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etruitt's avatar
etruitt
Explorer
Jun 29, 2015

Shipping toad from Portland, OR to central NC

Have an 04 Suzuki in Portland, OR that can be towed 4 down. I want to have it shipped to NC. How do I do that and approx. what is the cost? This involves family so I don't want to lowball the price or anything just not planning on going out there this year.
  • I would estimate that a commercial shipping company will charge about $2k depending on if you are willing to drop it off at a depot or not.
  • Or...there are companies out there that will provide a driver for your car...for a fee, plus gas and tolls...check it out.

    Back in the 60's, when in college, I drove 5 or 6 cars for a car transport company...from Florida to New York...or New York to Florida. At the time, I think they paid me $75..but out of that, I had to pay for the gas. But then...gas was 18 cents/gallon. I made out (cheap transportation) and the customer was happy. Customers preferred to fly rather than drive. And,that was the reason.
  • From Oregon to North Carolina for a running automobile that is being shipped with normal delivery is about $900. Auto Transport Quote

    I've shipped several automobiles around the country and there are a few ways that you can save some money. If you can deliver it to the truck terminal that saves some money. If it can be picked up at the truck terminal, that can also save some money, especially if the nearest terminal is several miles away. Shipped on an open car carrier rather than an enclosed trailer also saves some money. Almost all of the carriers that I used provided me with GPS tracking of the transporter. I did use one private carrier that delivered one of my vehicles in their own personal enclosed trailer. This was a husband/wife team and their cost was only a little bit lower than the large transporter. The difference was they picked the vehicle up at my house and they delivered it right to the Texas museum that bought the car.
  • The quick way to get a quote is to go to Uship.com & post it
  • Was recently involved in shipping a vehicle from California to Atlanta. The vehicle owner used a shipping coordinator that found open spaces on transports and matched them up with vehicle owners. Although the price was good, there was one major problem. Although originally quoted a specific pick up date, the actual date ended up being ten days later. It turned out that the company could not guarantee a date because they had no idea of the availability of the openings on various trucks. This caused some serious issues.
    Also, I don't know if you care about the finish of your vehicle, but if it is on the bottom rack it is subjected to any fluid drippings from cars above. This might not be a problem if there are newer cars up top, but if they are transporting older classics, it can be messy.
    Just one more thing to watch out for!

    Good luck
    Bill
  • uship is full of hillbillies with no licence to do a business, so if you use them, be aware who are you dealing with.
    First shipping from west to east makes no economical sense becouse cars are way cheaper on east coast.
    I do it for years in other direction and that makes sense.
    Good road transport will cost about $1000 and it is high risk of inflicting damage to the car.
    Other option is putting car on the train, but not always easy to arrange.
  • Before I retired, my company used to ship all our company vehicles from Denver to Orlando; I believe the cost was about $1,200 if a single vehicle was being shipped, less if multiple vehicles (less per vehicle, that is). They shipped them on what was basically a flat bed wrecker. If multiple vehicles, they shipped them on a regular flat bed tractor/trailer and then you had to get a local towing company to come out with a flat bed wrecker to unload them off the float.
  • Having shipped street rods all over the U.S., plan on $1000-1200 for your car. Make sure the shipper is bonded and insured. Save money on an open carrier, having it shipped terminal to terminal and being flexible with your pick up/delivery dates.

    Understand the companies you call, usually are not the actual carriers..i.e. they don't own the trucks nor do they employ the drivers. They are actually dispatcher/facilitators. As an independent driver, I travel from east to west then back. I don't want an empty truck going back so I offer my services to someone needing a transport. I can often offer a cheaper rate if my truck needs one more car to fill it completely. The run cost me the same whether I'm transporting 1 or eight cars. I make more money having a full truck...good luck..Dennis
  • Thanks guys. We have traveled all over the US and passed car transport tractor trailers just about everywhere. Did that even dawn on me? NO. DUH---not the brightest light in the barrel but it is what it is....