Location: Northern NJ
Posts: 8,583
My VIN: 10757 1st place Concourse 1998
What you *could* do is offer a "Right of First Refusal" meaning if you decide to sell the car and get an offer of $30,000 from a potential buyer, the family can have the car if they match it. If they happen to be in California and they have to get the car shipped back they may not feel it is worth it and let it go. That would be fairer. If you got it for $15K and it is in as good a condition as you say, you got a great deal even if you have to spend a few bucks on shipping and fixing it up.
David Teitelbaum
Location: West Islip, NY
Posts: 244
My VIN: 16377
Congrats on getting the car!
I just wanted to help with recommending a shipping company. I had 4 Corners Transport ship my DeLorean from Southern California to Long Island, NY in December 2016 in an enclosed tractor trailer for $1454. It would have been about $400 cheaper to use an open carrier, but I decided enclosed was better. It took about 7 days to ship the car coast-to-coast.
https://www.fourcornerstransportservices.com/
I worked with Ellen. The car was on the same truck coast-to-coast, and the driver even covered my car in plastic for the duration of the trip.
-Nick
Location: Northern NJ
Posts: 8,583
My VIN: 10757 1st place Concourse 1998
I used enclosed transport too and recommend it BUT. When the car was delivered it was COVERED with a very fine brown sand inside and out, probably from the desert. First thing I had to do was wash and vacuum the car. Enclosed transport does not mean hermetically sealed. Even if the car is transported in the same trailer by the same driver it is still possible the car was loaded and unloaded a few times to load and unload other cars. Depending on when and where the truck is going it can take as little as 3 days and as long as 2 weeks. Unless you are lucky enough to be the last one loaded and the first one unloaded it can take a while. Get some quotes and compare pricing and service. Among the top ones are Horseless Carriage, Passport. Intercity, Reliable, Premier, Autobahn, among many others. If they don't offer tracking it probably means it is a broker and they may use multiple carriers and they don't want you to see it. The "big" guys are proud of their service and WANT you to see how they are doing. Of course premium service deserves premium charges so they will never be as cheap as fly-by-night movers. Since you are only doing this one time, saving a few bucks is not worth the aggravation of losing or damaging the car (IMHO).
David Teitelbaum
Posts: 129
Thanks guys, I'm following up on horseless carriage and will check out four corners too.
Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
Posts: 160
My VIN: 04629
About Time, Do your homework carefully, I shipped my car from Hilo,HI and it didn't arrive @ my home for almost 5 weeks!
This was 25+ years ago, before any kind of tracking was available and the carrier had no way of contacting the driver(or so they told me back in the day)
Go for enclosed(mine wasn't) trailer, insured with tracking and be very patient. I was close to heart attack material!! Car did arrive in fine shape, never again....
Location: Northern NJ
Posts: 8,583
My VIN: 10757 1st place Concourse 1998
Because your shipping required a boat, a big chunk of the job had to done by a third party (the boat) and your shipper was dependent on them and their schedule. That is exactly why you want the least # of people to handle the car, to minimize the chances of things going wrong. In your case it was unavoidable because of the location. 25 years ago we didn't have cell phones but even so drivers were supposed to call in at certain intervals to check in with their dispatcher so they can have some idea what's going on. The DMA a while back had an event and we used a ferry. You had to get to it before a certain time and if there wasn't enough room you waited till the next ferry! If it was the last one of the day, too bad. As for insurance, get it on the car and you may not have to pay a premium to also get it from the shipper. You need insurance on the car anyway.
David Teitelbaum
Location: Fresno, CA
Posts: 237
My VIN: 10353
Open trailer worked fine for mine. Don't feel obligated to do enclosed. These aren't Ferrari's lol.
Left on a Thursday in TN and arrived Sat in San Diego.
Location: West Islip, NY
Posts: 244
My VIN: 16377
I was nervous with a cross-country trip and opted for the added protection. It was a nice touch that the driver wrapped my car in plastic though . None of the other cars had plastic around it.
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-Nick