I need to ship a vehicle from Texas to Oregon. I've received around 15 quotes. So how do I make the right decision and choose the right shipper? Need your insight, expertise and recommendations.

I spoke with my insurance agent and used who they recommended. I also added some insurance during the transportation. Went from Washington to Massachusetts for around $1k.

I'm currently having my car shipped from Anchorage to Seattle to Houston. ANC to Seattle was $1400, Seattle to Houston is $1300~. I used a broker to set it up, my email is in my profile if you'd like his info.

Shipped three cars from CA to NC in 2007 via "Dependable Auto Shippers" and they did great - delivered on time (a day early, actually) and the cars were just as they were when they picked them up.

Back then, we used word of mouth to figure out who did good service, and they got good reviews. They were not the lowest bidder but we wanted it done right.

This is from long enough ago that I would take it with a significant grain of salt. But, they did well by us.

Another option we took was, for one of the three cars, to pay a bit extra for having it not be on top. The topmost car is more exposed to road damage, dust, etc.

This was an era where trucks/drivers were not scarce, of course. These days, I'd want something in writing about schedule guarantees, with financial penalties, increasing with amount of delay. If something were to go sideways (truck breakdown/driver shortage midway, e.g.), you would want their management as interested as you would be, in getting things back on track. As opposed to saying "2021 Covid" and throwing their hands in the air.

Maybe I should start a side hustle where I drive cars for members here.

Read the fine print when dealing with these companies. Some of them are brokers and have hidden fees when you deal with them. I just went through this with one. I got my so called deposit back after I sent the "gentleman" a copy of the text he sent me, initially stating it was a deposit and not a "broker fee".

I had a 1947 Chevrolet Fleetmaster transported from Kings Mountain NC to Richmond VA. The company lost the car for more than a few weeks. They actually didn’t know where it was, in reality, only that it was in a warehouse. I was not impressed. Ultimately the car was delivered.

Ask the transporter about their process. Do they pick up, warehouse, group cars into similar destination routes, off load, reload, etc.? Your car may not be a classic, but you deserve to know. Choose the business with the process and quality you desire.

quote:

Originally posted by Edmond:
Maybe I should start a side hustle where I drive cars for members here.

A guy named Kowalski did a video tutorial about car delivery. Do a search for Vanishing Point.

I've shipped three cars in the last five years - two brand new Tahoes and one used 911. No real issues with any of them except for one dispatcher that committed to having a car hauled down my gravel dead end road in the snow when he shouldn't have...

Between the various brokers and transporters I don't know if you can really guarantee success with money. I got a big speech from one shipper about how they were the way to go because they use their own trucks and drivers and so forth. The truck that showed up was not theirs. And it was fine. Trouble is, you'll likely have no say in who ends up physically moving your vehicle.

I believe that a company called Direct Auto Carrier did one of mine on the brokerage sign and they were decent. Good communication.