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Can anyone recommend a shipper to ship my C8 enclosed to east Alabama? I've called a few places and they are all brokers and I would prefer to work directly with a company. I want to make sure that once the car is unloaded that it is not unloaded again until it gets to me(800 miles). I've been told it will take three days to get to me which I think is too long but that seems to be what they are saying.
I've used Reliable for 4 classic cars, my C7 and a Polaris Ranger. I have had excellent luck and experience. They are typically more expensive than the brokers though.
Intercity will always get praise here as well, one of the largest Corvette Dealers uses them so a lot of the members here have used them. Can't say I have ever heard or read a bad review of them.
These companies are all brokers who select among their network of transporters so there's a negotiation that goes on behind the scenes between broker bidding and transporter willing to take the bid. It ultimately depends on which transporter you end up with. And a responsible broker will be selective among transporters they allow in their network. I used Nexus as recommended by my selling dealer Les Stanford Chevrolet. They're priced competitively relative to the other big transporters and select from a reliable network of transporters. A few weeks after delivery of my car, I came to find out my cousin who is a car dealer also uses Nexus to ship cars across the nation to/from where he's based in SoCal. The types of cars he transports are Rolls Royce, Lamborghini, McLaren, etc.
I got lucky in that Nexus matched me with the transporter LG Motorsports. They're a performance parts and service shop based in TX and specialize in C8 and Corvettes in general and Supra and Ferrari. They showed up in a big cool motorsport racing-style transport truck. Wish I snapped a pic. Next time I transport something I may just contact the LG Motorsports transport division directly. Not sure if Nexus gets special rates with them as a middle man or if I can get it cheaper direct. But if it is cheaper with Nexus, then I'll tell them to only go with LG Motorports and I'm willing to wait out how ever many weeks until their next availability to pick up my car.
Call Paige Johnson at SPLP Auto Transport in SC. I used them to ship my car from MacMulkin to Atlanta. They used a 2-car enclosed trailer, and it had side doors. That is very import because the driver can open the car door to enter and not climb through the window. I had my car in 3 days. It was a great experience and a few hundred dollars less.
These companies are all brokers who select among their network of transporters so there's a negotiation that goes on behind the scenes between broker bidding and transporter willing to take the bid. It ultimately depends on which transporter you end up with. And a responsible broker will be selective among transporters they allow in their network. I used Nexus as recommended by my selling dealer Les Stanford Chevrolet. They're priced competitively relative to the other big transporters and select from a reliable network of transporters. A few weeks after delivery of my car, I came to find out my cousin who is a car dealer also uses Nexus to ship cars across the nation to/from where he's based in SoCal. The types of cars he transports are Rolls Royce, Lamborghini, McLaren, etc.
I got lucky in that Nexus matched me with the transporter LG Motorsports. They're a performance parts and service shop based in TX and specialize in C8 and Corvettes in general and Supra and Ferrari. They showed up in a big cool motorsport racing-style transport truck. Wish I snapped a pic. Next time I transport something I may just contact the LG Motorsports transport division directly. Not sure if Nexus gets special rates with them as a middle man or if I can get it cheaper direct. But if it is cheaper with Nexus, then I'll tell them to only go with LG Motorports and I'm willing to wait out how ever many weeks until their next availability to pick up my car.
You made a blanket statement that is not true in all cases. I agree that most of the car transport companies listed on the internet are brokers and dealing with them is miserable. You sell your soul to them and they resell all your personal information (at least my from experience). Intercity Lines, located in Massachusetts, owns all their own transporters. They are not brokers. I've used Intercity several times and had excellent experience. When you call their number you speak with employees and sometimes even the owners.
There are a lot of horror stories about brokers.
Sometimes you win, but if you lose, you lose big.
Not worth the risk with a new Corvette.
I wouldn't trust one unless he had a ton of recommendations and he could vouch for everone who was going to touch the car during a non-stop, trip.
I always thought a guy could make a decent living with a new 3/4 or one ton pickup with a gooseneck car trailer taking two cars at a time...jobs too small for the big guts to deal with.
And at the risk of ramping up everyone's paranoia, recently there was an article in Sports Car Market about bad guys creating spoofing legit companies websites..people thought they were dealing with a real company, but instead bad guys showed up and took your car.
When the car never arrived, they called the company they thought they were dealing with and heard.."No, we didn't take your car...".
Another reason to use a well known firm. Also give them a call on a number from an independent source and make sure they are who you think they are.
I just bought a part from a forum member. I did a couple of searches to make sure the guy who PJ's me was the real guy before I sent the check.
You made a blanket statement that is not true in all cases. I agree that most of the car transport companies listed on the internet are brokers and dealing with them is miserable. You sell your soul to them and they resell all your personal information (at least my from experience). Intercity Lines, located in Massachusetts, owns all their own transporters. They are not brokers. I've used Intercity several times and had excellent experience. When you call their number you speak with employees and sometimes even the owners.
Yes it's literally a generalization but figuratively intended as hyperbole to imply some negative connotation on which I didn't really articulate. My figurative language was effective enough for you to infer and articulate on what it implied. I contradicted myself in the same paragraph when I specified going with LG Motorsports which is a transporter, not a broker. So every transporter is obviously not literally "all" brokers.
I've gotten quotes with Intercity in the past and after several emails back and forth over weeks ended up not going with them. Probably because of cost. I'm sure you get what you pay for and the flipside advantage of brokers is they can find transporters freed up and in need of a job sooner for cheaper with comparable quality. Even better if the broker is big enough to be selective and vet their transporters. Their baseline standard might be on par with the really good wholly owned transporters and any deviation/variability from that baseline may only skew better, not worse. In my case, Nexus rejected two other transporters who tried to take the bid but didn't meet Nexus's standards for my desired cost. I could have gotten a transporter sooner if I paid a little more. But I waited an extra week or two until LG Motorsports took it. What I saved in cost I paid for in time. So a good broker is not necessarily inferior to a wholly owned transporter, just different depending on what you prioritize (cost, time, flexibility of features/options of transport truck, etc.). Figured this might be why Les Stanford recommended and uses Nexus. I've never seen a broker as selective as them.
I’ve had both a C8 and a Porsche shipped between Ohio and Florida multiple times. I started out using an independent transporter, but that only lasted a couple years before he got out of the business.
I used Montway Auto Transport (a broker) once and had a positive experience. This past winter, I actually used the dealer I purchased my Porsche from to handle shipping the car back and forth between Ohio and Florida. They transport vehicles all over the country and essentially acted as the broker for me.
Pricing was very reasonable both heading down and coming back north. The only negative was a slight delay on pickup and drop-off in Florida, but we’re only talking a few hours — no big deal. The car arrived in perfect condition.
If your dealer regularly ships vehicles, I’d definitely ask whether they’d be willing to arrange transport for you. In my experience, dealers that move inventory around the country often have solid transporter relationships and can sometimes get better pricing and service than going directly through a public broker yourself.
C8 enclosed shipping recommendation
