Auto transport from New England to Florida - advice/suggestions?
March 29, 2023 1:27 PM Subscribe
I am looking to ship a car from Massachusetts to Tampa, FL in the next few months. Google searches are frustrating due to the sheer amount of spam. A lot of these companies also seem to be brokers. Does anyone have any suggestions (general or specific)?
Check with your auto insurance company and your auto dealership. Either may have preferred transport companies.
posted by TrishaU at 2:08 PM on March 29, 2023
posted by TrishaU at 2:08 PM on March 29, 2023
I have shipped my car from Boston MA to Tucson AZ several times. It cost $1200-$1400 each time. I learned that most companies don't have regular drivers, they act as middlemen, establishing the price and then connecting you with a random driver from a large pool. Once they connect you, it's between you and the driver to work out details. So the driver coordinates pickup and drop-off days and times. I experienced a lot of difficulty with drivers who did not excel at communication and coordination. They would give me a two day arrival range and then show up with 1 hour's notice. Or they would show up incredibly, incredibly late. Or they would give very vague arrival information. This was really, really stressful. I also had a driver who attempted to charge me more money than what was agreed upon and refused to give me my car until I threatened to call the police. I finally managed to find a company that was a husband/wife team of a reliable driver and a communicative dispatcher: Ideal Express Car Carrier Auto Transport. If you decide to ship your car, give them a call.
posted by shw at 2:50 PM on March 29, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by shw at 2:50 PM on March 29, 2023 [4 favorites]
shw has got it right.
I did this the *other* way, from Florida to New England, and yes, middlemen are frequently used. My experience was similar to that mentioned above: the initial contact is usually a salesman and they say all the right things and sound very professional, etc. Let's call them "COMPANY A". You sign a contract, choose a date and then are told the driver will be getting in touch.
What happened was the day before, I got a second contract via email which explicitly states that you accept that "COMPANY A" is no longer your point of contact, and oh by the way, if something goes wrong, now you should talk to "COMPANY B", because they are ones who are handling things. Felt weird, but I really didn't have much choice. I could have gotten a refund, but that would have left me in a pickle, because I still needed that car moved and I was flying out the next day.
This "COMPANY B" was a company in name only, or at least, pretty shady. My understanding is shell companies like this are created, and when too many complaints start piling up, they just shut it down and start using another one.
I didn't know any of this going in, and after my driver picked up the car, it was impossible to get in touch with him afterwards. I also was really explicit that I would like to be called 24 hours before they arrived, because the dropoff spot was going to take me a few hours to get to and I needed that time to get there.
Of course they called me like an hour before arrival (after being out of touch for 3 days), and I said "sorry you're going to have to wait, because I can't get there before you...which is why I asked you to call me".
When I arrived, the driver wouldn't give me the keys until he was paid (only cash or Venmo, no checks or credit cards). I told him I needed to inspect the car first before he got the money. There was no damage or anything, but the odometer reading was a bit suspect, I had written the starting number down and the miles put on it seemed significantly higher than even the most conservative estimate. But at this point, there was really nothing to do, I just wanted him out of there.
Long story short: using these folks is a gamble. You may not have any issues whatsoever, but I think it's a crapshoot.
If you go ahead with someone:
posted by jeremias at 10:58 AM on March 31, 2023
I did this the *other* way, from Florida to New England, and yes, middlemen are frequently used. My experience was similar to that mentioned above: the initial contact is usually a salesman and they say all the right things and sound very professional, etc. Let's call them "COMPANY A". You sign a contract, choose a date and then are told the driver will be getting in touch.
What happened was the day before, I got a second contract via email which explicitly states that you accept that "COMPANY A" is no longer your point of contact, and oh by the way, if something goes wrong, now you should talk to "COMPANY B", because they are ones who are handling things. Felt weird, but I really didn't have much choice. I could have gotten a refund, but that would have left me in a pickle, because I still needed that car moved and I was flying out the next day.
This "COMPANY B" was a company in name only, or at least, pretty shady. My understanding is shell companies like this are created, and when too many complaints start piling up, they just shut it down and start using another one.
I didn't know any of this going in, and after my driver picked up the car, it was impossible to get in touch with him afterwards. I also was really explicit that I would like to be called 24 hours before they arrived, because the dropoff spot was going to take me a few hours to get to and I needed that time to get there.
Of course they called me like an hour before arrival (after being out of touch for 3 days), and I said "sorry you're going to have to wait, because I can't get there before you...which is why I asked you to call me".
When I arrived, the driver wouldn't give me the keys until he was paid (only cash or Venmo, no checks or credit cards). I told him I needed to inspect the car first before he got the money. There was no damage or anything, but the odometer reading was a bit suspect, I had written the starting number down and the miles put on it seemed significantly higher than even the most conservative estimate. But at this point, there was really nothing to do, I just wanted him out of there.
Long story short: using these folks is a gamble. You may not have any issues whatsoever, but I think it's a crapshoot.
If you go ahead with someone:
- These companies will typically have an "existing damage" checklist and they do a walkaround of the car with you, kind of like rental car companies. So they're taking note of any previous dents or scratches, that's fine, but actually film this walk-through.
- In retrospect I would have bought an Apple AirTag, showed the driver I was putting it in the trunk and therefore add some accountability to the process.
posted by jeremias at 10:58 AM on March 31, 2023
We used Montway Auto Tranport to ship two cars from CA to NC in August 2021. Everything went completely smoothly with no surprises. Highly recommend.
posted by hapax_legomenon at 6:52 AM on April 2, 2023
posted by hapax_legomenon at 6:52 AM on April 2, 2023
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