How does shipping a car work?

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Eli

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Oct 9, 1999
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Do I just tell them when and where to pick up the car,and then they drop it off at my address?

What type of paperwork do they need?

We're buying another Insight. ;) It doesn't run, so we need to ship it. Seems that will be cheaper than renting a truck and doing it ourselves.

Anyone in NM have a truck with a hitch we could borrow? lol



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EightySix Four

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Jul 17, 2004
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Do I just tell them when and where to pick up the car,and then they drop it off at my address?

What type of paperwork do they need?

We're buying another Insight. ;) It doesn't run, so we need to ship it. Seems that will be cheaper than renting a truck and doing it ourselves.

Anyone in NM have a truck with a hitch we could borrow? lol

Yes, though you have to watch out, some residential neighborhoods don't allow the trucks.

Not much. Usually they'll want to have proof you own the car and insurance. Call your local DAS or similar.

Yes, it'll be cheaper.

No.
 

mike2fix

Diamond Member
Feb 1, 2001
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Actually, I believe usually they have specific drop-off and pickup sites/depots where you take the car to be shipped and same on the other end. There may be an option for door to door delivery but I don't recall that when my friend shipped his car from the West Coast to the East Coast.
 

cyclistca

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Dec 5, 2000
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When I shipped my truck across Canada the company picked it up at my house and dropped it off at my office on the other end.
 

EightySix Four

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Jul 17, 2004
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Actually, I believe usually they have specific drop-off and pickup sites/depots where you take the car to be shipped and same on the other end. There may be an option for door to door delivery but I don't recall that when my friend shipped his car from the West Coast to the East Coast.

Every one of them I know offers it, it just costs more. It's far cheaper to drop it off at their location and pick it up at their closest on the other end than door to door delivery.
 

Doppel

Lifer
Feb 5, 2011
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Oh come on now what insight, price, miles, etc.? You are going to end up with a full front yard in front of them like a delorean collector.

I've had my eye on hybrids for months now and in the past 1-2 months the only way to get one used is if you mortgage your house or buy a piece of crap. Or I suppose in your case one that doesn't run. The price premium on them now is truly insane, which is why I gave up and bought a V6 instead :)
 

homercles337

Diamond Member
Dec 29, 2004
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When i moved from Austin to Philly a number of years ago i had my 337 shipped. You must do your homework though because there are tons of shady companies out there. Essentially they will pick up and drop off where ever you want as long as an 18-wheeler can get in and out. If you want to protect your car work with a covered shipper, but these are much more expensive. I picked my shipper by reading online reviews. Sorry this was a long time ago so the details are failing me, but i think i spent about $600. Half with pickup and half with delivery. The thing you want is a driver that will be with your car the whole trip. This way you can evaluate the guy.
 

darom

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Dec 3, 2002
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Eli, I used uShip, a bidding web site where shippers submit potential bids for your merchandise. It is free to post (the shipper ends up paying the fees). Each shipper has its own positive/negative reviews. It reminded me of the eBay without darn paypal crap.
 

Bignate603

Lifer
Sep 5, 2000
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Make sure the shipper knows it doesn't run. It may complicate things for them if it can't move onto and off of the car carrier under its own power.
 

Eli

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Oct 9, 1999
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Thanks for that darom, and thanks to everyone for the advice.

Yeah, it seems that most shippers have an extra fee if the car doesn't run. We're looking into all the options. I'm not sure if they're going to be able to deliver it to our house, since we live on such small and narrow residential streets.

It's a 2000 Silver 5 speed with 225k miles and a lifetime MPG of 70.2 for $1000. :) It pretty much doesn't get better than that.

It will need the IMA battery rebuilt, which I'm equipped to do and have spares of. It seems that a mouse chewed through the gas line or something, because it spews gas when its turned on, and will only run for a few seconds. That shouldn't be hard to fix.

We pretty much can't lose on it. Their prices are spiking again due to gas prices, with many even medium mileage, older model years selling for $7-9,000. It remains to be seen whether we keep it or sell it quickly for ~6k. I'm leaning towards keeping it right now. ;)
 
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brblx

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Mar 23, 2009
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more power to you if you want to keep or can make money on it, but holy friggin' christ, who would pay 9 grand for a twelve year old hybrid?
 

Eli

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Anybody who stands to save a significant amount of money by getting 65-75MPG, I guess.

Overall, I agree with your sentiment. It's pretty crazy. I suppose I don't mind too much though, if I'm going to be on the seller side of the fence.... ;)
 

brblx

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Mar 23, 2009
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do they actually get that high? i guess i'm used to the 'new' gen of hybrids, which struggle to exceed a turbodiesel in mileage, so i'm a little jaded.

i just wouldn't even want to mess with the things that might go wrong with an old hybrid, and thusly would never even consider paying top dollar for it, especially since (no offense) it just isn't a very good car, in a driveability sense. would much rather get something simpler, funner, and less likely to need very costly parts.
 

Eli

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My best trip:

&


Also, see my signature. ;)
 

Doppel

Lifer
Feb 5, 2011
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more power to you if you want to keep or can make money on it, but holy friggin' christ, who would pay 9 grand for a twelve year old hybrid?
There are enough completely brain dead freaking idiots that I'd believe it. I saw on autotrader a 2001 Prius for $12k i think it was. The damn things were just an echo that first gen. It's retarded what prices on these have gone to recently.
do they actually get that high? i guess i'm used to the 'new' gen of hybrids, which struggle to exceed a turbodiesel in mileage, so i'm a little jaded.
This myth is touted by VW fanatics (I'm not saying you are one but I know that they do promote it), despite being criminally wrong. A Golf TDI is rated at 30/42. While that's only 6 mpg worse on the highway than a third gen Prius it's literally 21 mpg worse in city--and requires more expensive diesel. Hybrids are the real deal. The technology is finally mature and has been around long enough that prices are--I mean were--really attractive (until Tsunami combined with recent price spike). Start of this year a 2011 Prius could be had for as low as $21k and when you're getting 51 mpg city you can save an awfully huge amount of money on gas.
 

Ape

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Jul 29, 2000
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Do I just tell them when and where to pick up the car,and then they drop it off at my address?

What type of paperwork do they need?

We're buying another Insight. ;) It doesn't run, so we need to ship it. Seems that will be cheaper than renting a truck and doing it ourselves.

Anyone in NM have a truck with a hitch we could borrow? lol

Check this site out:

http://autoshippingreviews.com/

Will give you some suggestions on who to use and what it could cost.
 
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