jimrankin Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 I've had a lot of responses from the "Brokers" that seem to dominate the transport section of the web but they are just middlemen who admit they have fixed fee schedules and just put your request out to bid a bit before you need the transport and have no way to actually know just what your car is going onto other than "open" or "closed". I'd love to actually talk to the shipping company about our two 7's and the Elise we are shipping. The brokers say "minimum 5" ground clearance" for open shipping but they don't know why. With our short wheel base and the low sump point being close to the front wheels the 5" minimum might not be a problem. I can see a long lowered car being grounded on a "hump" on the trailers but can't see it as a big problem on a super short wheel base car. I know a lot of the members here have had their cars shipped to them and hope at least a few of you had direct contact with the shipper. Even if you got the shipper through a broker the actual transporters name might give me a lead to folow. I asked the brokers if we could contact the driver to discuss the height issues and thats when I found out they don't know who it will be till close to the ship date and even then what they have for a trailer. I've been told the different open trailers can carry from 6 all the way to 13 cars and I'm sure thats part of the 5" mandate for snaking through the maze of hydralics and tilted shipping angles on the big ones. Thanks for any help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmustang Posted November 25, 2015 Share Posted November 25, 2015 I recommend the following (not in any order) http://www.horselesscarriage.com/ http://www.passporttransport.com/ http://www.reliablecarriers.com/ http://www.intercitylines.com/ All have their own trucks, all have their own in house driver(s), all have enough insurance to cover whatever you arehaving them transport. You want to go cheaper, http://www.dasautoshippers.com Open and enclosed, terminal to terminal, or door to door, and everything in between. Bill S. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
centerfireman Posted November 25, 2015 Share Posted November 25, 2015 I would HIGHLY recommend Intercity. I have used them twice (a Lotus from PA to CA and a Ferrari from IL to CA). Very professional; stayed in close touch with me about the car's location and were very nice to work with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FE07 Posted November 25, 2015 Share Posted November 25, 2015 I used horseless carriage to transport a race car from CA to MD. Did a great job. They'll give you the drivers cell # so you can see how he's progressing. They're BIG transporters so just be prepared that you may need to meet him somewhere to load and unload. They ran over a large portion of my neighbors front yard to get the truck into my neigborhood! Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craig chima Posted November 25, 2015 Share Posted November 25, 2015 Gary Strait of Strait Roads. You can Google him for fone contact. He has transported several 7's and Caterhams and Élans for me, a few of which were race cars with less than 2.5" ground clearance and has always been able to handle the job no problem. Very conscientious. Just picked up a car for me a couple of weeks ago as a matter of fact. He is a one man band so when you call you will get him (i.e. no brokers) and you may have to wait a couple of weeks, but he can transport 5-6 cars in his rig and he crisss-crosses the country on a weekly basis (150k+ miles per year). Rates are as reasonable as anyone else I have found. Have had many customers use brokers to have cars transported to me and most of the time the drivers who show up have no clue as to how to properly tie down small/light cars. Just saying.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Croc Posted November 25, 2015 Share Posted November 25, 2015 I have never had a completely positive experience with any transport company. Straight Roads - Gary was a great guy and delivery was done well but he only has 1 truck (and another two affiliate trucks) from memory so you have to wait until he has a truck near you to pick up your car. That wait is not scheduled - so I had to be patient until Gary worked his way near to my pick up point (Caterham USA Denver) - he lives around Denver CO area from memory. 6 week delay over promised pick up date for waiting there. To be fair Gary was very upfront about this and warned me that at the time his truck position was not ideal for my car and I would need to wait until a truck was positioned right - somewhat of an ad hoc exercise. He is the best I have used but compared to the following he won a one legged race with 2 legs. I would recommend Gary again but be aware that he is a small operator and you need his truck to align with your schedule. Reliable - Ship from FL (from the Reliable Depot too!) to NY - 8 week delay over promised pick up date. They had trucks but were not prioritizing my order because they needed all their trucks for the Mecum auction occurring (as explained to me by phone). Lots of promises. They only did a pick up when I asked for the deposit money back to find another carrier. Then the driver dropped it off in the wrong town in the wrong state and 1 hour away from me. He had a fat finger moment with the zip code and the GPS. Of course the driver blamed me until I got the office involved and he realized his error. Intercity - Ship from LA Port to Denver. 4 week pick up delay over promised date. Car delivered missing one wheel and missing front spoiler. Apparently they did not notice them sitting on the car on pick up. Spoiler had been taken off by driver to get car on the truck then he forgot. Wheel was on roof at time of pick up but taken off by the truck driver to get the car on the truck. I got them later but it cost me to get someone else to deliver - I had to pay extra since Intercity did not want to know. Horseless - At least they promised a 3-4 week delay on pick up and that was accurate but still another lot of yodels. Deliver my car to the drop off point and its not my car. Driver had confused my car with another and delivered mine at the stop before....sigh. The vaunted mobile phone contact feature never worked - driver promised a time and date 24 hours before and turned up 12 hours early when I was not there. Cue scrambling from me to meet the driver. I find out when I talk with him that he had just had extra coffee and skipped his rest break to make up time. Time he then lost from incompetence from delivering the wrong car.... Office did not want to know my complaint - told me I needed to sort it out with the driver. Horseless is usually a more expensive quote but the quality is no better. I tried the broker solution. Specified enclosed truck. Verified by email. Non-enclosed truck turns up. Rejected the truck. Ended up getting money back via credit card dispute process. I learned that it is always better to go with the principal operator to be sure of what you are getting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian7 Posted November 25, 2015 Share Posted November 25, 2015 I've used Passport Transport three times now, two street cars and a formula car. All painless, quick, perfect transactions, but all over $1000 each. Have also twice gone the "mystery broker" route for street cars.... one painless, the other a nightmare. Both under $450 .... ya pays yer money and takes yer chances ..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimrankin Posted November 25, 2015 Author Share Posted November 25, 2015 Wow! Thanks for all the responses so far. Croc, your post has the s--t worried out of me! The one thing we can't afford is to fly into Austin only to find that our cars are "lost in transit" somewhere and we are sitting in the stands instead of driving COTA. I'll start working the leads I have so far and hopefully some additional information or advice will come chiming in. Once again this Forum proves to be the best source of first hand information on the web. Love all you members, not just for todays information but for all the entertainment, banter and fun links that get posted. Happy Thanksgiving from "the Three" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmustang Posted November 25, 2015 Share Posted November 25, 2015 Wow! Thanks for all the responses so far. Croc, your post has the s--t worried out of me! The one thing we can't afford is to fly into Austin only to find that our cars are "lost in transit" somewhere and we are sitting in the stands instead of driving COTA. I'll start working the leads I have so far and hopefully some additional information or advice will come chiming in. Once again this Forum proves to be the best source of first hand information on the web. Love all you members, not just for todays information but for all the entertainment, banter and fun links that get posted. Happy Thanksgiving from "the Three" Maybe it's just Croc, but I've easily shipped 100+ of my own cars with the ones I've listed and only had a problem once, and that was a DAS open transport (yeah, I was being cheap) that hit a low flying branch and but a scrape in the roof of a 1985 Mustang GT. All others were done crisp, clean, and on time (or within a few days due to unforseen winter weather enroute) Bill S. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimrankin Posted November 25, 2015 Author Share Posted November 25, 2015 Hi MrMustang/Bill, Unfortunately three of the five you listed only do closed transport. I'm still waiting to hear back from Reliable on their open and the "cheap" DAS was $900 per car each way on an open carrier with a single one stop pick up and delivery point at each end. Seems they don't care if they have to drive all over and make three stops for three different cars as was the same for one as three. I'll keep looking but I had closed transport through a broker for that figure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmustang Posted November 26, 2015 Share Posted November 26, 2015 Hi MrMustang/Bill, Unfortunately three of the five you listed only do closed transport. I'm still waiting to hear back from Reliable on their open and the "cheap" DAS was $900 per car each way on an open carrier with a single one stop pick up and delivery point at each end. Seems they don't care if they have to drive all over and make three stops for three different cars as was the same for one as three. I'll keep looking but I had closed transport through a broker for that figure. I rarely use an open transport, for cars that warrant that thought, I've flown in and driven them home, several V8 Miatas, a few Mustang convertibles, and at least one Birkin were done in that fashion. Bill S. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimrankin Posted November 26, 2015 Author Share Posted November 26, 2015 Hi Bill, Since were not a bunch of "RichRickyRacerboys" with unlimited budgets and were not moving the cars for resale cost is a factor and open transport seems like the best option so far. Non of our cars is in the least "Exotic" or probably worth more than $30K so multi million dollar coverage or triple wrapped closed transport isn't a must. I got a quote yesterday from Reliable and even though I spoke directly to the quoting agent about using their open transporters and the need to arrive at the specified date and pick up as close as possible to the return date the quote came in at $15,100 round trip ENCLOSED with up to a two week window at each end. If I had any hair left I'd be pulling it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmustang Posted November 26, 2015 Share Posted November 26, 2015 (edited) How many cars are you moving (round trip? ), and what are you moving for that matter? Then again, what is the pick up and destination(s)? Took me two months to get my ERA 289FIA Cobra replica picked up in Port Townsend, Washington state (look at it on a map and you'll see why) and transported to PA. $1,500 was the cheapest I found (Intercity) door to door enclosed. That was 5 years ago when gas prices were at their peak. Bill S. Edited November 26, 2015 by mrmustang Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimrankin Posted November 28, 2015 Author Share Posted November 28, 2015 were moving two 7's and an Elise from SF Bay Area to COTA near Austin TX and then right back after three days on track. Since all three cars are short and in total weigh abouy half what my Silverado 2500HD (or a full sized SUV) does. Three small cars at one pick up and drop off point should be a truckers dream but all were getting is about the same as what a single full sized car pick up and transport goes for, Still have some time till February but wish I could get someone I trust and isnt costing $15K to sign us up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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