Shipping suggestions

[PhatBoyG]

We had our Leaf shipped using Plaza trucking. The route is really more important than the company use choose as they are almost all brokers for a network of trucks that handle certain routes. If you can swing a good deal with the broker (average fee is $200, we paid less) and can get a decent quote of the price (we paid $550 for the ride from Tempe, AZ to Tulsa, OK) that's about what you can expect. It was BullDog trucking that finally picked up and delivered our car (in record time, we contracted the ride on Monday, was picked up Tuesday and arrived on Friday). It really just depends upon the route and driver timing so YMMV.

This was for uncovered (seriously, it's a car and it likely came to Nissan uncovered -- yet wrapped) transport. The driver has never driven an EV (or a Leaf) before but the dealer gave him a quick introduction and all arrived fine. Uncovered transport is more than fine, I mean, it's not a Ferrari or a ZO6 vette, but everyone has their ideals on car safety I suppose.

The car arrived in fine shape, there was some dirt/grease on the driver inside door but it came off with a quick wipe of the interior (the white glove treatment doesn't matter when you wear the gloves while operating the lifts). Your experience may vary, of course, depending on the driver.

Since driving the car was not an option, and renting a truck/trailer to make the 2000 mile round trip journey is just not feasible nor cost effective, it's really the best way to ship a car (ours was an orphan) cross country. There is a site when you can post your route and information and get calls from companies that can do, I think we heard back from 10+ companies in about an hour, but I can't remember the name of it. I can get it from my wife later.

PS: make sure dealer fully charges your Leaf before it gets on the truck. The driver will likely not know how to charge it and will need to move your car as other vehicles are add/removed from the truck during transport.

[kevintari]

I've always had good luck with Red Carpet Auto Transport. Ask for Cheryl, tell her "Kevin with the '72 Corvette" sent you (I have to balance out driving the Leaf somehow...)

[LakeLeaf]

And I am assuming it is ok to use an open carrier as long as I check the car thoroughly for damage once it arrives.

Thanks for any help or suggestions
RK

I shipped a couple of cars across country via open carrier. When they arrived, one was fine but the other had some damage - it looked like battery acid from the car above it had dropped onto the hood. Big spot of corrosion and missing paint. Carrier didn't care and would only compensate by giving me $100 back. It wasn't worth the hassle to pursue as they were based on the other coast.

Have you checked out any moving companies (e.g. Allied, North American, etc?) Since it's all electric there should be no problem putting it inside one of their moving trucks - which sometime have space in them when someone doesn't have a full truck load of stuff to move.

[Rktennis]

Thank you everyone.

I found Uship.com which lists my move and companies can bid on it.

Enclosed carriers are 500-600 dollars more than open carriers. I'm still on the fence, but knowing my luck, I probably should use enclosed!

I guess this is a broker based business now...I'd rather just get in touch with the driver and deal directly with him. Would probably save money, too. I'm assuming the drivers carry insurance for damage/theft. But I wonder if you have more recourse against the broker since they want to keep their satisfaction ratings up.

I've been checking the bids on Uship.com. Then I check their Uship.com ratings, match them to transportreviews.com, and then finally to the bbb.org. Hopefully I won't get ripped off.

Thanks for the tip about having it fully charged. I didn't think of all the driving the driver may have to do during loading/unloading.

[cwerdna]

I guess this is a broker based business now...I'd rather just get in touch with the driver and deal directly with him.

I personally steered clear of brokers when looking for quotes. IIRC, the general advice for people on sports car forums is to avoid them.

[Rktennis]

The problem with cutting out the brokers is that I don't know anywhere to find drivers directly. A google search is loaded with brokers first who claim to have their own trucks, but end up contracting the shipping out to 3rd parties.

[jcobb]

but wanted to know if anyone had any recommendations that they have used or heard of. I went on transportreviews.com to check the 5 star companies. But I also saw that many companies give "$50 rebates" for providing online reviews. I also checked BBB, but even those companies with an A+ rating had complaints posted. I guess I'll shoot for the middle quote with a 5 star and A+ BBB rating if I can't get any referrals...

And I am assuming it is ok to use an open carrier as long as I check the car thoroughly for damage once it arrives.

Thanks for any help or suggestions
RK

We used Dependable Auto Shippers http://www.dasautoshippers.com/car-shipping.html when moving from New York to Washington State. The process was very easy and no damage occurred during shipping, I would recommend their services. They did have valuation coverage which is sufficient for a used car as it covers the bluebook value. For a new car you would want to beef up the coverage to protect the purchase price. Those that have suggested a closed container do have a point so you might want to check if that is a service any auto transport company provides.

[cwerdna]

The problem with cutting out the brokers is that I don't know anywhere to find drivers directly. A google search is loaded with brokers first who claim to have their own trucks, but end up contracting the shipping out to 3rd parties.

Plycar uses their own trucks. The truck that picked up and delivered wasn't from a 3rd party.

We used Dependable Auto Shippers http://www.dasautoshippers.com/car-shipping.html when moving from New York to Washington State.

I've had 2 cars shipped by DAS before, paid for by my former employer. One received some slight damage that they paid for (cost them >$900 to fix it). I otherwise generally had a good experience. After the shipping w/DAS, I learned that one of my former coworkers had his car totaled by DAS. The truck got into an accident. I'm pretty sure they covered it though.

I've heard claims that DAS sucks if you're shipping w/them as part of a corporate paid move. Due to the above and many bad reviews for DAS, I put them pretty low on my list.

If you don't want to use my list, skim around on higher end sports car forums (e.g. Corvette, Acura NSX, Dodge Viper, etc.) You'll arrive at many of the same names that I listed.

[Wakyak]

I've used this company https://www.a1autotransport.com/ to ship before and they were fine. Definitely cheaper than some of the others I looked at around the same time (last year). They've got a few discounts similar to the one you mentioned about offering reviews. Just look up discount programs on their site and you'll find a few options in that regard.

[Wakyak]

Never mind, didn't realize how old this was.