My parents are moving from here in Covington, Louisiana up to Madison, Wisconsin and just found out the movers won't take their car. Any recommendations for shippers?? What should this cost? Any cautions, advice?

 

There are services that drive the car to a destination for you and they are usually cheaper than the transport companies. Of course, that means they will be driving the "car."

 

Should be easy. Just tell them you have a large box you want to have shipped.

(sorry, couldnt resist!)

 

i was going to say the same thing.

 

If you want to pay a little more for a quality shipper user these guys:

http://www.concourstransport.com/frameset.html

Talk to Fred there.

I'd guess it's going to cost between $1000 and $1500. You'll probably want at least a couple weeks lead time between the time you schedule the shipment and the actual pickup.

 

It will be much less to drive the car there than to ship it- even of someone has to get a one way ticket back- but if that's the only option I'd go with putting it on a truck. Are your parents driving something else up?- is there a chance that vehicle could tow the xB? I see I was beat to the box comment-dang! As a former owner of the other car that was styled like the box it came in (Volvo 240 wagon) that one was for me!

 

Go to UPS and get a shipping tag for it and tell them it's and oversized/ heavy box. (I can make fun of xB's. I own three :P )

 

I have had a few bad auto shipping experiences in the past because most auto shippers are just brokers who take your money and hire a truck driver, neither of which care about customer service.

I had one good experience with Autolog, who send vehicles in enclosed train cars for a good price, but the locations are limited.

2 bits of advice:
1. Whatever company you use, check the Better Business Burea website! I received many quotes for great prices, and when I checked the company out on the BBB website, they had like 30 complaints in a few years. As you could guess, the higher the quote, the less complaints received.
2. I just had great experience with Uship.com. In case you are not familiar with it, it is often referred to as the Ebay of shippers (but in reverse). Basically, you post what you want shipped, when and where. Shippers then bid on shipping the item (or vehicle), and try to beat eachothers prices until you accept a bid. And its free to you. The best part besides the competitive pricing is that each shipper gets customer reviews, so you can see how they are rated and read the reviews (better than the BBB website). I recently tried to get rates to ship a vehicle (not on uShip), and the best rate from a well rated company was $650, but it would take a month. I then tried uShip, and after my post was up for 3 days, I received a bid for $600, but he would have the vehicle to me in 3 days. His reviews were great and I went with it and had the vehicle 3 days later.

 

Thanks, Minitor, I posted on Uship.

 

Tell your folks welcome to Madison. If they end up on the east side of town they may want to know Lancaster Scion is the dealership. A friend of mine is the sales manager - "Scion Steve".

 

Good luck, and let us know who you end up using and how it goes.

 

I just talked to my dad and it turns out the moving company is going to tow his car.