Best way to ship a car?

[cloudasc]

Hello Everyone,

I wasn't quite sure what section this would fall under, but I wanted to get recommendations on companies and/or methods to ship a car from Houston, TX to Monterey, CA on the cheap (but safely).

The three of us (my wife, my son, and myself), are going to be moving to California sometime after the New Year, and I am trying to figure out the best way to ship 1 or 2 cars more then halfway across this country, on the cheap.

Theres my 2009 Fit, which is more then capable of making the drive. Theres my wifes 2000 Civic, which has 126k miles, and hasn't had a timing belt job done yet. And then there is my cb7 coupe, that has wristpin knock on cyl #4.

So far I'm considering getting a U-Haul truck to haul our household belongings, and then renting a trailer to put the cb7 on (all wheels off the ground), and tow behind the U-Haul.

Well that leaves my wifes civic, and the Fit behind in Texas that need to make it to California. Depending upon costs, and the situation, I may end up driving the Fit to California too, but would prefer not too, especially if there was possibly a discount when shipping multiple cars, or a better way to pull this off.

Also the possibility of having an extra hand to drive one of the cars to CA is practically nil. Our only blessing will be my wifes parents might be able to watch our son for a few days, so that free's up my wife, but she can't drive the Fit because its 5 spd.

Summary: My wife, and I, and our baby son, need to get our household belongs, and 3 cars from the gulf coast to the pacific coast, in the most cost effective method possible.

Any positive advice/recommendations/thoughts are welcome.

[RyanD]

this may seem crazy but have a couple buddies take a few days off work and drive the cars down there then fly back.

or you could hire someone to ship them down there

[cb7rush]

Wow. Thats a pretty pickle youre in.

My uncle is in the business of buying and selling cars on ebay and he has to ship them sometimes. Il try to ask him where he gets the tows. But im sure you can find many options online.

[408cb7]

I had a buddy that moved to southern california but he had 2 cars, so what he did is he drove one home first and then came back and had his wife drive the other while drove a Uhaul truck that he had rented with the rest of thier belongings.

Are you moving to Monterey CA?

[Soufkackicustom]

Grab a Hemings motor news magazine, and look at transport company's, or list it on uship.com (yes the website of the shipping wars tv show) it's been over a decade since I've been in Texas, but we had cars shipped out of Houston all the time. A local guy did it, he took a Mercedes for us from nacadoches to Washington for us. We got a deal on it because he was hauling 2 cars to Cali and wanted a 3rd car for a full load. When I moved from Texas to South Carolina, we found it more economical to sell the cars we had, and just buy new ones when we got there. We drove one car, the move through the business my dad was going to work for paid for one car (my 65 tbird) so we sold my 2 cars, my dads truck, my dads work truck, and my brothers car. When we got to South Carolina we went to the big car lots in charollette and looked till we all found something we liked in the same lot, and bundled all 3 together (well 4 my mom traded in hers too) at the same time. They look at you funny trying to buy 4 cars at once, but will cut killer deals

[Jarrett]

I'm with Ryan. Have a buddy or two make a vacation out of it. You cover the gas and partial airfare (maybe full if it's just one person) and then you'll have others on hand to help you unload. The more people to delegate responsibilities to the easier your life gets moving the wife and baby.

The Accord presents an interesting challenge. Is it currently running? The driving would be highway driving which is comparably less strenuous but if the issue is bad enough it won't matter. If you have a spare engine, or can source one, it may be best to fix the Accord now and have it be driveable. As with the timing belt job on the Civic, they'll need to be done anyway. Do them beforehand so that you open more options to yourself.

[RyanD]

yea my dad had a buddy drive my car when we moved to indiana. I was 9 back then. He rented a uhaul and a trailer for his new kia. and my dads buddy drove the CB behind him. It kinda was a nice thing because the uhaul broke down in nevada ( we were moving from CA to IN) and Jag, my dads buddy drove the CB to a repair station to get parts. so you never know. having an extra hand could help out a lot!

[lucifer1]

There are alot of peole who just transports cars for a living, I know a few. You can get someone with a three car open trailer and haul all three at once. There are also plenty of two car enclosed running around.

You might try http://centraldispatch.com

[deevergote]

There are plenty of companies that offer long distance towing, and an extended flatbed could easily carry the Civic and CB7. Then you could do as planned with the UHaul truck and the Fit.

[HardInThePaint]

I'm not sure why people keep suggesting he gets some buddies to help... He already said he has no help other than his wife's parents (who are going to be watching the kid).

IDK, I think your best bet would be like you said, pack the UHaul and tow the Accord with your wife following in the Civic. Then get a one way back to TX and then drive the Fit. I know making 2 trips sucks ass but what else can you do?

[deevergote]

The costs would need to be weighed. It may be cheaper to have the two cars shipped professionally than it would be to make two trips himself.

[2.2litrebeater]

I had to calculate this for a move that did not end up happening.
It was $725 to ship one car 1300 miles in my case. dasautoshippers was the cheapest I found. Gas and a 1 way ticket would have been about $400.

[HardInThePaint]

I had to calculate this for a move that did not end up happening.
It was $725 to ship one car 1300 miles in my case. dasautoshippers was the cheapest I found. Gas and a 1 way ticket would have been about $400.

Yeah thats what I'm figuring. I was going to buy this car out of state one time and looked into shipping it and them cats were talking hella reckless... And it wasn't even as far as Texas to Cali. And driving the Fit back you're all the way nice. Newer car and cheaper on gas I'm sure. And a one way ticket shouldn't probably cost that much.

[cloudasc]

Wow. Thats a pretty pickle youre in.

My uncle is in the business of buying and selling cars on ebay and he has to ship them sometimes. Il try to ask him where he gets the tows. But im sure you can find many options online.

Any recommendations on shippers is always welcome!

I had a buddy that moved to southern california but he had 2 cars, so what he did is he drove one home first and then came back and had his wife drive the other while drove a Uhaul truck that he had rented with the rest of thier belongings.

Are you moving to Monterey CA?

Driving the Civic that far has me nervous in regards to the timing belt, and it needs o2 sensors, and a coolant flush/new hoses, and most likely tires.

I'm with Ryan. Have a buddy or two make a vacation out of it. You cover the gas and partial airfare (maybe full if it's just one person) and then you'll have others on hand to help you unload. The more people to delegate responsibilities to the easier your life gets moving the wife and baby.

The Accord presents an interesting challenge. Is it currently running? The driving would be highway driving which is comparably less strenuous but if the issue is bad enough it won't matter. If you have a spare engine, or can source one, it may be best to fix the Accord now and have it be driveable. As with the timing belt job on the Civic, they'll need to be done anyway. Do them beforehand so that you open more options to yourself.

It would be nice if there was a buddy available, but I'm originally from Washington State, and she is from California, and there really is nobody that can take time away from work to help.

The accord is an interesting challenge, the clacking it makes is on startup and with load, and every clack it makes is pretty gut wrenching because of how I feel about the car. Once the cb is started, its purrs, but step on the gas and at about 1800 rpms the clacking begins, I could just pull the plug on #4, and run on 3 cyclinders, but I have more respect for the car then that. If anything I would see about doing a short block swap, which a descent engine could be sourced locally, the only issue is the labor and tools that would be involved (I don't have access to the tools / equipment / knowledge, and help needed). So getting a mechanic involved with a shortblock swap could range from probably $600-1000.

yea my dad had a buddy drive my car when we moved to indiana. I was 9 back then. He rented a uhaul and a trailer for his new kia. and my dads buddy drove the CB behind him. It kinda was a nice thing because the uhaul broke down in nevada ( we were moving from CA to IN) and Jag, my dads buddy drove the CB to a repair station to get parts. so you never know. having an extra hand could help out a lot!

It would be nice if there was an extra hand, but with the way things look at the moment, its most likely not possible unless their paid/compesated.

There are alot of peole who just transports cars for a living, I know a few. You can get someone with a three car open trailer and haul all three at once. There are also plenty of two car enclosed running around.

You might try http://centraldispatch.com

That site would be great if I fell into the requirements, next to lieing and using the free trial. Otherwise since I'm just an individual, they point me to movecars.com

There are plenty of companies that offer long distance towing, and an extended flatbed could easily carry the Civic and CB7. Then you could do as planned with the UHaul truck and the Fit.

I would rather have the Civic and the Fit towed through a company, the cb7 I would rather keep close by as I'm extra paranoid about it, so I would rather tow it behind the uhaul.

I'm not sure why people keep suggesting he gets some buddies to help... He already said he has no help other than his wife's parents (who are going to be watching the kid).

IDK, I think your best bet would be like you said, pack the UHaul and tow the Accord with your wife following in the Civic. Then get a one way back to TX and then drive the Fit. I know making 2 trips sucks ass but what else can you do?

I'm concerned about the Civic making the journey for the reasons mentioned above, last thing we need is for the engine to turn into a paperwieght. Since I do not have access to the tools/equipment/experience in order to do the maintenance required on it, the parts and labor would be close to $1000.

The costs would need to be weighed. It may be cheaper to have the two cars shipped professionally than it would be to make two trips himself.

(Under the assumption of its just myself) Traveling 2000 miles isn't cheap, in the Fit (i've already driven from houston to cali and back and I averaged 28mpg[fat tires, full load, a/c on, middle of summer, doing 90mph {80mph limit}, and up to 20+mph head/side winds I got as low as 24mpg]), so given those figures with an average gas price of $4/gallon, i'm looking at around $300 for gas. Then theres the cost of sustenance, for what could end up being 3 days, and possibly any rest accomodations that are needed $100+. Plus airfare and shuttle $250. Thats around $650+.

I had to calculate this for a move that did not end up happening.
It was $725 to ship one car 1300 miles in my case. dasautoshippers was the cheapest I found. Gas and a 1 way ticket would have been about $400.

The cb would probably get 25mpg on the journey, or close to $320 or more in gas, not counting the repairs costs mentioned above. The civic gets about 27mpg, so about $300 in gas to do the drive, plus the mentioned costs above, its no pretty no matter how you look at it.

Getting the cb and civic to california will give me the resources needed to repair both the civic and the accord on the cheap, as I will have access to all the tools, and equipment, and help that would be needed to repair them. Thats why I am seriously considering shipping the Civic and the Fit, and towing the accord.

Anyone used trains to move cross country?

[RyanD]

have you considered one of these?



for the civic and the cb or the fit and the cb

The Good: teach the wife to drive stick. it is mostly highway driving. cant be that hard
The Bad: Have the wife drive the uhaul
The Ugly: sell one of the cars