c/car-shipping

Broke a tie-down strap in rural Nevada, learned the hard way about UV damage

Last month I was hauling my old F-150 from Reno to Salt Lake City. About 80 miles past Winnemucca I stopped to check the straps and one just snapped when I touched it. It looked fine from the outside, but the sun had cooked it over the years. I had to buy a replacement set at a gas station for $60, way more than they cost online. That strap was only 3 years old but I parked outside a lot. Do you guys replace ratchet straps on a schedule or just wait for them to fail?

The dispatcher who saved my cross country delivery with one phone call

I was hauling a 2018 Mustang from Phoenix to Tampa and got stuck outside Tallahassee when the trailer brake controller started acting up. Every time I hit a bump the brakes would grab for half a second, real jerky feeling. I called the dispatcher, this older guy named Ray, and instead of just saying take it to a shop he talked me through resetting the controller by unplugging it for 5 minutes while the truck was off. He told me he used to haul cars in the 90s and this happened all the time with the older units. Sure enough that fixed it and I made the delivery with 2 hours to spare. The customer even tipped me $50 because the car was clean and on time. Has anyone else had a dispatcher or broker give them a weird fix that actually worked? I feel like those guys know way more than they get credit for.

Paid $400 for enclosed shipping, got open carrier instead. Worth the fight?

I shipped my 2008 Mustang from Austin to Denver last month and paid extra for enclosed transport since it's got fresh paint. Company confirmed it twice, then the driver shows up with an open trailer anyway. They refunded $150 after I raised a fuss, but the car picked up rock chips near the front bumper during the drive. My buddy swears open carriers are fine for daily drivers and I wasted money, but I've seen hail damage horror stories on here. So who's right, pay the premium for peace of mind or save the cash and risk it?

Rant: Enclosed carrier scratched my bumper and they called it 'normal wear'

Paid $1,150 for enclosed transport from Phoenix to Denver last month, the driver admitted he strapped my car down without the protective pads, and now the customer service line just keeps saying scratches under the door handle are 'normal transport wear', has anyone actually gotten a damage claim approved without a lawyer involved?

Terminal pickup saved me money, but the lot was a mess

I shipped my old Tacoma from Phoenix to Denver last spring. I went with terminal to terminal because it was about $600 cheaper than door to door. Got a ride to the lot at 7 AM on pickup day, waited two hours in the heat. The driver was cool but the truck had rock chips from sitting in an unpaved staging area for three days. On the return trip a few months later I paid for door to door. They backed into my driveway with a lift gate, no extra waiting, and the car came off cleaner. That extra cash got me a nice hotel but honestly the convenience was worth every dollar. Has anyone else had a bad terminal lot experience that made you switch?

Week from hell shipping my Camaro from Phoenix to Chicago

Last month I booked an enclosed hauler through a broker for my 2017 SS, paid a $400 deposit upfront. They pushed pickup three times, then the driver finally showed with a open trailer, not what I paid for. The car got delivered three days late with a rock chip on the hood, and the broker just blamed the weather. Has anyone else had a carrier swap the trailer type on them, and did you get any of the cost difference back?

Open deck vs enclosed shipping, my classic Mini learned the hard way

Last month I shipped a 1974 Mini from Phoenix to Seattle and went with the cheaper open carrier. Big mistake. It arrived with a cracked windshield from gravel kicked up by the truck ahead, plus a layer of grime that took two washes to get off. The enclosed quote was $1,150 vs $680 open, so I thought I was being smart. Anyone else regret saving a few hundred bucks on open transport, or did I just get unlucky with the route?

Hit 100 shipped cars this month and the pattern surprised me

Crossed my 100th vehicle shipped this year, a 2018 Civic going from Austin to Denver, and the weird part is every single one of my delays came from pickup dates, not delivery. Has anyone else noticed that the wait on the front end is always worse than the actual drive time?

Switched from open carriers to enclosed after a rock chip fiasco in Arizona

Used to ship my classic Mustang on open trailers because it was cheaper, about $900 from Phoenix to Dallas. Last March, a truck in front kicked up a chunk of gravel that cracked my windshield and put a ding on the hood. Insurance covered it but the paint repair took 3 weeks. Now I pay around $1400 for enclosed transport with softer tie-downs. The difference was the problem, not the carrier. Has anyone else had damage on an open hauler that pushed them to enclosed, or do you think I just got unlucky?

Rush shipping a bumper from LA to Austin, 2 carriers dropped it

I needed a replacement bumper for my truck delivered before a road trip, so I booked with a broker who promised 5 day transit. The first carrier picked it up in LA, then canceled after sitting for 2 days because the pallet was too wide. Second carrier took it but went silent for 3 days, no tracking updates at all. I finally called the broker and demanded a refund, then found a local hauler on a FB group who runs that route weekly. Truck arrived in Austin on day 9, $150 extra but at least it showed up in one piece. Anyone else had brokers just ghost you mid-shipment like that?

Switched to enclosed transport after a rock chip on I-80

I always used open carriers until a gravel truck kicked a chip into my client's fender near Salt Lake City, and the $2,800 claim plus the awkward phone call made me realize the extra $400 for enclosed was worth it every time, so has anyone else eaten a damage claim that finally changed their shipping setup?

Door to door beat terminal to terminal for my Chevy, paid the difference twice

Last spring I shipped a 2004 Silverado from Phoenix to Boise. Got quotes for terminal to terminal at $680 and door to door at $920. Everyone on here kept saying terminal is fine and you save money, so I went with it. Big mistake actually. The pickup lot was 45 minutes from my house and the drop lot was half an hour outside Boise. Rented a car one way just to get the truck to the lot, that was $140. Then had to Uber from the drop lot to my buddy's place, another $60. Plus two days of my time driving back and forth. Door to door for the extra $240 would have saved me all of that honestly. I know some folks have good luck with terminal, but for a full size truck it made zero sense. Has anyone else done the math and found door to door worth it for bigger vehicles?

Two weeks of runaround for a missing title in Phoenix

Sold a car to a buyer in Phoenix and the broker swore the title was overnighted, but it sat in limbo for 14 days because their clerk never scanned the barcode. Has anyone else had a shipper blame a scanning error while your buyer's patience runs out?

People keep booking open transport for their classic cars and it makes no sense

I sell a lot of used cars on the side and the last 3 buyers all insisted on open carriers to save $400, then each one had rock chips by the time it hit Ohio. You can buy a roll of plastic wrap for 20 bucks and cover the front bumper yourself, it saves you the hassle of a claim. Why risk a 30k car over a few hundred when enclosed is right there?

Broker vs. direct carrier: my dispatcher buddy flipped my view

I was bashing brokers as middlemen until a dispatcher friend said they eat the deadhead risk so drivers don't have to. He showed me a run where the broker took a $300 cut but saved the carrier $400 in empty miles. Anyone here haul their own loads and skip brokers entirely?

Was dead set against enclosed shipping, now I get it

Tbh I always thought enclosed was a rip-off, like $1,400 extra for a classic car is just padding the quote. Then I shipped my 67 Mustang from Dallas to Phoenix in an open trailer and it came back with a cracked windshield from a kicked-up rock. Has anyone else had an open haul damage that made them switch, or did I just get unlucky?

The 400 mile door ding that cost more than the shipping itself

Last month I shipped a beater Corolla from Phoenix to Tucson, only 112 miles, but the quote came back at $285. I figured fine, short haul, whatever. Then the driver shows up with a flatbed and tells me he's got 3 other cars on the same run, and my car is the last drop. The surprise for me was finding out that roughly 60% of that cost is just the driver's deadhead miles back to their home base. I checked the FMCSA records after, and sure enough, the average empty return leg is 384 miles for these regional guys. So I basically paid for his fuel to go home after my car was already sitting in my driveway. Has anyone else looked into how much of their quote is just the return trip? Feels like the real cargo is the driver's commute.

That broker in Ohio told me transport costs double if you don't plan ahead

I was talking to a car shipping broker from Columbus after I got a $1,200 quote to ship my sedan from Chicago to Denver. He said if I had booked it a month earlier instead of that week, it would have been $750 tops. Has anyone else run into last minute price jumps like that?

The trick about using foam padding instead of straps saved me $150 last month

I was shipping a classic Mustang from Phoenix to Denver and got quoted extra for special strapping. I switched to high density foam between the tie down points and the paint, and the transport guy even said it was smarter. Anyone else stopped paying for those padded strap upgrades?

Why does nobody talk about how carriers handle enclosed shipping on the West Coast?

A guy in Portland told me that enclosed transport to Seattle is always easy, but I booked a carrier off a load board and they showed up with an open trailer. The car got hit by a rock on I-5 just north of Olympia and now I'm dealing with a $600 claim. Has anyone else had luck finding a reliable enclosed carrier for PNW routes?

Customer said my estimates were 'fluff' - that changed how I quote shipping costs

Got stuck paying $400 extra because the broker picked a different terminal than the one I chose

I shipped a car from Houston to Portland last month. I confirmed the terminal on the quote was the one near my house, but when the truck showed up it was an entirely different lot 30 miles away. Broker said "that's just where we had a driver" and charged me $400 for the extra relocation. So is the terminal guarantee on the quote just a suggestion or does anyone actually enforce it? I've had mixed answers from different companies.

Open vs enclosed transport for a 500 mile trip, the cost difference shocked me

I had to ship my 2018 Mustang from Denver to Salt Lake City last month and I compared quotes for open and enclosed trailers. The open trailer was $450 and enclosed was $875, so I almost went with open. But then I thought about all the gravel trucks and bugs on I-70, so I paid extra for enclosed. When the car arrived it was spotless, not a single rock chip or bird dropping anywhere. My buddy did the same route with open and his paint had like 3 tiny chips he had to touch up. Is enclosed really worth double for a short trip or am I overthinking it?

That call with an old hotshot driver changed how I book carriers now

I was on the phone last Tuesday with a guy named Jerry who's been hauling cars since the 80s. He flat out told me that 90% of the brokers he works with don't even check if a truck has working straps before they book a load. That hit different because I realized I've been just looking at price and dates, not the actual condition of the equipment. Anyone else ever get burned by a carrier that showed up looking like it rolled out of a junkyard?

Decided between enclosed and open carrier for my 69 Mustang...

I was shipping my 69 Mustang from Atlanta to Dallas last month and went back and forth on paying $950 for enclosed vs $650 for open transport. Ended up going with the open carrier since it was a sunny week and the trucker had good reviews about covering cars with a tarp. Did anyone else sweat this decision and regret or feel good about it later?