anyone SHIPPING their car to school?

[poloace]

---

Members don't see this ad.

hey guys- i wanted to ship my car from so cal to vermont. has anyone gone through a shipping company that they can reccomend, or know of anyone that i should look into? thanks.

p

 

[exmike]

I've shipped three cars east and two cars back. I used a different one each time.

This is what you should do

1) Call around and compare prices, and play them off each other.

2) Make sure the company insures your car

3) Make sure the company isn't a reseller of another shipping company

4) expect to pay 6-800 for cross country

I personally am using A1 Auto Transport this time. They seem to be very professional

PM me if you have moe ?s

 

[poloace]

i've seen a1's website... looks nice. right now i'm on the phone with UPS freight, to see what their quote will be. thanks man.

p

 

[SM-UCLA tech]

damn....the company I am using is making me drive my own car there. I think I got ripped off!!!! 😡

 

[Joe Joe on da Radio]

Hey P,

I went with A-to-Z Auto Shipping...It went pretty smoothly. 2 weeks from pick-up to delivery.

-JJ

 

[WuzUpDoc]

this may be a silly question, but can you put stuff in your car to get shipped over with it?

 

[poloace]

i don't know if any threads have been done on this topic before, but we should try to establish a thread with quality info. i just called A-1, and yes, they did sound extremely professional. they quoted me 1330 for door to door service, which is what i expected. they are secondary insurers for any damage incurred, which means that they cover all damge to the vehicle caused by them, but will not cover acts of god (hail, snow, lightening, etc.). thus far, they seem the most reputable. i wanted to contact UPS, but i was on hold with them for tooooo long. now i want to find someone who will give me a lower quote- so that i can have A1 match it.

p

 

[Joe Joe on da Radio]

Originally posted by WuzUpDoc
this may be a silly question, but can you put stuff in your car to get shipped over with it?

with the above company i went with, they said i could put 50 lbs. worth of stuff in with my car. it's not insured though.

 

[poloace]

joe-joe

how much did that run you?

p

 

[exmike]

When i shipped my car back, i packed it so full the only space left was the drivers seat

 

[surfdevl02]

I used A-A autotransport. $950 from san francisco to SC, they said i could put 50 lbs of stuff in the car but i also filled it full, probably at least 300-400 lbs of stuff in there..could barely see out the window.

 

[carrigallen]

heh, my car is worth less than the price of transporting it. =)

 

[pwrpfgrl]

i'm using trusty transport - but so far i've been unimpressed. i had asked for my car to be picked up last monday, and they still haven't been able to find a truck to take it as of today. 😡 i guess that's what i get for going with the cheap guys ($775 from sf to philly). my boyfriend shipped with them before and had no problems though. apparently sf to philly is not a very popular route (or maybe too popular). anyway, they allow up to 100lbs of stuff and fully insure it. one other tip is to look up your shipping company at the better business bureau website (www.bbb.com) to make sure there are no horror stories.

 

[poloace]

wow... a1 auto transport looks shady when i check it out with BBB. i don't know, exmike- doesn't sound too promising as of right now.

p

 

[Joe Joe on da Radio]

Originally posted by poloace
joe-joe

how much did that run you?

p

1200 bones...150 deposit. the rest paid on delivery (cashier's check).

 

[exmike]

Originally posted by poloace
wow... a1 auto transport looks shady when i check it out with BBB. i don't know, exmike- doesn't sound too promising as of right now.

p

uh oh.. well in something like car transport... hmm.. well i ship mine out Aug 1st. ill keep you guys posted.

 

[mikestuy]

maybe this is a stupid question, but why dont you guys just drive your cars cross-country instead?

 

[poloace]

i love my car... 91 legend- and, it is really reliable. however, i'd rather save the 3000 mile drive cross country for miles i'll get from it while over there. plus, i'd rather not have it break down on my way to med school...

p

 

[JlazyMD]

When I saw the thread title I thought it was a joke. But no, some people actually DO ship their car to school. Wow. You learn something new every day.

Is this a Californian 'love affair with cars' thing? Has anybody outside of California ever shipped their car somewhere? All the posters so far seem to be from Cali.

 

[jrobbieUCD]

I'm from California and shipping my little truck, but it's not because I have a "love affair with cars." The price of gas driving it cross country plus food and lodging for four days makes it quite expensive to drive. I can spend a few hundred more to ship it, which will give me four more days to spend freely and not have to worry about it breaking down on the way nor adding miles. I need my truck to last for four more years. I did a search and based on cost comparison, I was going to go with Trusty Transport because they were the cheapest for door to door service. I haven't really looked into it nor made definite plans. My friend in Philly shipped his with no problem; I think he used a company called called Extreme Transport or something like that.

 

[PrincessCKNY]

Originally posted by JlazyMD
When I saw the thread title I thought it was a joke. But no, some people actually DO ship their car to school. Wow. You learn something new every day.

Is this a Californian 'love affair with cars' thing? Has anybody outside of California ever shipped their car somewhere? All the posters so far seem to be from Cali.

Not a love affair per se. It's hard to get around anywhere in CA without a car and public transit here blows. I think it's a nice security blanket to have when going out to the east coast.

I, on the other hand, am selling my car. My family said they would get me another car when rotations come along. No need for a car those first two years.

 

[poloace]

also, if you plan on buying a used car to have on the east coast, people will generally buy them from the west coast and ship them out. in this manner, they tend to be less exposed to agents that would cause them to rust.

p

 

[PrincessCKNY]

Thanks for the tip P-Diddy! I'll keep that in mind. 🙂

 

[pwrpfgrl]

Is this a Californian 'love affair with cars' thing? Has anybody outside of California ever shipped their car somewhere? All the posters so far seem to be from Cali. [/QUOTE]

i'd say there are a few reasons for this:
1) the drive from coast to coast is more daunting than most other drives in between. i've done it 3 times, and it's a lot less fun than it sounds. also, after calculating gas cost, food, and hotels, it's really not that much more expensive to ship (for me i calculated it would cost about $200 more - totally worth it for the time i could spend relaxing rather than dodging 16 wheelers on the highway).
2)there are probably a lot more californians moving across the country for school (thanks UC's! 🙄) than any other state. that's why there are more cali people with the car transportation dilemna.

while people in california definitely drive more than those in other states (i moved here from the east coast and was amazed at how quickly the miles accumulated on my car), having a car at med school has a lot more to do with the school you're attending rather than what state you're from. if there isn't much (like grocery stores, laundramats, etc) in the area, you really do need a car. plus, i would really miss the independance of being able to take off for the weekend when i got too sick of studying. :{😛

just my $.02 - now if only those shippers would show up....

 

[geldrop]

sheesh for 800 I'd drive your car cross country...

 

[thackl]

Originally posted by geldrop
sheesh for 800 I'd drive your car cross country...

No ****. I love driving cross-country.

 

[garnetgirl]

Hey guys- I am shipping my car to school too- Cali to NY. If you guys are still out there, can you tell me how it went? It seems like they are pretty tough about personal stuff in the car on the websites, but I want to put come stuff in my car too. Did they give you guys any trouble about putting stuff in the car? In particular, how was A-1, and are there any other transporters that aren't shady on the BBB. It seems like all of them have a pretty bad track record. Thanks!

 

[Enkindu]

Originally posted by thackl
No ****. I love driving cross-country.

Long live the road warriors!

A couple summers ago I drove from Charlottesville, VA to Yosimite, CA to climb for 4 days.

 

[Blade28]

Originally posted by exmike
I personally am using A1 Auto Transport this time. They seem to be very professional

I used them too, to ship my car from California to Hawaii.

 

[generallobster]

I drove my car and stuff from San Fran to Philly because the cost of shipping + flying + renting a car to find an appartment was more than gas + lodging. My friend actually drove from CA to Chicago in 2 days and slept in rest stops to avoid paying for a damn motel--how cheap is that! The drive was long and tiring, but I can say that I've seen most of the country now, walmart rules the nation (and Wyoming has nothing). I did get a ticket for almost $200 in nevada though, so nevada, you also suck.

 

[pwrpfgrl]

arrgghh! what a hassle shipping this car has been!! do NOT use Trusy Transport. I have shipped two cars with them now - one was perfectly fine, no trouble what so ever. too bad that was not my car.

so they were supposed to pick up my car on july 21st - i didn't hear from them so i called, and apparently the truck company decided they didn't want to come get my car so they needed to find another company - a week and a half later (i had thought my car was going to be in PA by then), they finally get back to me to say they found a new truck. the guy was supposed to show up july 30th. he didn't. he didn't show up on the 31st either. he finally calls on aug. 1st to say he really doesn't want to drive out of his way across the bay bridge so he probably won't come until the 2nd!!! WTF?? ummm, i don't care if you don't want to drive 15 minutes out of your way!! arrgghhh. by this time, i had to leave the car with a friend, since i was already in PA. so when the guy finally shows up, he says that he has to charge an extra $100 because i have stuff in the back seat. but Trusty Transport had specifically said you can have as much stuff as you want (up to 100lbs) in the back seat and trunk, as long as it doesn't obstruct the driver's view. he said i either have to pay up, or wait for another truck to show up!!!

so here i am, aug. 12th, still no car. i've been on the phone with Trusty Transport - they said the driver had no right to ask for that money, but now that i agreed to pay it, i'm screwed. the whole process sucks because the shipping company doesn't actually own the trucks, they basically just sub-contract to truck companies. the drivers basically feel like independant entities and do whatever they want. AARRRGGHHH!!!

ok, i take it back. i wish i'd driven across the country again rather than deal with this crap. i just want my car. 🙁

 

[AZNMedGuy]

I seriously thought about shipping my car too, but decided against it because I didn't want to trust my car to someone else. Who knows what will happen once you hand over the keys. Besides, its such a hassle to deal with the trucking companies. So its road trip time for me. I have 44 hours to complete the 34 trip from Los Angeles to Toledo. 🙄 Oh yeah, I do have that love affair thing with my car and I am from California .

 

[kidsmd]

Originally posted by pwrpfgrl
arrgghh! what a hassle shipping this car has been!! do NOT use Trusy Transport. I have shipped two cars with them now - one was perfectly fine, no trouble what so ever. too bad that was not my car.

so they were supposed to pick up my car on july 21st - i didn't hear from them so i called, and apparently the truck company decided they didn't want to come get my car so they needed to find another company - a week and a half later (i had thought my car was going to be in PA by then), they finally get back to me to say they found a new truck. the guy was supposed to show up july 30th. he didn't. he didn't show up on the 31st either. he finally calls on aug. 1st to say he really doesn't want to drive out of his way across the bay bridge so he probably won't come until the 2nd!!! WTF?? ummm, i don't care if you don't want to drive 15 minutes out of your way!! arrgghhh. by this time, i had to leave the car with a friend, since i was already in PA. so when the guy finally shows up, he says that he has to charge an extra $100 because i have stuff in the back seat. but Trusty Transport had specifically said you can have as much stuff as you want (up to 100lbs) in the back seat and trunk, as long as it doesn't obstruct the driver's view. he said i either have to pay up, or wait for another truck to show up!!!

so here i am, aug. 12th, still no car. i've been on the phone with Trusty Transport - they said the driver had no right to ask for that money, but now that i agreed to pay it, i'm screwed. the whole process sucks because the shipping company doesn't actually own the trucks, they basically just sub-contract to truck companies. the drivers basically feel like independant entities and do whatever they want. AARRRGGHHH!!!

ok, i take it back. i wish i'd driven across the country again rather than deal with this crap. i just want my car. 🙁

Reading about your experience reminds me of mine a couple of weeks ago. DON"T EVER USE AMERICAN AUTO TRANSPORTERS. They also subcontract to trucking companies and the one they gave me sucked. First they called on a Tuesday and told me they're coming in an hour. What the heck, man, none of that 24 hour notice stuff. Then the guy calls back and says they were going to come and get my car on wednesday instead so i waited around all morning for them and then finally i called and they said, :"oh we decided we're gonna pick your car up on Thursday or Friday" Oh well okay... but next time can you at LEAST call me so i know what's going on. That's what i was thinking but i told the guy let me know as soon as he knew when he was gonna pick it up. Thursday they didn't come. I assume they just wanted to keep me hanging so i wouldn't decided to call another company. Friday, the guy did not call me. I had to call him and then he tells me oh yeah they're coming in a couple of hours. Hello, did i not ask him to call me to let me know. STUPID IDIOTS. Then they said they were picking it up FRIDAY so it would come to Cincinnati the following FRIDAY. Yeah okay, it didn't come til TUESDAY> And guess what? Once again, they did not call me to let me know it wasn't coming Friday or even when it was coming. I had to call them. DUDE, how hard is it to PICK UP THE PHONE. SO FREAKIN" ANNOYING. There should be so sense of courtesy or something you know what i mean? Instead of waiting for 2 days to get my car, i waited almost a week after i got here.

MAN, i loathe this company with a passion.

 

[12hey12]

bump. Did anyone use A1? Any other suggestions?

 

[markboonya]

i drove from San Francisco to tampa florida once. i made it in 2.5 days and i also slept at rest areas and frequented the wal-mart supercenters. but then again, it was pretty damn boring and ur ass hurts after a while.

 

[Zephyrus]

my girlfriend did this from california to north carolina. ass-expensive.

Z

 

[clstar22]

I sent my car from Sacramento to Chicago for I think 500 or something through Dependable Auto shippers (DAS)...not the most professional, and you cant have anything in your car for the most part, but was quite reliable...and cheap...i think they quoted me for 750 door to door...it was worth the money i saved to just drop off my car.

 

[KingTutATL]

damn....the company I am using is making me drive my own car there. I think I got ripped off!!!! 😡

Uhh yeah, you hired a shipping company to ship your car and then you drove it???

 

[Medikit]

my girlfriend did this from california to north carolina. ass-expensive.

Z

It should be about as much as it costs to drive it