Shipping a car, anyone with prior good or bad experience doing this?

[Belle]

Moving to Texas and was wondering if anyone has shipped a car before? Good or bad experience stories are most welcome.

Thanks!

[laura]

We shipped our car, but it went along with our possessions with United Van Lines, so I don't have experience shipping *only* a car. It was a fairly straight forward process, though. Before they take the car, they have you walk around kind of like at a rental car place and note any scratches/dents/etc on a car shaped diagram and then the shipping representative and you both sign off confirming no damages, just in case it is damaged in transit (ours was not). At least that was my experience. We have a Honda Civic and it cost us about $1000 for 3000 miles (from Boston to San Francisco), but I don't know if that price was in any way related to the rest of our stuff or not - ie. they were already making the trip w/ the rest of our belongings anyway, so maybe it was cheaper (?).

[EJM]

I had a car shipped from my sister in Colorado to my parents house in Ohio. It was 7-8 years ago, and I no longer remember how much it cost -- it was in the $500-$1000 range. When I called to confirm I was given a range of dates because they needed to fill up the truck with more cars, then a few days before I was given a specific day and time. They went to my sister's house and loaded the car, noting the mileage and any dents/scratches on the car. I believe my mom got 48 hours notice of the delivery time at her house, which took maybe a week from the pick-up. The whole process worked out really smoothly.

[bethnjim]

My brother did this. He moved to AZ from the East coast. It was a terrible experience. They ended up ruining his clutch by driving his five speed brand new Camaro with the emergency break on to load it and unload it on the truck. They then lied and said we gave it to them like that, which was not indicated on any paperwork. The paperwork said that car was in "brand new shape". It was an ordeal needless to say. :rolleyes:

[mpc863]

I just picked up my car after having it shipped from Chicago to LA. I was relocated by my company and they used Dependable Auto Shippers. My car is fine. It was shipped in an open car carrier.

[justHB]

When we moved from PA to CA we shipped my Beetle. When we got it back two weeks later, there was a twisted part of the undercarriage where apparently they had hooked a chain ... and multiple dings and dents that weren't there beforehand. We didn't use a large, major shipper ... rather, we used a car transport company my FIL (who is in the car business) frequently uses.

[rileyandfredsmom]

I haven't shipped a car before but one of my friends did and it was a nightmare! Long story short, the car took 3 weeks to get to them and they received a phone call at 3 in the morning to come pick up the car. When they got to the pick-up location the driver told them they had to pay $500 to get the car, when they showed him the receipt for the payment, he said he didn't care and it would cost them $500 to get the car. They had packed some family heirlooms in the car so they couldn't not pay the guy...it was really ugly. The next day they called the shipping co. and were told "if you paid the guy, there is nothing that we can do to help you.".

Moral of the story, don't pack anything in the car that is of value to you and don't pay someone extra when you have a receipt from the shipping co.

[DallasLady]

Try doing a search, there was a thread about this before and I posted my experience in it. Long story short it was hell. I don't think I would ever ship a car again.

[KristyK]

Wow, just saw this. I had read the old thread and didn't get much good feedback, yet I had no choice. I will say, don't use American Auto Transport! They are a broker, and don't want anything except your downpayment.

They were horrible to deal with, after I'd given them my downpayment and set up a shipping date. They don't answer their phone, they don't take any responsibility, they won't let you talk to a supervisor, either that or the supervisor is just as crooked as the phone operators are.

They didn't show up to pick up my car on the scheduled date. I wanted it gone, and at my new house when I got there so I wouldn't have to rent a car to get around. So I called them. They called the truck (supposedly), which was "going to be there tomorrow morning, I guarantee it". Yeah, so tomorrow morning, they are a no show, I call again, they call the truck guy. He tells them (supposedly) that he'll be there in the afternoon. I'm on the west coast, AAT is on the east coast (I found out later), so 2pm my time is 5pm their time and they are closed. No show again day 2.

Day 3, I call first thing in the morning, they are (supposedly) pissed at the trucker who is lying to them, and they are stupid enough to give me the truck drivers cell phone number! I call the truck driver directly who tells me that they are lying to me. His truck is broken down and he's got no clue when it will be fixed, but hopefully he'll have the parts by the next day and be getting out here to pick up my car. THis is monday afternoon. Tuesday, no car people again. I call AAT, they tell me that they just talked to the guy, he's on his way as we speak. I call them on their lie, and tell them what the truck driver told me, they (supposedly) had just talked to the driver, and he got his parts, the truck will be leaving in the afternoon and at my house no later than Wed, morning. BTW, my flight was leaving on Thursday morning.

I call the truck driver again on his cell, he tells me that he has no idea when his truck will be fixed and that he is NOT on his way to my house to pick up my car. At this point I call back to AAT. They accuse me of lying, of cussing at them, of yelling at their staff. I was like flabbergasted! First of all, I never said anything stronger than "hell", which is really quite mellow for me. I could have cussed them a lot more than that. At this point I tell them to cancel the pick-up, they will be reported to the BBB, and I'd let everyone online that I know to never call them again. That they are lying crooks, and if they ever contacted me again, they'd be hearing from my attorney. They then were trying to smooth things over, saying things like "we've got a new truck", "we'll have your car picked up by end of business today", etc.

It was the most hellacious thing with moving I've ever had to deal with, and I've moved several times! What I did then was to look online, and see all the negatives about their company. My DH had originally hooked me up with them, I should have done it myself to begin with. I then found another transport company, out of CA. They were a bit more expensive, but they had a truck out there the next day, and he picked up my car with no questions asked. When I got it, the only thing I found wrong was a ding on the drivers side door edge, that was obvious from them opening up the car door when it was on the carrier, and it was filthy. Those 2 minor things made the extra cost worthwhile. I had no idea it would be the hell it was, but this company made it much smoother. There is no telling what would have happened to my car if the original shipper had eventually picked it up. I still might not have it today, which is 2 months later!

Wow, this is long. Would I do it all again. Not in a million years. I'd drive, just like I'd planned to do in the first place.