are low life crooks, with a small % marginally honest.

NEVER had any transaction go smoothly. Always issues , damage or DELAYS.

I'd sell it there and save probably $1K. As well as the aggravation.

Can’t sell it. We don’t know where pink slip is.
Also we have to fly back in a few days, Can’t wait.
And son can’t drive.

Is it roadworthy? Maybe we can find a retired friend who’d enjoy a road trip with a little side $$$.

Alternatively, getting a replacement title is not that big of a deal in Texas. Talk to any county tax office-it doesn’t have to be the county the car is licensed in. Some smaller towns are easier to get help in.

Edited to add link:

https://www.txdmv.gov/motorist...a-copy-of-your-title

Might want to look into Driveaway services. Where an individual that is licensed and insured drives the car to your desired location. A quick search says it also lower cost, but I have no experience with using such a service.

Op, where in TX is the car? And what’s the destination?

Thanks, everybody.
The car is a 2010 Nissan Altima, driveable, registered currently in California.
It’s in a hotel parking lot in Boerne, outside San Antonio; we are in San Antonio.
Destination is San Diego.

My plan is to call the AAA brokerage tomorrow; they deal with licensed, bonded, insured transport companies, will get multiple quotes. [EDITED: AAA Auto Transport is not affiliated with American Automobile Association. Just a broker.]

Plan to go out to Boerne and clean car of his personal effects, today or tomorrow. Box them, up, have son go through them and keep only valuable stuff; UPS that home and toss the rest.

Timing will be hard as we need to leave very soon to get his medical care in San Diego in place, can’t wait a week to get transport set up.

Son cannot drive at present and for foreseeable future due to head injury. I can’t leave him at all.

Yeah, there’s a “Dear Diary” story in there to be told when he’s better.

If that doesn't work out with the transport companies, email me. I have a single car hauler, would be able to get it to AZ one weekend, then over over to San Diego in a couple weeks when time off allows. I wont take any money for doing it though, can it stay at the hotel for a few days?