Quote:
Originally Posted by Rufas
My vehicles arrived cover in rain scum, diirt and mud. My vehicles were on the lower portion of the trailer and both cars were covered in oil from the cars above them leaking oil.
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My 72 C20 arrived on the top deck of the trailer, and I do believe the owner of the Porsche that was directly under my leaky engine probably did not appreciate what he found when it showed up at his house. Last I saw, there was a puddle about 2 feet wide on his hood. Not a good choice by the truck driver, but, at least from my perspective, better than the opposite.. I wouldn't have wanted any of that fancy Porsche oil on my totally faded tri-color paint job.
But on a more serious note, I've always had a hard time arranging shipping. I've dragged several across the country on my own moves, and, to be honest, it was fun for about the first couple hundred miles, notso much for the other couple thousand. My one lesson learned is that you get what you pay for and a good shipper isn't cheap. At all costs, I'd avoid a shipping "broker" - i.e. a service that finds a shipper for you. For example, I had a 30 day window arranged for pickup of a truck to ship cross country - arranged with "Angles Moving Autos" which came recommended to me by a (former) friend... ANYway, they took the money, promised a shipper would be in touch. Started getting antsy and about 10 days before the end of the window (and I was moving 5 days after the window), I started calling - and they said, "Sorry, we can't find anyone that can do it for the price we told you (and I had already paid them), but we did find ONE guy that will do it for another $800. I hung up and went to U-haul and dragged my 3/4 ton truck across the country with my 1/2 ton driver. It wasn't fun. In fact, I dropped it at a relative's house in Indiana, and drove the rest of the way without it, and arranged shipping when I got to CA (moving from MD). It was a horrible experience - until the final shipper I arranged - he was an absolute national treasure, the kind that sends you pics of it being loaded carefully in the covered hauler.... A bit much, but after what I'd experienced with the numb nuts on the other coast, it was a nice change. It arrived, unscathed, and exactly when promised. And it was more expensive. Anyway, the moral of the story whenever I seek a shipper is that the first question out of my mouth at first contact is "do you own your own fleet of trucks for shipping or are you a broker?" Eliminates the dorks quickly. Now, don't get me wrong, some folks DO have good luck with brokers, but I never, ever had. It didn't help that when I was moving around every couple years, the schedule was always tight between having the vehicle picked up on one end, me arriving on the other end, and having a place to actually put the truck on the other end. It's a simpler, more flexible process to just have a truck you've purchased shipped to you, sometimes. I've also had a crew threaten to leave my truck on the side of the road when I told them it wasn't ok if they left it halfway across the country "at a friend's" when they needed to run another errand. Ugh. Again, that was a brokered shipper, and, again, ya get what you pay for. It does suck to pay $2000 shipping cross country on a vehicle that you get a good deal on and it's only a $3000 truck or something like that. I did exactly that with a 76 K20 I bought from Sacramento once - shipping was $2000 and the truck was only $2200 (I have a knack for buying when gas prices spike). But I least I sunk a few thousand into my new "keeper" and sold it for zero profit
Anyway, avoid Angels Moving Autos. Boo. Oh, and the national treasure guy? He retired.