Best enclosed transport company?

Hi guys,

Like many of you, it's been a dream of mine for over a decade and now it looks like I will be finally joining the NSX owners club very soon! However before that can happen, I need to get the car from Chicago to Stamford, CT.

Given that it's winter time and snow can fall at any point, I'd prefer not to drive the car home since it is running summer tires. Can anyone recommend a reliable transport service?

Appreciate your help!

I used Exotic Car Transport to get my baby from Orlando to Dallas and they are top rate!

http://

I used Reliable Carriers to transport my NSX from AZ to CA.

2nd reliable carriers. I have used passport transportation, Gran Turismo transport, intercity lines; so far reliable carriers is the best.

I've used Intercity several times and was always pleased. http://www.intercitylines.com/

Stook2003 said:

2nd reliable carriers. I have used passport transportation, Gran Turismo transport, intercity lines; so far reliable carriers is the best.

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I just called Reliable and unfortunately it sounds like their pickup dates are not definitive. I was given a 3-4 weeks window of when they might be able to pick up the car which won't work as both the seller and I want the car moved ASAP.

Of those remaining 3, which was the second best to Reliable?

Maybe Intercity Lines? Jay Leno uses them for his car collection.

Unfortunately you will be looking at a wait of several days or weeks with most shippers. They hold cars at their terminals till they have a load. I've listed some of the better companies for your consideration. You might see if there is a local person using a smaller rig (pickup and gooseneck trailer) that hauls cars. They tend to be more flexible.

Dependable Auto Shippers: http://www.dasautoshippers.com/

Passport Auto Transport
866-582-3185, www.passporttransport.com
Horseless Carriage Carriers
800-631-7796, www.horselesscarriage.com
Intercity Lines
800-221-3936, www.intercitylines.com

Or, if you feel up to it you could rent a trailer in your area and haul it yourself in a long weekend.

I used DAS (Dependable Auto Shippers) for my M3 from NC to CA. Very happy with the service.

Having just shipped a car from NJ to CA, I would say that Intercity Lines is horrible in terms of customer service. I can't comment on their actual shipping practices, but I basically agreed to do the shipping through them, waited, called, waited, called, and the response was horrible. What makes it worse is they act like they are too good for your time. I ended up going with GT Motorsports and got my car in 10 days. To give you perspective, I waited over 2 weeks for Intercity to arrange transport and it just never happened. I got fed up, the dealership I bought from kept hounding me to get the car off their lot, etc.

If I could do it all over again, I'd go FedEx. They have real time tracking and are absolute professionals. Wish I would have known they transport cars sooner. Very professional and helpful on the phone. They basically applied their logistics/package shipping expertise to the car industry.

Try Thomas Sunday Transport.

www.sundayautotransport.com

Reliable carriers will always leave 3-4 weeks open but they have always picked up the car with 3 to 4 days. I had my nsx within a week from book to delivery. It was shipped from dallas to bellingham wa.

I think intercity lines would be t
Next if reliable can not do it

doing a search will yield many past discussions and have the same results......The only way you will have any say in dates is if you and your friends can fill a truck..otherwise you are at the mercy of how long it will take for them to randomly fill that truck and develop a route that minimizes fuel costs.Brokers do some of that work for you but also must make a living.

clean_green said:

I used Exotic Car Transport to get my baby from Orlando to Dallas and they are top rate!

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i agree i used them when i purchased my car in 2001 from florida to st.louis.

I just shipped my car to Umbrella Auto Design and used DAS(dependable Auto Shippers, talk to Bernie), i also used them to ship my 2008 magnum srt8 from CAli to austin. No real complaints, you just need to be flexible on pick up times and such. They could be a day early.

I used Intercity to ship from California to Ohio and was happy with their service.

After I purchased my car, the dealership -coordinated a closed container shipment from Indianapolis to San Antonio for $975 with "Dealer to Dealer".


I believed I was dealing with an actual company that owned trucks. They gave me the name of the trucker and seemed to have everything worked out. They did not pick up the car on the day promised and then the memorial day holiday hit and we could not get ahold of the driver or Dealer to Dealer for 4 days. Then they still did not pick up the car and a week had passed. By then I was getting frustrated and called to see if I could get another company to do the job.


I called Chris at CSL Auto Transport 626-771-3294. He had good reviews and transports many of the new Audi R8's and Lambo's in the USA.


He looked at the computer system that the trucking companies use and saw my car. He told me that the odds of my car getting picked up were not very good since Dealer to dealer was offering $800 to transport my car. Turned out they were just a broker and put out such a low bid that nobody would ship for that price per mile. Chris explained that if someone picked it up, they would be a low bidder and I would get what I paid for. He even told me that the computer system showed a Bently that "Dealer to dealer" had a bid out for that had been waiting a few weeks and nobody would pick it up for what they offered to pay. Bottom line, I ended up using CSL Auto Transport and they picked up the car the next day and had it at my door 2 days later. It was $1525 for the trip, but I got it when promised and on the car was well taken car of. Chris was very helpful and explained how the whole enclosed auto shipping system worked. Many brokers making money while they don't own the trucks or drivers and have to rely on the drivers to accept bids and then pick up your car.
Bottom line - I would ask if a company actually owns their own trucks or is putting out for a bid for any driver to pick up.


Hope this helps.

I used Exotic Car Transport one time to get a Porsche 914 from Florida to Virginia Beach and they were excellent. More recently I used Intercity to get my current NSX from Boston area to Virginia Beach, and they were excellent from start to finish.
Can highly recommend either of them based on my experience. Cheers, Jay

Don't use DAS.

I used them to go from SC to OR. They are nothing more than brokers for most cases. I could have done it myself and saved almost a grand.

Another +1 for FedEx. I would go directly with them next time.

Dave

DAYTA said:

I just called Reliable and unfortunately it sounds like their pickup dates are not definitive. I was given a 3-4 weeks window of when they might be able to pick up the car which won't work as both the seller and I want the car moved ASAP.

Of those remaining 3, which was the second best to Reliable?

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I have used Reliable a couple times over the years with good results. Then I used them again last year and it was a disaster. They strung me along for two months, and acted like I was being unreasonable when I called after waiting for a month to see if I could even get an ETA (the answer was no). When I called back after a couple more weeks I asked if the guy could at least give me some insight into why it was taking so long when I'd had such fast results in the past. He basically said that their contract customers who regularly move cars take precedence over one-off customers like us. They'll fit us in when they have excess capacity on a truck already traveling the route we're trying to ship. Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you don't. I did some research to find another carrier who could pick it up within a week and then called Reliable to tell them if they hadn't picked it up by the next week I had another carrier coming to get it. Miraculously Reliable managed to pick it up two days later.

Their approach makes sense from a business perspective for a large transport company I guess, but next time I'll go directly to a dedicated small carrier who is more focused on providing good service to customers shipping a single vehicle. I found this site when I was doing research and it seemed pretty good. http://www.transportreviews.com/ You just have to be careful filtering the reviews; look at the options to filter paid reviews, and to include carriers who don't pay to be listed.

So I was going to go with either Reliable or InterCity but I didn't go with either. Both companies seemed disinterested in my one-off transporting needs and said they were very booked up and most likely couldn't get to the car until 2014.

I decided to go with Thomas C. Sunday Transport. Charlene, the operations coordinator, seemed very nice and accommodating. They also said they would be able to pick up the car within a week and deliver before Christmas. Sunday Transport was more expensive than both Reliable and InterCity, but not by a significant amount. I will keep you guys updated with progress and results.

Thanks everyone for your help. This is shaping up to be the best Christmas of all time :biggrin:.

I have seen nothing but good reviews about Sunday Transport, I would say your car will be in very good caring hands.

Meant to follow up on this thread...Sunday Transport gets two big thumbs up from me!

The car came in record time last week (picked up Friday AM in Chicago, IL, delivered Sunday AM in Stamford, CT). The driver was exceptionally nice and very professional. They were slightly more expensive (i.e. less than $100) than Reliable Carriers and Intercity, but IMO they were also much more accommodating.

Highly recommended!

So, what I'm gathering from this thread is that I, being an absolute car nut and overly-anal about my cars myself, should use my enclosed 24' race trailer and diesel pickup to run peoples' cars for them.

I'd be more than game to do it, but the catch is whether or not they are willing to pay the costs associated with travel to/from their locations... Obviously I'd have to come out ahead, because no one wants to drive across middle America for fun!

I'm glad it worked out for you. I didn't know FedEx even shipped cars until I read that - good to know! I am going to be receiving a job offer sometime next week tentatively and depending on how things work out I MAY be moving. It'd have to be a damn good offer, but if so I am going to have to have at least 2 of my cars shipped (because I'm not making multiple trips with my enclosed trailer if I don't have to). Honestly, I would LOVE to run peoples' cars to them. I know exactly how important it is to get your car in a timely manner and most importantly undamaged - that's why I flew out to pick mine up and drive it home. I was fortunate enough to be able to do that, but most people aren't or can't...

I used LA Prep Inc., 2701 Signal Parkway, Signal Hill, CA 90755 (562) 592-8886 to get my pristine 2000 NFR NSX-T from Columbus OH to Phoenix last Spring. I have to say I was initially concerned about the quality of the transporter that I had hired to deliver my car (unless you have done it before you are a babe in the woods) until I talked with Geo. Evans (Evans Automotive) who assured me as he watched the vehicle being loaded that the fellow knew exactly what he was doing and that I should not worry. LA Prep does a lot of work for the movie industry moving exotic vehicles to shoots. As well, they are an approved carrier for Porsche Cars NA, preferred carrier for Desert European Bentley and said they had the contract from Audi America to move it's expensive vehicles (R8's etc) around the country. They were very professional - kept me informed where they were and when delivery could be expected and drove the newest, absolutely Skookum purpose-built enclosed transporter that could handle very low clearance vehicles on and off the truck (6 vehicles). Driver Rick was very particular about moving my car off the transporter to ensure no damage occurred to either the outside or the inside. The trip took 5 days with a drop off and a pick-up along the way, arrived to pick-up in Columbus when they said they would be there, and delivered it in Phoenix the day that they said they would at the outset. They were not the cheapest Transporter I looked up (about $1350) but I would have absolutely no hesitation in recommending LA Prep.to anyone wishing to transport their exotic.

NSXcitement said:

I've used Intercity several times and was always pleased. http://www.intercitylines.com/

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Agreed. They shipped an NSX that I was involved with from Indianapolis to San Diego, and were extremely professional. The enclosed trailer that transported the car even had highly polished hardwood floors that were so clean you could eat off of them. Top notch.