[DeTomaso] Shipping exotic from New Jersey to California, looking for pr

[MikeLDrew at aol.com]

Bjorn,

Your first stop should be here:

http://www.movecars.com/

This is a listing of most of the auto transport companies in the USA, both 
stand-alone companies and auto shipping brokerage firms.

Note that not all companies are created equally.   There are very 
well-established, major companies that deal directly with the public, and then there 
are fly-by-night outfits that get their business from brokers.   I have had 
experience with both types, and although there was a small price difference, 
my experience indicates that you get what you pay for.

When I shipped my Pantera from Oklahoma to Vermont in 1990, I went through 
a broker.   An open transport truck showed up, loaded with ordinary cars, 
and mine was squeezed onto the back.

It was taken to Connecticut (which is not Vermont, you'll note), and then 
dumped there, where it sat for a MONTH, waiting for a truck to be going up 
towards Vermont so it would be convenient for the shipper to deliver it.

Eventually, they gave up and decided to bring the car up on its own.   They 
rolled the window down in order to steer the car onto the trailer, but then 
they couldn't figure out how to roll the window back up again, so they just 
left it down for the tow.

It poured with rain, and when the car arrived it was totally soaked inside. 
  Fortunately the water all drained out through the 7,434 rust holes in the 
floorpan. :>)

When it came time to get the car back, Gary Hall had arranged with a 
fly-by-night outfit to ship three cars to Pocono, but only had two cars coming 
back, so I was afforded the last spot on the trailer.   Or so I was told.

Bobby Byars (who was working for Gary Hall at the time) drove to Vermont 
and picked up my car with   Hall's pickup and single car trailer (which he had 
used to tow the Burgundy Express to Pocono for Gary to drive), and brought 
it back to Pocono, where it was then loaded on the commercial trailer.

The driver of the truck took it to his home in Wisconsin, where he dumped 
it into a field behind his house and let it sit for a month, while he chased 
other business on the eastern seaboard.   Eventually he got some other cars 
that needed to come west, so he picked up my Pantera and brought it out to 
me.

When it arrived, it was absolutely filthy.   He had chained the car to his 
truck, and compressed the suspension so much that the front tire fouled the 
fenderwell, slicing the sidewall of the brand new tire open.   The driver 
said that the damage was the car's fault and not his, and he refused to accept 
responsibility, and dumped the car and took off.

So, that's how the fly-by-night outfits work.

NOW, since then, I have used Passport auto transport (which was 
subsequently purchased by Fed Ex, and is now called Fed Ex Passport).   I have used 
their services three times.   In all three cases, an exquisitely appointed 
18-wheeler enclosed rig appeared in front of my house, driven by a professional. 
  Inside were cars that were arguably as nice as mine or nicer (pre-war 
Rolls Royce, Ferrari, hot-rod pickup truck, etc.).   My car was carefully 
loaded, secured, and the truck left, and the car was delivered on time (and in 
one case, two days early) at its destination, completely unharmed.

Needless to say, I'll never go through a broker again.   

Among the truly reputable firms is 

http://www.reliable-carriers.com/

http://passport.fedex.com/

http://www.horselesscarriage.com/

They all have their own trucks, their own drivers, deal directly with the c
ustomers, and are fully accountable.   When you look at the truck park at 
Pebble Beach; more than 3/4 of the trucks there will belong to these carriers, 
or ones like them.

That's the only way to go as far as I'm concerned.   You MIGHT get better 
service and MIGHT save money going with an unknown outfit.   But you equally 
might get the shaft the way I did.   Why take the chance?

Mike